Week Six ~ Alaska Trip May 21-29, 2011

After helping and watching Gene and Sandy Teggatz get pulled out of the mud, we headed north. Some of the secondary roads in Iowa were pretty rough, but we had no major problems. We settled for the night in Pipestone MN. We were right across the street from the Pipestone National Monument, so after dinner we went exploring. It turns out that the National Monument was a site where only the Native Americans in the area can mine Pipestone. They used this stone to make their ceremonial pipes. There is also a site where they stage The Song of Hiawatha. We were too early in the season for that. While we were exploring the town we did find this unusual water tower for the town. Cool.
During our time watching TV that evening we saw some severe storm warnings. Well, we were to learn that when in Minnesota when they say severe, they mean SEVERE! (I know, Shannon, we SHOULD have remembered!) When the storm came through it was pretty wild for about five minutes. The wind was causing the slide awnings to flap, they sounded like they were going to be ripped off of the rig. The air conditioner covers and the vents were rattling and it was raining very hard. Probably not any worse than what people had a home this week, but in an RV it was attention getting. We pulled in the slides, turned off the breaker for the power and just sat and watched the lightning. Someone from the park came banging on our door and told us that we could go into town to the hotel if we were not comfortable in our rig. The thought of leaving the rig and driving somewhere downtown was not appealing, but it was good to know that there was an emergency plan in place for the park. After about a half an hour things had calmed down and we headed for bed. This is the scene that greeted us in the morning. Phil had a chance to break in his new duck shoes! We were a little concerned about getting stuck in the mud, but we drove out with no problems.

Very soon in our travels we crossed into North Dakota. We went by hundreds of fields that have been transformed into lakes. I don’t know how far behind all this rain has put the poor farmers in this region. When you see only the very tops of the field fence posts showing, you know they have a LOT of water to get rid of before their crops can begin to grow. At one point there were flagmen out because the water was over the road. Thankfully it was not too bad and we were able to travel through slowly. Soon we came into some oil drilling activity. There were LOTS of water trucks taking water to the wells, reminded us of home! We did pass by the geographical center of North America. We stopped in Glasglow MT for the night and it rained some more while we were there, big surprise. This looks like a tough area to live and make a living. I can only imagine what the winters are like up here!
Coming out of Glasgow in the morning we passed an area where they had life size dinosaurs all over the hillside. We went by too quickly to take pictures and the RV and truck are just too big to turn around for picture taking. From now on I will have the camera up next to me. I did have time to get the camera to take pictures of the road construction that we encountered. It may not have been the worst road conditions that we have ever encountered, but it was awful! We sat for quite a while waiting for our turn to travel through this area and then we had about two miles of no pavement, only WET and BUMPY dirt. Not fun.
We stayed the night at Fort Benton MT. It was wet there as well. We did go out for dinner that evening and drove around town a bit. It did not take long to cover the town. Nice little town that sits on the Missouri River. One thing about all the rain we have had, everything is very GREEN! When leaving Fort Benton we had a good travel day into Missoula MT. We couldn’t find a campground that suited us, most had limits of about 22’. NOT. So we found the local Wal-Mart and spent the night there. No problems, there were about ten RVers in the lot that night. Scenery in Montana was prettier in the western part of the state than in the eastern area. In the east they have hills; the ground looks like it has hives. In the western part you are truly coming to the mountains. The next day we crossed over into Idaho. We had not traveled too far before we encountered a couple of interesting things. One, when they have a pull over space that says it is the “chain up” area, that means you are going to go UP! Next we encountered a sign that showed that the road would be curves ahead, we have always called them ‘squigglies’. This sign said that we would encounter ‘squigglies’ for the next 99 miles! Oh great, curving roads going up and down mountains for the next 99 miles. Piece of cake. This is one reason I am glad that I am the navigator, not the driver. I don’t mind too much if the mountain is on MY side. However, when the drop off is on the passenger side, I am NOT a happy camper. Well, we went up, and up, and up. We had seen snow on the tops of the mountains. Well, before we reached the summit we saw it up much closer than we would like!

Yepper, that’s snow in them thar hills! It was also snowing enough to collect on the windshield. Not nice! Thankfully we drove out of it and the snow never coated the squiggly road. OK, enough of that stuff for the trip!
We were happier when we were down to somewhat level ground. The scenery has been just awesome. Here is a picture of where we stopped for lunch. Not too tough to tolerate! However, soon after we got down off the mountain we encountered some pretty severe head winds. It is tough on both the driver and the diesel mileage to drive this big sail in the wind, so we started looking for a place to camp for the night. We found a neat campground, only about four miles off the main road  by Tuncannon Creek in Dodge WA. No TV, cell service or air card coverage. Thankfully the park had WiFi, so Phil was able to surf. My computer would only pick it up sporadically, so I read a lot and did laundry. Phil did let me share his computer now and then. It was a pleasant evening.
The next day we dropped down into Oregon. I was surprised as too how quickly land formations can change. In this part of northern Oregon, the landscape opened up a lot. It was still a pretty ride. We were searching for a campground in Oregon
for the weekend, but were not able to find one. So we drove back up into Washington and found a place at Hood Park. It is an Army Corps of Engineers Park, which we always like. It is a small park and they are full for the holiday weekend. So, we are boondocking in the overflow area. What a hoot! We have not been boon docking with tenters all around for quite a while. We have spent a lot of time ‘people watching’. There is just about every kind of tent or vehicle that you can imagine here. It was especially fun to see people coming in at dusk or later to set up tents by flashlight. We will be here until Monday, I think. It is just too difficult to get into a campground on a holiday weekend without reservations. I’ll let you know when we are on the move again. We will be heading north through Washington to head into Canada next.

Week Five ~ Alaska Trip May 15-20, 2011

We left Dave and Karen’s in the rain, seems to be a pattern developing. Dave snapped this picture of us just before we were leaving. The other one is as we were really heading out…….

Dave wanted to make sure that he got the RV, the truck, HIS BARN, and us. He did well!

We had about a three and a half hour drive west to Winterset Iowa where the Iowa Wild Roses Escapee Club was having their spring rally. Every spring Gene and Sandy Teggatz run a four day computer rally. They did an excellent job. It was four days of learning and fun. We enjoyed meeting some Iowa people as well as some people that were from further away. One couple stopped in on their way home from their winter travels, and we had just met them at Skp Acre in North Carolina! Small world. Some of the members will be going to the Escapade in Gillette WY, so we will see them there. We also met Tom and Debbie McIlwain, Chapter 20 members that I have been corresponding with for several years by email. It was great to finally put a faces with the names.

 

        Private tutoring

Sandy ran a tight ship! She was on board for workshops Monday through Thursday from 8:15 AM to 4:45 PM. Whew! That lady has stamina. She covered working with Open Office, Firefox, Tips on Vista and Windows 7, Picasa, PDF conversion, and photo resizing. Norm presented information on Linux and Tom did a workshop on E-readers. Then we all shared our latest ‘Geek Toys’. What a fun week for computer nerds.

                                                  Tom, Mickey and Barb Tom on E-readers

       Tom McIlwain on E Readers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          A GPS does what???

What we discovered after we arrived in Winterset is that it is Madison County IA which is where they filmed the movie The Bridges of Madison County. So on Friday we took our map in hand and went exploring to find the four covered bridges that were the closest to us. We also found a Stone School that was built in the late 1800s and a tower that was part of the city park. It was a fun day exploring. We managed to get about and get the pictures taken of the bridges before it rained, again.

Cutler-Donahoe Bridge

   Holliwell Bridge is the longest one.

 

 

 

 

 

  Cedar Bridge you can drive through. The others are blocked off.

 

                                          Hogback Bridge

Next we found the Stone School that was made out of native limestone. It was closed the day we were there, but Phil got some neat shots of the outside. We were both impressed with the condition of the school for being built in the late 1800s.

 

Stone tower that is in the City Park with view from the top:

 

Not only is Winterset famous for being the site of a popular movie and book, it is the birthplace of John Wayne. So of course we had to go find his home:

And his statue:

Quite a bit for a neat little town in Iowa! We left on Saturday, thankfully we did not get stuck, but Gene and Sandy did. That was our excitement for Saturday morning, watching and helping them get pulled out of the mud. We were then on our way north………

Week Four ~ Alaska Trip May 9-14

After following directions and talking with Dave Long on the cell phone, we did manage to find the Long homestead in Iowa City IA. Dave and Karen Long are Escapee friends that we first met in Rayne LA at a Chapter 26 Spring Rally. Since then we have stayed at Escapee Parks in Bushnell Florida and Summerdale Alabama each winter. Dave and Karen have stayed at the same parks and we have gotten to know them pretty well. We always mange to have a good time, eating out, playing cards, touring local attractions, eating out, and eating out. Oh, did I mention that we like to eat out? I have told David that he makes a good social director, because he always finds some fun things for us to do. He did not disappoint us on this visit.

Karen had dinner all ready for us Monday evening. It is always a treat not to have to cook dinner on a travel day. Of course, after dinner we needed to play a few games of Five Crowns. I cannot remember who won. That is never important, just having a good time is important. Tuesday Karen was busy babysitting in the morning so I got caught up on some things in the RV. Phil and Dave puttered around. They went to see some farm equipment that was up for auction and Dave found a canvas cover that he had made years ago that was still intact. In the afternoon we met their grandchildren, Max and Francis.

Tuesday evening Dave and Karen introduced us to the Morel mushroom that grows wild in Iowa. Good eats! We had pizza one night, and chili another evening. Thursday Karen and her cousin took me out to the local Amish stores. We went to an Amish bakery, an Iowa cheese factory and two general stores. What fun! Friday the four of us went to the Button Museum in Muscatine, IA. That gave me a new appreciation of buttons, to be sure. What a process that entailed before plastic buttons were created. They harvested the mussels from the local river, cooked and cleaned the shells. The cooked mussels were either used as fertilizer on the fields or food for the animals. The shells were then used to cut out circles for buttons. The holes were put into the buttons and then they were hand sewn onto cards for retail sale. Each button was handled 32 times before being sold.

From the museum Dave took us to an amazing store that sold some of everything. We had a good time browsing and everyone managed to go home with a find or two. Phil has been looking for some rain shoes, which he found. They came in very handy down the road……

We went to the Button Factory building that has been converted to a restaurant for dinner. Dave, Karen and Phil all had catfish for dinner. I opted for fried shrimp. None of us went away hungry. Phil got this picture of the center paddle wheel boat that we had hoped take out into the river for a cruise. We were a bit early because they don’t start running the cruises until June 1^st.

Saturday morning we headed out. We were going to Winterset IA, about 180 miles west of Iowa City. It was not a bad day’s drive. We did encounter more rain. I know it is spring, but we seem to have a cloud following us around. We arrived safely at the Madison County Fairgrounds and got settled in to a FHU site for the week. We were here to attend the Iowa Wild Rose’s Computer Rally and act as VCRs for the first time. That’s a story for next week.

Week Three~ Alaska Trip May 2-8, 2011

We left Marion NC about 11:00 AM on Monday after having the RV weighed and saying good-bye to everyone. We had a great time at the rally, but we were a little tired. We passed through some beautiful scenery as we traveled through the mountains on Route 40 toward Tennessee. We encountered a two mile backup that cost us about 45 minutes. The only cause we could see was some construction on Route 40 around Exit 15 in Tennessee. We arrived at Overnighter Campground, Athens TN in the early evening. We got set up and had a very quick supper. After supper we took a short drive over to see Pat Martin, our good friend who lives in Athens TN now. We had a great visit and had a chance to catch up on news over a glass of wine. She has made some more renovations to her home and they are lovely.

Pat has a new addition, Jojo, a young dog. He is not a puppy, but a teenager in dog years. He keeps her on her toes, literally! He is quite a handful and he provides company and exercise for Pat.

 

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday visiting with Pat, going out to eat, doing a few errands and getting things done. The air conditioning on the truck had stopped working. Phil found a local shop and took it in for service. All of the coolant was gone, there appears to be a leak somewhere. They were able to recharge the system and it seems to be holding for now. Pat worked on Thursday so we used that day to do laundry, clean some in the RV and just rest a bit. We rented a movie to watch with Pat that evening. We said our good-byes on Thursday evening and then we headed on our way Friday morning.

We traveled into Kentucky and stopped at the Ohio County Fairgrounds. This is a well kept park and we enjoyed our stay. We had neighbors with an interesting tent! Cool.

From Kentucky we went north and spent the next two nights in Remington IN at Caboose Lake RV Park. We had stopped there several times before when we were traveling east to west and west to east visiting Keith when he lived in Minnesota. We had a full hookup so it was laundry time again. All of our three sons called and wished me a happy Mother’s Day. Bryan scanned in pictures of the kids with pictures that they had drawn. Neat idea, it was a treat to get that email on Mother’s Day.

Going west from Indiana we headed toward Iowa City to visit with Dave and Karen Long. I’ll tell you about that visit in Week Four!

Week Two ~ Skp Acre April 23-May 2, 2011

Wow, what a rally! It is hard to believe that the Eastern Multi Chapter Rally known as SKP ACRE (All Chapters Rally East) was more fun this year than it was last year, but it was! There were lots of varied activities and fun for everyone. Final tally was 100 rigs and 180 people attending this year.

Meet your friendly registration crew and pick up your SKP ACRE shirts and pins.

Wednesday started out with registration and then we proceeded right into the Pet Lover’s BOF Pet Parade. The weather held for the parade and fun was had by all. Betty Bear and Oscar (in his tuxedo) made an encore appearance after the Escapade in Goshen. Several other pets were also well dressed.

 

After lunch Mark Nemeth presented the first chapter of his seminar series with, ‘Water, Water Everywhere’. Everyone learned the basics of safe water management for their RV.

Wednesday evening was the first catered meal. Countryside BBQ served up some delicious smoked chicken. Wednesday evening, Dan Brown, former director of the Blue Ridge Parkway, offered insights about the area. This was a valuable presentation for everyone. This was Dan’s second time presenting a program for us, and we really appreciate his time and effort.

Thursday morning finished registration and then went right into a great seminar of Geocaching with Joe and Nancy Liston. They had set up some geocaching challenges around the park and area and after the seminar one person was able to find all of the geocache sites. Super! After lunch crafters met to tackle making paper beads to form necklaces and bracelets. There was a lot of giggling goin’ on! Thanks to Patty Mulhall for sharing her creativity. She also did a paper embroidery class on Friday afternoon.

                          Patty, we do WHAT with paper and sticks?

Thursday afternoon was Mark Nemeth’s second seminar on ‘RV Systems, Q &A’. There was lots of information for us to learn from Mark about our RV systems. Following the Social Hour we had a wonderful Pot Luck Dinner. Feeding 180 people in a short time is certainly a challenge. Before we were finished eating, Terry H. McKinney was there with a band to entertain us with some fine traditional country music, and entertain us they did!

This group played from 7:30 P.M. until 10:00 P.M., nonstop and finished the evening with a very memorable rendition of ‘How Great Thou Art’.

Friday it was off to tour the Biltmore Estate. This is the second year that this tour has been offered, but since we had a lot of first time attendees, there were still many people who wanted to make this trip. Spring is a wonderful time of year to visit this beautiful home.

The evening began with a presentation by Steve Masterson about DOVES after which everyone was invited to another Pot Luck dinner, sponsored by the DOVES. Around 7:00 PM the McKinney Washtub Two entertained us. Judy and Whitt are full time Escapees who make their living by entertaining on the road. They were also rally participants. It was a treat to have them with us.

Saturday breakfast was prepared by Betty Bear and her crew. She was up very early to make sure there was plenty of her famous Bear Sausage and Gravy for everyone. It was delicious.

Come on and have seconds, if you’d like……………….

Several local chapters held their business meetings on Saturday morning. In the afternoon there was a Picasa workshop on Managing Digital Photos as well as Mark Nemeth’s presentation on the Smart Weigh Program. The day closed with a Soup Cook Off for CARE, ice cream and finally a great bon fire put on for us by Tom Johnson. There was some wonderful music and fellowship taking place.

Vendors that were present at the rally were Sky Med, Amsoil, The Gardens RV Resort in Tennessee, and Mark Nemeth with the Smart Weigh program.

There are also many fine places to shop and many people spent time touring the local shops, restaurants and tourist attractions.

Tickets were sold throughout the week for a chance to take a whack at the Escapees Piñata and win a $50 gift certificate. There were many swings taken before it was finally conquered by J.C. Webber 111. Proceeds from the piñata also went to CARE.

Omelets in a bag were a first time experience for a lot of people Sunday morning. Everyone was patient waiting for their breakfast to cook because it gave them time for some more sharing with their rally friends. The morning was filled with RV Discussions and the afternoon had a computer workshop on Easy Website Building, Using Weebly. The quilters also found time to meet and discuss projects a couple of times.

 

Sunday evening there was a second catered dinner of Pot Roast followed by the closing ceremony. A DVD presentation of The Many Faces of Old Glory left everyone very moved. There is something about standing together with fellow SKPS and singing our National Anthem together that stirs the heart.

Monday morning was the Hitch up Breakfast with lots of SKP HUGS to share. Many people kept Mark and his crew busy as they were being weighed on the way out.

Some wonderful things happened that the committee is very proud of:

*After a meeting with Bryan Rose and several VCRs, a group of enthusiastic people elected officers and decided to reactive Chapter 26, the Carolina Rovers. Plans are underway for their next rally.

*There were several activities geared to raise money for CARE. There was the Bear Gravy breakfast, the Soup Cook Off, the Escapee’s Piñata, a donation from the Solos, a beautiful afghan was crocheted and donated for a raffle by Dixie Peterson, and a donation from the Skp Acre. The final amount presented to Mark Nemeth for CARE was $1000.

*We had visitors from as far away as Australia! Les and Denese Nicholson are SKPS from New South Wales, Australia. They came to the rally and did not know a soul, but they made many friends before the rally was over.

*Our VCR’s Tom and Debbie Abernathy signed up two new couples to ESCAPEES.

*There were several VCRs attending the rally: Bryan and Jane Rose, Tom and Debbie Abernathy, Betty Bear, Vic and Taree Schrubb, Jeanne and Bill Parrish, Keith and Shirley Murphy, Carole and Bernie Patton, and Cindy and Phil Devonshire.

*There were almost 20 SOLOS. The SOLOS were a major contributor to CARE. They held their own fund raiser for CARE and donated about $250 toward the total $1000 collected.

*Mark Nemeth was there from Livingston to present several seminars and then to weigh thirty or more rigs with the new Escapees Smart Weigh Program.

*Crafts, quilting and computer activities were available.

*Chapter 42 had a large group attending.

Planning has already begun for next year’s SKP ACRE. Evaluation forms were looked over carefully so that positive changes can be made. This event is growing and it takes the cooperation of many people to make it a success. The biggest asset of the Escapee’s Club is the members who are so willing to share their time and talent. The SKP ACRE committee would like to thank the many volunteers who helped throughout the rally to make it a success.

Mark your calendar and start making plans to attend next year’s SKP ACRE. It will be held again in Marion NC at Tom Johnson’s Rally Park. The dates are April 17-22, 2012. We’ll keep a space open for you!

Bryan Rose presents a $1000 check to Mark Nemeth for CARE.