Sturgis and Bowman, to add ND to our map!

From the Badlands we turned north, and headed to the Harley capital of the world, Sturgis, SD. The big rally is still a month away, but we walked the town and enjoyed it anyway. Had some fun and ate lunch at the Knuckle Saloon. What should we order? The knuckle sandwich? That was a 1lb hamburger, too big for us, but the 1/3 lb charbroiled burgers were perfect.

Nancy found a little business to supplement her social security income...

Nancy wanted to see what it would be like to be at the rally, so I took as snapshot so she could fit in... can you find Waldo?

Even tho we didn't come on a motorcycle, we had to go to the local Harley dealer, like everyone else. Met a couple from Monterey (Mexico, not CA!) who rode all the way up here to see the place.

OK, we'd done the town. Drove the rest of the way to Bowman, just across the border into North Dakota, and stayed in their nice city park. Good Night, all!

North and into the Derecho

Strong storms in SD the last couple of nites, here's the weather forecast. Drove from Yankton west and north to the Badlands, staying in Interior, SD at a little park off 44. Great scenery, and a perfect day after the storm blew past. 

The contrast between the green grass and the colors of the formations is dramatic.

It reminded us of New Mexico, but green, and cooler.

We saw pronghorn sheep climbing on the rocks,

Buffalo wandering the grasslands,

and groups of prairie dogs having committee meetings

All in all, a great day in a beautiful area.

Tomorrow, on to Sturgis, and then to North Dakota!

Do you know the way to..... Gillette?

Left St Louis May 5th, headed north and west. We have some empty states on our USA map we gotta fill: N and S Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho. Gonna get them all in the next 3 months. We have 10 days to get to Spearfish, SD to join our St Louis RV club, the Gateway Getaways, for a pre-rally before the FMCA convention in Gillette, WY. Our plan is to travel a day, then sightsee a day. Here's a link to the map of our itinerary. First stop, Kirksville, MO, hometown of my bride, Nancy, and still home to her two older brothers. Stayed at Thousand Hills State Pk.

There is a nice sized lake for boating, skiing, and fishing, as well as trails, boat and kayak rentals, and a restaurant. Good spot. Campsites have power only. First evening we enjoyed dinner with Carl and Shirley Baldwin, and Shirley's brother Larry, at Charles and Cathy Baldwin's home. Carl, Shirley, and Larry are off in the morning for Alaska. They plan on a round trip of 11K miles in 5 weeks. Wow. Sharing an Airstream trailer. Sounds like an adventure! Spent the next day with Charles and Cathy, visiting old haunts and having dinner at Heartland. Don't miss this place if you're in the area for a great meal!

Next day the plan was to go to Ledges State Park in Madrid, Iowa. Unfortunately, it was full (we didn't have a rez) so ended up in Swede Point county park.
Just a basic camp, we stayed one night. Took off for South Dakota, to Lewis and Clark Recreation Area, on the Missouri River. 

Big, spacious camp on the lake above the dam, stayed 3 days, explored Yankton. 

There's a nice museum here and an aquarium with all the local fish and some HUGE snapping turtles. Nancy made friends with an albino snapper.

Tomorrow, on to the Badlands of South Dakota!

Family time in O'Fallon, MO

No matter how much we love to travel, it's always great to come home and check in with our family and friends in Missouri. This time of year is beautiful in MO, and it's also the time of Jack's birthday (our youngest Fitz grandson), and our daughter Jennifer. We actually had to leave a couple of days before Jen's but as you can see, we had an early celebration!

Below are Rieley, Jack and Brandon, our Fitzgerald grandkids, and their Dad Ryan and Mom Jennifer are above with the mariachi band and margaritas...

We usually camp out in St Peters 370 Lakeside Park, but the rains had swelled the Mississippi and water was only 2' below the top of the levy! So, off to Babler Memorial State Park, south of Chesterfield. It's actually a nicer park, except that the sites don't have sewer or water hookups so it's inconvenient to camp more than a few days. The picture below is of a local stream, that'll give you an idea of what was going on.

Our middle grandson, Brandon, is into archery. We stopped at a shop so he could tune up his bow. He starts 8th grade next fall.

Rieley, our oldest grandson, just finished his sophomore year in highschool, and made the varsity tennis team. He'll be practicing with a pro this summer.

Had a nice visit despite lots of rain, managed to avoid all the tornados that went thru the area, and left for our big road trip on June 5th. On the road again....

Nappanee, Indiana, home of Gulf Stream RV

Gulf Stream is the manufacturer of our motorhome, the Montaj. It was a new 2010 model (actually made in 2009) just as the sh@t was hitting the fan in the RV business. Unfortunately, it wasn't the instant hit Gulf Stream needed. Times being what they were, Gulf Stream had to make a tough decision, and they exited the motorized RV business in order to concentrate on towables. That made our rig an orphan. So sad.

Despite some teething problems because it was a new model, and the usual bugs along the way, it's been a nice rig and a good fit for us. So far, 55,000 miles, and we continue to enjoy it. Here's the floor plan.

Ours is the 29A in the diagram above, also called the 29H. nice floorplan, and excellent storage for a 30' unit. On the way home from Florida, we popped a cable on the living room slide, and tho we managed to get it back in, we were afraid to use it the rest of the way. Since we'd had it into our dealer 3 or 4 times for repairs on the slide, we decided to take it to the factory and have them work on it. We called ahead and spoke to Tom, the customer service manager for motorized units. He made an appointment for us, and invited us to stay at Gulf Stream's facility next to the factory, which we did.

Tom arranged for one of his crack factory technicians to completely overhaul the slide mechanism. Later, when we mentioned that we had a weak area in the floor by the sink, he fixed that too. The coach was nearly four years old, with over 50,000 miles (warranty 36,000) yet Gulf Stream fixed both problems absolutely free. That's what I call customer service! Thank you, Tom, techs, and Gulf Stream!

Heading back north, with detours

On April 29th we left our friends at Horseshoe Cove (thanks Rich and Barb for the evenings of cards and the meals we shared) and said goodbye to the Schusters. 

OK, just a few more snapshots...

Emma's Birthday Cupcakes, a treat! She's five now.

Nancy checks the mail while Nikki and the kids prepare batter for Papa to make pancakes!

Our first stop, Jekyll Island, Georgia, a park on the ocean in the midst of trees. Don't really recommend this one, as it cost $37 for electric and water only, plus another $10 just to get on the island! Maybe my view was tarnished by the overcast skies and rain?

       No pads, no gravel, just packed dirt. Humph.

Next day took us to Hunting Island, SC, also a State Park on the beach. We got a campsite almost on the sand, and enjoyed margaritas in our beach chairs.

Below is a picture of the almost empty beach and lighthouse on the point in the distance. Liked this one.

Oh, the detour? Well... when we opened the big slide here for the night, a cable popped, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to pull it back in. Fortunately, we managed to do so, but will have to make the rest of the trek north without extending the slide. Bummer. Called Gulf Stream in Nappanee, IN, and have an app't on Monday to have it fixed. It's been a headache from day one, so we're hoping for the best. Tonight, we're camped up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, at Lakewood RV Resort. Full hookups (yes, we're gonna take a long shower in the AM) and a nice spot. That's all for now...

Off to Florida to visit the Schusters!

Enough of this late winter! We left the morning after Chad and Robyn tied the knot, and headed for our winter friends at Horseshoe Cove, in Bradenton, FL. Headed south on 55/57, angled over to 75, and kept on goin'. We'd called ahead to reserve our previous spot, N-10, but arrived to find it occupied. Moved catty-corner across the street to P-6, which was shady and spacious. 

The kids got a charge out of collecting acorns to feed the squirrels (like they couldn't find their own, LOL)
We BBQ'd on the drive, made margaritas, and generally enjoyed ourselves with Alex & Nikki Schuster and our three grandkids, William, Emma, and Benjamin.

Alex has started a new internet business, putting together health and fitness seminars, and seems to be doing quite well. His website is Natural Health Summit 
Nikki just successfully completed her third session of four in her RN training, and is looking forward to the final one in the fall. She intends to work as a midwife. William won an award for all "E"s this grading period in kindergarten, and will start first grade this fall.

Emma will be starting kindergarten, and Benjamin, 3, will be in pre-school. Whew, they grow up fast!