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We left Tuesday at 6:00 PM for the WIT Nodak Flickertails campout at the Red Trail Campground in Medora. It was a beautiful day for driving.  Just a little tail wind out of the east.

We stopped at Fleet Farm in Fargo for gas. If you buy something in the store, you get a 4 cent gas discount coupon. Bought some snacks and filled up for $2.00/gal after discount.

We drove on to Bismarck and arrived at the Bismarck Elk’s Club at 11:30 PM. There is a nice dog walk area complete with poop bags. Took Joy for a walk and went to bed. At 12:45 AM a storm hit with strong wind, rain and small hail. Lasted about 20 minutes. Joy started barking when the storm hit and barked continuously for 45 minutes.

Got up to a perfect morning. Walked Joy and went to the McDonalds a block away and got breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Headed up to Walmart on US-83 for a few things. Stopped at the Bed Bath and beyond and Cathy bought a vacuum cleaner. While we were in Walmart, Helen and John Evans called and said that Adam’s pickup was on fire. We headed out I-94 toward Medora. About 10 miles west of New Salem we came across Adam and Judy. They were waiting for a tow vehicle to pick up what was left of the pickup.

We pulled in behind Adam and Judy’s motor home. There was nothing left of the pickup.

Judy said lots of people stopped to help, even people traveling in the opposite direction. They got the motor home detached from the pickup and got the fire out. Three fire trucks responded. Judy got the chairs and tables out of the back of the pickup. They along with Ed and Donna are hosts for the campout.

We proceeded on to Medora. We stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center to take a look at the view. I never tire of this view. Once Cathy and some other friends and I back packed to one of the buttes in the canyon. Ed and Donna and Bob and Delores were also there.

We continued on to the Red Trail Campground.

At 7:00 PM we had dinner. Pulled pork sandwiches, beans, potato salad, coleslaw and dessert.

After dinner we sat around and got caught up on what everyone had been doing.

It was an overcast, windy 29 to 39mph and cool 45F morning.

Cathy awoke with AFIB. I had set the furnace fairly low and David had thrown off his comforter and was cold. Turned the the furnace up and went back to bed for awhile. After it warmed up I got up.

The casino rebroadcasts TV somehow on channel 7.1 and 7.2. & 7.2 was THIS and when we went to bed 7.1 was Fox. This morning it was a disk jockey and Badlands something. Put a Columbo Season 3 DVD on.

Took Joy for a walk and took some pictures of the new RV Park. They did a very nice job. There are 14 back in sites. All have electric, 30 and 50 amp and water. The old sites are pull through and I think if the electric works you can still ask to use them.

Here is a picture of RV Park on south side of casino.

Here is the Brave parked in number 7.

Went back in and made coffee. Had coffee and an apple fritter. Then Cathy got David dressed and I got him in his chair. He watched the rest of the Columbo story and then we got under way at noon.

We drove north on I-29 with a 29 to 39 mph wind behind us. Drove about 62 mph. When we crossed the ND border, David started laughing and was very happy. We stopped at the Rest Area at MM 6. I walked Joy.

We drove on without stopping any where and got to Buxton at 4:00PM. 194 miles for the day.

Unloaded David and got him in his van. Parked the Brave in the front driveway for unloading. Took David into his apartment.

Got home and Joy and I went to Play  Time. I made myself a Bloody Mary. Princess has gotten a new haircut.

Cathy had boiled a dozen and a half eggs for the trip. We hadn’t eaten any, so she made egg salad sandwiches. We had them on the left over buns that we took along and never ate. They were delicious.

Another very nice day, sunny and 54F at 8:00AM. It was about 61F and sunny all across I-90.

We left Walmart at about 10:00AM and got out on I-90 and stopped at Flying J to fill with gas. Drove on to Grand Island and Cathy drove from there to Yankton, SD. As we neared Kearny, there was a huge Archway over I-80.

From Grand Island to Columbus was two lane. I took over again at Yankton and drove the rest of the way. The scenery was nice all day. Lots of green grass and pretty farms.

Stopped at Flying J in Sioux Falls for gas. As we were leaving, the Propane Alarm went off. I wasn’t too surprised as we were parked beside the propane pump. Moving however,  made no difference. When I went to turn on the fan I found we had no 12 volt power. The alarm was sounding because of low voltage. I had noticed that last night the inverter was pulling the battery down.

We stopped at the Burger King across from the Flying J and got dinner which we ate on the move. I was able to get the generator started and let it run to enable the converter to charge the batteries.

I let the generator run all the way to the Dakota Sioux Casino where we are spending the night. Parked in our normal spot and Cathy went in to register. Put the jacks down and put the slide out. Went out to plug in the shore power and the power pedestal was clamped shut. Looked on line and they mentioned they had opened their new RV Park on the south side of the casino. Cathy registered us for space 7 at $5.00/night. Only two other campers here, both from Manitoba.

Tonight was senior night and they give you $5.00 in free play. Cathy came out $2.00 ahead.

Got up to a warm 57F sunny day. Took Joy for a long walk and then we got David up so we could make the 11:00AM brunch at Jay’s house.

Drove over to Jay’s house, but there was no parking for the motor home on Jay’s street. Found a spot 2 blocks away down a steep hill. Didn’t stop to think of driving back to in front of Jay’s and unloading David. Instead, unloaded him 2 blocks away and pushed him up the hill to Jay’s house. Erik and some of his friends got David around back to the patio where brunch was being served.

He had his catering crew do brunch on his patio, complete with alcoholic drinks. I had a Bloody Mary.

I had scrambled eggs with spinach, bacon and jalapeno sausage. Very tasty.

After visiting with family for a couple of hours, it was time to leave. I went and got the motor home and we loaded David in front of Jay’s house. Several looked inside the motor home and one of Jay’s men affixed Jay’s stickers to the Brave.

We went up I-25 to Cheyenne where we filled with gas at Flying J for $1.82/gal. We then headed east into Nebraska and stopped for the night at Walmart in North Platte.

 

An absolutely perfect day for our daughter Kathryn’s wedding. Sunny and 61F.

In the morning we watched westerns on ME TV and then got cleaned up for the wedding. We took the motor home to the church at 3:00PM and changed clothes there.

The wedding got under way right on time at 4:30PM. I walked Kathryn down the aisle. Most of the groomsmen wore their military uniforms as did Erik’s father. It was a nice ceremony and the homily was brief. On the way out of the church, the groomsmen and Erik’s father made an Arch of Sabers for the new couple to walk under. It is a West Point tradition.

After the wedding we went to Pasta Jay’s for the reception. Jay is Erik’s cousin and gave them the reception. The venue was really nice and the food was truly wonderful.

They cut the wedding cake with a saber. Most were enjoying the dancing. When Erik took off his jacket his dress shirt had a bacon print on the sleeves and back.

Kathryn had the eligible women gather on one side of the dance floor and then while standing on the other side threw the bridal bouquet backwards over her head.

At about 10:00PM Jeanne said she was taking Kayla, Savannah, Anya and herself back to the hotel. I asked her to give me a ride back to the motor home.

I drove the motor home down to Pasta Jay’s and Jay, Sean and Jimmy helped load David. Jay said we were getting really good at it and this was the fastest time yet.

4G Verizonwireless is very slow here so I am not able to upload photos. I will update todays post with photos when I get to faster Internet.

Jay is having us to his house tomorrow for brunch

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning. 34F overnight. Except for the drag racing in the part for an hour after midnight we spent a restful night at the Fort Morgan City Park.

I took Joy for a walk in the park to see the ducks and geese. She found them quite interesting.

We got going about11:00AM. Drove the 100 miles to Boulder. Stopped at a gas station along the way and found gas to be $2.29/gal. Only put in 30 gallons.

Got to the Elk’s Lodge in Boulder at about 12:40PM. They have 8 RV sites behind the lodge. $15/night. There aren’t any RV Parks in Boulder.

Got parked and went in and payed. at 3:00PM we left for Mt Zion Lutheran Church for rehearsal. It was very in formal and we left after awhile and drove downtown to the Boulderado Hotel. There weren’t any parking spaces anywhere , even for cars, let alone a motor home. We saw a Parking Control agent giving out a ticket and stopped an asked him where we might park. He said in the residential area west of downtown. He said to follow him. He took us to the Catholic School and had us park in front of it.

Walked down to the Bouldrado Hotel where the drinks and appetizers were being served in the License Number 1 bar  named for having the first license in 1909 after Boulder was made dry in 1907.

The hotel staff helped get David in through the kitchen and won the service elevator to the basement where the bar was. From there it was one drop of one stair and another drop of two stairs.

The appetizers and drinks were exceptionally good. I had a gin and tonic and a local IPA beer, Modus Hoperandi from SKA Brewing in Durango, CO. I had mostly brats from the appetizers.

A little after 7:00PM Jay and Becky took me to the motor home and I drove it down to the Boulderado Hotel. We then went out to the Marriot where Jay, Jeanne and Alison were staying. Jimmy went out for pizza.

We got back to the Elk’s Lodge about 10:30PM and parked the motor home again.

Nice sunny morning, only 34F, but sunny. It rained over night. We parked next to the catch pond and there was something in it making noise all night. Sounded like millions of crickets.

Went into Walmart and got some apple fritters and candy. We left Norfolk, NE at 10:15AM. We took US-81 South untill we got to US-30. We took that to US-281 which got us to I-80. We stopped in Grand Island for gas at Pilot. It was a very fancy Travel Center. Filled with gas for $1.86/gal after discount. Stopped in and filled the PhilMors and bought some chicken tenders. They had a lot of interesting things like old Sinclair Pumps, Dinosaur and Horse Drawn Gas Wagon.

Cathy drove from Grand Island to Kearny. It was very windy. I drove the rest of the way. We stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center. They suggested we park at the City Park in Fort Morgan, CO. She said she thought the first night was free. The have electric hookups. We stopped at the Walmart on the east side of Fort Morgan and Cathy got a frozen entre’ for dinner. Not all electrical hookups were 30 amp, but I did find one. We drove 436 miles today. We still have 100 miles to go. We plan on staying at the Elk’s Lodge in Boulder. Cathy called this afternoon. They have 7 spaces and only one is occupied. She said it was muddy though. Hope to get to the Elk’s Lodge between 11:00 and 12:00.

Jay called as he passed Fort Morgan. Alison and Jimmy were way back on the east side of Nebraska. Jay posted on Facebook that they were at the hotel by the airport.

A beautiful sunny morning. 34F at 8:00AM.

Cathy went in to pick up David and I carried things to the Brave, a seemingly endless number of things. After they got back from Grand Forks, Cathy filled even more bags.

We finally got David loaded into the motorhome about 11:30AM. Larry came over to help. It was necessary to make some adjustments to the sling that Cathy installed last night, but every thing went well.

We left Buxton at 12:15PM. We headed south on I-29. I had planned on stopping at Stamart in Fargo for propane, but decided to wait until Sioux Falls, SD and the Flying J.

Our first stop was at the SD border Rest Area.

I walked Joy and Cathy took over driving. Cathy drove to the Rest Area south of Watertown. It sprinkled a little at MM 187.

I drove on to Flying J in Sioux Falls. Since we were buying propane, we had to unload David. I parked in an end to end Handicap Zone. Took David inside the Flying J  and I went to the RV lane for Propane and Gas.

While I was getting gas, Cathy and David got some sausages on hot dog buns. The clerk suggested they go into the Drivers Lounge. So when I went in they were about half way through the sandwich. They got me two. I had Cathy drive the 30 miles to the US-81 turn to the south. I then drove on through Yankton to Norfolk, NE. We are spending the night at Norfolk in the Walmart lot. WE got here at 10:15PM. It is 47F. We drove 440 miles today.

Very nice day. Partly sunny with high of 70F.

Filled the fresh water tank  and flushed the RV antifreeze. Started the water heater. It all is working.

Went into Grand Forks and picked up the coolant over flow reservoir from Lithia Ford. With tax it cost $120.

Stopped at Walmart and Menards. Got back to Buxton and called Larry from across the street to help. What should have been simple turned into a little more work. Two of the screws holding the reservoir broke. Larry found a short piece of angle aluminum with holes in it . We used it to clamp the back two tabs. I don’t think it will be a problem. Sometime in the future I will cut the captive nuts off and replace with bolts.

Larry then drove me down to Cenex to pick up the tires we changed yesterday. They are still in pretty good shape for use as spares. Current spares are weather checked and a lot older.

We then stopped for Happy Hour and dog play time.

Went back to Brave and installed Camco Screen Door Cross Bar. We have one in the Adventurer and Cathy missed it. They are nice to have.

Cathy left to go to David’s apartment to install wheel chair sling which came yesterday.

I continued to haul things out of the Brave Now will have to start hauling other things in.

Stopped to watch a Morningstar WEBinar about their solar charge controllers.

Went back to Brave and installed new Smoke/CO Detector in bedroom.

Hooked the Rand McNally RVND-7730 GPS to computer and updated the files.

It is now midnight and we still have a long way to go. Will go to Grand Forks and pick David up at about 8:00AM.

Beautiful sunny day. High only got to about 51F, but no wind and a lot of sun.

Took the Brave down to Cenex to get the new tires put on. One bay at the Cenex station is big enough for trucks.

They have a tire machine for truck tires so it goes pretty fast

 

I got two Sailun steer tires, 245/70R19

Here is how the tire is put on the rim

After getting it back together the wheels were balanced.

Had the oil changed and the steering linkage greased. While Kelly was checking fluids , he noticed the coolant level was low. When he filled it, it came out of the front of the over flow resevoir. There is a crack in the front.

Took the Brave back to the house and parked in the front driveway.

Called Lithia Ford in Grand Forks and ordered a Coolant Over Flow Reservoir. It will be here tomorrow at 7:00AM. It cost $112.

Cathy and I went in to Grand Forks to pick up the the Chippers she ordered from Widman’s Candy for favors at the reception dinner.

We then went to C&R Cleaners and picked up the tuxedo I had had altered. Then stopped at Hugo’s to pick up $1.99 butter and 99 cent eggs. Cathy is hard boiling the eggs and making egg salad for the trip.

Joy and I went over to “Play Time” at Larry and Princesses’

We had left over pizza for dinner.

After dinner I cleaned up the vanity and bathroom in the Brave and took out some unnecessary items. Will go in early and get the coolant reservoir and get it installed. Switched the refrigerator to propane and it wouldn’t fire up. Blew out the combustion chamber and now it is working. Now just have the water pump and water heater to get going.

Saw the “Trailer Park Boys” on Jimmy Kimmel. Haven’t had time to watch any of their new shows. My daughter in law claims that my son Jay looses 30 IQ points for every “Trailer Park Boys” show he watches.