Where Are We Now?
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Tuesday, September 1:
Check out time is 11:00 and all good things must come to an end.
We packed up and drove over to the dump station and then filled with
fresh water. We hooked the car up to the RV and headed out.
We drove through the park again heading for the Mammoth area. We
saw many buffalo today, the most we’ve seen this trip. We also saw
a coyote and while driving through the Fort Yellowstone area we saw a
large herd of elk including a big male elk.
We left Yellowstone and stopped in Gardiner to fill up with gas.
Drove up to I-90 and headed east. It’s very pretty country we
drove through. We saw prong horns and even wild turkeys on our
drive today.
We stopped in Billings Montana at Cabela’s for the night. There
are a few other RVs here for the night. Mac cooked us a nice
dinner and then we relaxed the rest of the evening.
Wednesday, September 2:
We worked this morning and left around lunchtime. We drove to I-94
and continued east. We stopped at Wal-Mart in Miles City and
bought groceries. After putting things away we continued driving
east and stopped at Flying J in Beach North Dakota to fill up with gas.
We had intended to drive further but decided to spend the night here
since we are tired. Mac fixed us a great salad for dinner and we
relaxed the rest of the evening before heading to bed around 10.
Thursday, September 3:
We left around 10 this morning and continued driving east. Not
very far down the interstate we see the exit for visitor center of the
Theodore Roosevelt National
Park. Right as we enter there is a buffalo next to the sign.
It’s just too picture perfect. Mac at first thought the buffalo
was chained to the sign but he’s a free spirit. The attendant said
that some people swear that the buffalo must be mechanical. He’s a
real one though and just likes the area around the sign.
There are some awesome views from this location. We walked around
admiring them and then stopped in at the visitor center. We picked
up some information regarding the park and plan on spending more time
here in the future. It looks like a great place to explore.
On our many trips around the country we’ve seen various signs regarding
the Lewis and Clark trail, and other historical information about their
exploration. Recently I became interested in learning about their
journey and had done some research online. I found the website
http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/
and it whetted my appetite to learn more. While at the visitor
center today Mac found the book “The Journey of Lewis and Clark”.
We are both looking forward to reading it and learning more about their
explorations.
After our visit we continued driving east and stopped at a rest area for
our lunch break. We stopped again around 3 at a rest area and
rested for an hour taking a short nap.
We drove to Wal-Mart store 1649 in Jamestown ND to stop for the night.
After getting the RV set up for the evening we walked over to
Grizzly’s Grill N’ Saloon
for dinner. Tonight’s special was all you can eat fajitas and Mac
had that and I had the fire grilled Asian grilled chicken. We both
enjoyed our dinner very much.
Today was my first time to see North Dakota and Mac’s first time in
western side of the state. It is very pretty country. Sure
there is lots of agriculture but there is more than just that to the
area. It was not a boring drive today. I enjoyed driving
through the country today and look forward to returning again when we
can get off the interstate and get a closer look.
A few fun items of interest in North Dakota that we had to pass but hope
to return and see are:
The Enchanted Highway http://www.enchantedhighway.net/
The Worlds Largest Holstein Cow
http://www.realnd.com/salemsueindex.htm
The Worlds Largest Sandhill Crane
http://www.sandhillcranefoundation.org/
Friday, September 4:
Midwest Casino Tour 2009
We had a long day of work so we got a late start heading out today. We
only drove to Fergus Falls Minnesota. We stopped for the night at Wal-Mart
store # 1696. Across the street we could see a restaurant and since both
of us are quite tired this evening we decided to go out for dinner. It was
Mable Murphy’s It was a nice
place, attractively decorated and we enjoyed our meal.
Saturday September 5:
We drove to Prior Lake MN and stopped at the
Mystic Lake Casino RV Park.
Before we got set up on our site we took advantage of the RV and car wash here
and gave the RV a good wash. It was in desperate need of one for sure.
Sunday, September 6:
I didn’t feel very well and slept a lot. Good thing it's a long weekend.
We did go to Mall of America today. I was disappointed; it’s just a big
mall. I had it in my mind that it was something wonderful but it’s just a
really big mall. We did go to Sears and found a couple of items on sale that we
bought using the gift card we had received from Harrah’s Paris Casino back in
May.
Monday, September 7:
I didn’t do anything all day. Slept a lot, read a book and just relaxed trying
to get rid of this bug.
Tuesday, September 8:
Today we drove to Red Wing MN and got set up at the
Treasure Island Casino RV
Park. Mac had a meeting this
afternoon for the magazine article he’s writing.
Later we went in to the casino and looked around. The pay tables were pretty
lousy on video poker; 6/5 bonus and 8/5 JOB. Yuck.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
After working a few hours today we did a couple loads of laundry. Prices
were $2.00 for washers and 25 cents for 10 minutes in the dryers, not too bad.
The casino has a ship, Spirit of the Waters, and they have cruises on the river
so this evening we went for dinner cruise on the boat on the Mississippi river.
It was a very enjoyable cruise.
We saw several bald eagles but didn’t get any good pictures. It was
awesome to see them. The leaves are just starting to change colors so we
had fun teasing each other that fall has arrived. Our dinner was quite
good too. I had chicken and Mac had walleye. The dessert was scrumptious
and too big with loads of calories but tasted wonderful. Who could resist?
There are some swans here at the casino in a large pond. It was pretty
cool to see them floating around on the water.
Thursday, September 10
We hooked up and left around 9 this morning and drove to Turtle Lake WI.
It was a very pretty drive today. We admired many of the turning tree
colors of orange, yellow and red.
We parked at the St. Croix Casino RV Park and we’re the only people here right
now. Mac went in for his tour this afternoon. Later we went in and
had the buffet then looked around the casino; lots of interesting stuff around
to see.
Each site has a fire pit so tonight we had a fire, very relaxing.
Friday, September 11:
After working till about noon we went into casino and had lunch at the
restaurant. Then we headed out and drove west on highway 8. We drove
to Forest Lake MN and then headed north to Stacy MN. We then drove to the
Chisago Lakes area, specifically the town of Lindstrom. We parked and
walked around the town. We used to live in Stacy and came to this area a
lot to eat at restaurants, go fishing on the many lakes, visit the parks, etc.
We enjoyed seeing the area again but so much has changed since we lived here in
the late 80’s. A few businesses are still here but many are gone.
As we drove back east on highway 8 we stopped to see what the many huge
sculptures were. Turns out it was Franconia Sculpture Park
www.franconia.org . There
are over 50 sculptures here at this time and I’m sure more will soon be added.
We spent at least an hour there walking around and admiring the sculptures.
We then drove to Taylor Falls and decided to have dinner here. We found
the Tangled Up In Blue
Restaurant and were glad that we did. We had a wonderfully prepared meal
and we relaxed over our dinner. We both enjoyed it so much.
We then stopped at Wal-Mart in St. Croix Falls and picked up some groceries.
Then back to the RV where we relaxed the rest of the evening before going to
bed.
Saturday, September 12:
We slept in late this morning and after a few family phone calls we filled with
fresh water at our site. Then we drove over to dump the tanks and then
across the highway to the dry camping overflow parking area to park the RV.
We then headed out in the car to have some lunch and visit a local store.
The restaurant was the New Frontier Restaurant. After we were seated we
were asked what we wanted to drink and I said Diet Coke. She left to go
get that and I looked in the menu to see if there were Coke or Pepsi products.
They did have Coke. Then after I verified that I looked up at the wall and
noticed the Coke border, the Coke pictures, and other misc. Coke items around.
We said this must be the only place in Wisconsin and Minnesota that serves Coke
and they were proud of it. I was very pleased to finally get a fountain
Diet Coke and not Pepsi. For over a week it seems like everywhere served
Pepsi. I had two glasses I was so happy to get a Diet Coke. The food
we ordered was very tasty and quite inexpensive. I had a senior priced
omelet and it was less than $4.00. It was served with some great homemade
bread too. Yum, yum.
After lunch we drove over to Northwoods Gifts. We had intended to stop in
and visit the store before but never got around to it so I’m glad that we
stopped in before we left the area. Mac had a nice conversation with the
owner of the store and I got to look around for a while. We found a few
things to buy and I was very pleased with the items we found.
If possible I like to buy usable souvenirs, not just t-shirts but something that
we can use in our daily lives and it will remind us of our wonderful visits to
different areas. I’ve found kitchen towels before in Key West and a few
other locations and today I found a towel that was quite nice and very
reasonably priced around $3.00. We did find a few other things but that
one stands out because I’d been looking at various gift shops for some and they
were all too expensive. This store had reasonable prices on the items.
We drove back to the RV and hooked to car up. We headed out east on
Highway 8 and then got on Highway 53. We stopped for the night in Chippewa
Falls WI at Wal-Mart store # 5373. We don’t have to be at our next
location till tomorrow afternoon and this is a good half-way location. Mac
went in and asked if we could overnight at this location and they told him yes
and where they’d prefer RVs to park for the night.
We parked and then unhooked the car. We really need to do laundry and I’m
in the mood to get it done today so of course that’s what we did. Mac
found a coin laundry online that wasn’t too far away so we loaded up and drove
there. Turns out it was a pretty good place too. It was
air-conditioned, large front loaders, nice sized dryers that were a quarter for
8 minutes. But what was the best is that we had the place to ourselves!
The time flew by while we listened to the news on the TV and we were done in
about an hour and a half.
We returned to the RV and put all our nice clean clothes away then I took
another shower for the day. We’re not used to the humidity again after
being in the desert and other parts in the west. I think today’s temps
were in the mid to upper 80’s but I think the humidity was also in the 80
percent range.
Mac went into Wal-Mart and bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner. We had
a relaxing meal at home and goofed off the rest of the evening.
Sunday,
September 13:
We had a leisurely start to our day today; enjoying our coffee and breakfast.
I went in to Wal-Mart and looked around. They were having a clearance sale
on clothing but I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy.
Around 10 we hooked the car to the RV and headed out. We drove to Bowler
WI.
We stopped at the
Mohican North Star Casino. The RV Park is nice, kind of
rustic with dirt sites and they are all full hook-ups. We have a bird
feeder right in front of our door so we’ve had fun watching to see what birds
come to eat at the feeder. So far we’ve only seen a nuthatch come and grab
some seeds then fly to a tree nearby.
We took a short half-hour nap and then went in to check out the casino.
Most of the pay tables on video poker are pretty lousy but we found one bank of
machines that weren’t too awful.
We ate dinner at the restaurant and we each had a sandwich with fries. I
had a Ruben and Mac had a French dip. They were pretty good sandwiches.
We walked around the RV Park a couple of times after dinner to work off our
sandwiches and then relaxed the rest of the evening on our computers and reading
our books.
Monday, September 14:
We got up early and started our workday. Around lunch time Mac went in for
his meeting. When he returned we packed up and headed out.
We drove about 20 miles to Keshena WI to the
Menominee Casino. They have
overnight parking for RVs which is basically a parking lot with electricity.
After Mac went in and got us registered he was told security would come out and
unlock the electrical box. After about 1 1/2 hours he called and they came
right out and unlocked it. We got the air-conditioner running then.
Even with a nice breeze it was pretty warm this afternoon. There is no
shade in the parking area and parking lots always seem warmer.
After dinner we went in and checked out the casino. We found some old coin
dropper quarter 7/5 bonus poker to play. In less than 15 minutes Mac hit a
royal flush! We couldn’t use our camera so Mac asked if he could have his
picture taken. They took his picture and as soon as we scan it we’ll add
it to the blog. After playing for a while we went home and read our books
for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday, September 15:
After
working this morning Mac went in to the casino for his meeting.
While he was gone I continued my work for the day and then I got stuff
put away around the RV in preparation for our departure.
When Mac returned we went into the casino and had lunch in the
restaurant. We each had a sandwich and brought back about a full
sandwich for lunch tomorrow. In addition Mac had a bowl of stew
that had venison and pheasant sausage in it. It was very tasty.
Too Italian for me, but Mac enjoyed it very much. The prices were
very reasonable and the portions are large so lunch is a good value.
We returned to the RV and hooked the car up and left heading for our
next destination. We took back county roads and along the way we
stopped at a produce stand and bought lots of vegetables including sweet
corn, green beans, tomatoes, some purple plums, cantaloupe, and a
watermelon. All of this was less than $15.00, can’t beat those
prices for farm fresh food.
We drove to Marinette, WI and stopped at Wal-Mart store # 2545 for the
night. It has an easy in and out with a large parking lot that is
attached to the mall parking so plenty of room for rigs. Mac went
in and verified that overnight parking was allowed and also to pick up
some milk.
Right down the street I saw a Goodwill thrift store so I walked there
and looked around. I found a few bargains and had fun shopping in
a thrift store again. It’s been a while since I’ve been to one.
Mac and I cleaned some of the veggies for dinner and we had some
wonderful sweet corn on the cob, new potatoes, green beans and slices of
pork loin that Mac had frozen from cooking it at Yellowstone. Yum,
dinner was so good. Also every time we open the refrigerator we
can smell the melon. It smells so good! I’ve already tried
the plums and they’re very tasty and I can hardly wait to have some
melon; probably for breakfast.
After washing dinner dishes I polished my toenails and Mac has been
reading various forums and whatever else he does to entertain himself.
After my nails dry I’m going into Wal-Mart and look around, maybe get
something to go with the melon for breakfast.
The weather is nice and cool this evening; the forecasted low tonight is
48.
Wednesday, September 16:
We worked this morning till about lunch. After lunch we headed out driving
to Harris MI. We took the more scenic route and while driving along a
flock of many wild turkeys crossed the road in front of us. That was
pretty awesome to see.
We drove to the
Island Resort
and Casino and got set up in the RV Park. They have paved sites and
many are pull through. Most of the sites have a fire ring also. It’s
not very far to walk to casino but if you prefer they will come get you if you
call for a shuttle.
Mac cooked us plenty of our fresh vegetables in a stir fry dish for dinner.
It was so good! Yum, he can create some wonderful meals.
Later we went in to check out the casino and I found one machine that had decent
pay tables. Mac played some blackjack and I played on the machine with a
good pay table and I only lost about $20. But we got $23 cash back which
we used for gas the next day.
It’s really very cool this evening with a low of about 40. I had to put on
my heavy socks to get warm enough to sleep even with the blanket and quilt on
top of me.
Thursday, September 17:
It was very confusing with time zones today. Yesterday when we were
driving here to Harris Michigan we saw a sign that said we were entering Eastern
Time zone. Shortly before we got to the casino we both swore we saw a sign
that said we were in the Central Time Zone but it turns out we’re actually still
in Eastern Time at this location.
So I either worked till way after lunch today or till about lunchtime; it was
too confusing. After I ate lunch I took a shower while Mac was gone to his
meeting. When he returned we headed out, stopping for gas before leaving
the casino location.
We drove south to Green Bay WI. We had intended to stop at Wal-Mart but
instead we drove to the
Oneida Casino to check it out for our other website of
www.casinocamper.com. It’s a
very nice place for RVs to park. They do have some electric hookups on a
first-come-first-served basis and of course they were all full. So we
parked back in the overflow area with a few other RVs and some big rig trucks.
It was nice and quiet though since the trucks don’t run their engines like they
do at some truck stops.
After dinner this evening we went in and checked out the casino and the only
decent pay tables we found were on spin poker. I’ve never played that
before but betting only 3 lines it’s like playing a triple play. I had a
blast playing it and managed to leave with some money in my pocket at the end of
our play time.
Friday, September 18, 2009
We worked this morning till around 9 or 10 and then got the RV ready to roll.
We figure it won’t take too long to get to our next destination of Hammond
Indiana. Our GPS said we’d get there around 2 or 2:30 and Mac said it
would probably be around 5. It took a long time to get there today.
I think it was around 6 by the time we arrived at
Cabela’s for the night.
There was a lot of road construction and at various places it was stop and go
traffic. Other things took a lot longer than expected too. We
stopped for propane at Flying J and with filling the propane tank then getting
gas it took almost an hour. We also stopped for lunch so that took some
time and various stops for bathroom breaks and to stretch the legs too.
These stops added up and before we knew it we had driven most of the day. But
we finally did arrive.
Mac fixed us dinner and then he went into Cabela’s to look and buy binoculars.
We had looked at some at the last Cabela’s we stopped at overnight but didn’t
buy any at that time. Mac did some more research and felt that the ones he
bought tonight are of good quality and are much better than our old ones.
I relaxed playing some computer games and then read a book this evening.
Saturday, September 19:
After some family phone calls this morning we unhooked the car and headed to the
Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN. When we entered we saw some signs for a
promotion about new members or for inactive members to get a free buffet.
We went to the players club and checked it out. Since I had not played
there since last year I’m considered inactive so after earning 15 points I
earned a free buffet.
We met John for lunch at the buffet and had a nice meal and good conversation.
John is the Editor of Midwest
Gaming and Travel magazine. Mac writes a monthly column for this
magazine titled "Road Report". Here's a link to a
recent article in the September issue. After lunch we played a little
longer and we left with a tidy profit in our pockets today.
I really wanted to go to the used bookstore that we went to last year when we
were here. But when we drove to the location it was closed and empty.
There’s no longer a bookstore there, what a bummer. I was really looking
forward to shopping for some books. Mac looked online and found a couple
of others listed and the first one we drove to wasn’t there either but the
second one was. It was Bargain Books and we found a few books that we’ll
enjoy reading.
As mentioned before we’re reading the Journals of Lewis and Clark; Mac’s almost
done with it then I can read it. And today we found the Lewis & Clark For
Dummies and another book about them too. I also found a couple of
paperback mysteries by some authors that I like. The prices were very good
so we felt like we got some good bargains at Bargain Books today.
Heading towards the RV we stopped at a grocery store for milk and a few other
things. We had meatloaf for dinner along with the last of our fresh
vegetables that we bought at the produce stand the other day. The rest of
the evening has been spent with me writing the blog and looking around on the
internet. Mac has been enjoying looking at the new books.
I’ll mention some information that I looked up today and you may enjoy it too.
Somewhere along our journey to or from Yellowstone Park we’d seen a sign about
the “Old Yellowstone Trail”. I wrote it down to look online for more about
it and finally got around to it today. It’s really interesting to read and
think about the old roads back in the early 1910’s that were created so that
people could vacation and visit our beautiful country. The road originally
was from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound and was called the
Yellowstone Trail.
This is one of the websites that I found on the subject today:
www.yellowstonetrail.org
Sunday, September 20:
It’s been cold cloudy day with a few patches of sprinkles; a good day to stay
inside and read a book and of course take a nap. We had intended to drive
over and spend the night in Elkhart Indiana. We were planning on being at
the RV Surplus when they opened on Monday. But late in the afternoon we
changed our minds.
Around 4:00 we decided to just leave and head on down the road towards our
daughter’s house. So we hooked the car up to the RV, dumped the tanks and
headed out. We drove to Wal-Mart store # 1125 in Normal Illinois for the
night. From this location we see a Goodwill store; so I intend to walk
over and shop there tomorrow.
Monday, September 21 – Sunday, September 27:
Monday morning after working a few hours we walk over to the Goodwill store.
Mac carried the bag of donations that we’d collected. I looked around in
their store but didn’t find anything today. Oh, well, that’s the way it
goes sometimes.
After I got back to the RV we headed out and drove to Tina’s house in Rushville
Illinois. She left today for 5 days on a business trip and we’re here to
make sure no wild parties happen while she’s gone. She arrived back home
Friday evening.
Saturday she and I drove to Springfield and shopped at a few thrift stores and a
book store. We found a few bargains too. The Salvation Army store
was having a half off sale and we found several books to buy and a few other
items. We ate lunch at Denny’s and it was pretty good; I especially
enjoyed my coffee. On our way home we stopped at a produce market and
picked up some fresh veggies and a watermelon.
Sunday I finally got around to scanning pictures that I’d been intending to get
done all week. Since it does take up quite a bit of room to have the
scanner set up next to the computer we don’t really have a good location to do
that in the RV. I did manage to get quite a few done on Sunday so I feel
good about that. I don’t have that many left to scan and then I’ll be
done!
We’ve enjoyed our visit with daughter and granddaughters. Kids grow up so
fast. It’s hard to believe that our oldest granddaughter is old enough to
be in college! She's a freshman at Western Illinois University and seems
to be enjoying it -- hopefully she learns something too.
Monday, September 28:
After a hectic morning getting some work done and getting the RV ready to roll
we finally headed out after lunch. We drove to Macomb IL and stopped for
gas and then stopped at Wal-Mart for a few groceries. It’s been chilly,
windy and gusty today. Not a fun day to drive at all. Of course I
drove while Mac worked.
We drove to the Wal-Mart store # 1285 in Ottumwa Iowa and spent the night.
We kept an eye out but never saw Radar O’Reilly.
Tuesday, September 29 – Wednesday, September 30:
We left this afternoon around 2 and drove to Tama Iowa. We’re at the
Meskwaki Casino
for two days. This is an interesting casino; there are many tribal
displays around. It was very educational to walk around and look at the
artifacts and photos; I felt like I was in a museum, that’s how good the quality
of displays was.
The RV Park is close enough to the casino to walk or you can call for a shuttle
if you prefer. On Tuesday we were on a spot in the front of the park,
closer to the office and laundry. Wednesday morning after it warmed up
outside there were many yellow jackets, wasp, and bees that were very interested
in our RV. For some reason they’re fascinated with our door and a few
managed to get inside. We killed about 5 that got in the RV. We
finally decided to move to another spot at the other end of the park. The
new spot we were on we only saw a couple so it was much better. We never
figured out why they seemed to like our door so much. We were just happy
that we could move away from them.
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