#83 – August 2021 – WI, IA, NE, WY CO

 

August 2021 – WI, IA, NE, WY CO

Well, what can I say, it’s just time and fuel. We are certainly getting to see the country and, more importantly, spend time with more friends we haven’t seen in too long.

We have been looking forward to seeing Mark and Nicole Tuggle for a couple of
years. We had a great time with them in 2018 (see #48). Mark suggested a route that bypassed the worst of the traffic and road construction near Chicago. It was too far from Shipshewana to their place in Wisconsin to make it in one day, so we spent a night in Madison at Lake Farm County Park, again, and pulled into Wilderness County Campground in Nekoosa early the next afternoon. Lake Farm hadn’t changed. It is a little more expensive than it was three years ago, but the standards haven’t slipped. Wilderness County Campground, on the other hand, really needed some attention. I told the manager that he was doing a poor job on brush clearance and road repairs. He apologized, but that didn’t fix a couple of new scratches on the coach.

It was so good to see Mark and Nicole again. They are gracious hosts, gourmet cooks, great tour guides, and they spoiled us at every turn. We went kayaking on the Kickapoo River, the perfect combination of peaceful drifting and slightly challenging currents in a few places. That said, we all got soaked and went out for a great lunch.  The next day we visited The Cranberry Discovery Center in Warren, WI. I always assumed that Massachusetts produced more cranberries than anywhere else, so I was very surprised to learn that Wisconsin grows more than twice as much as Mass.

It was hard to top the berries, but the South Wood County Historical Museum succeeded. Kayeanne and I are big fans of small local museums and this one is terrific. The regional  lumbering industry history exhibit in the basement was fascinating, as was the discovery that Myron H. “Grim” Natwick was a local celebrity. Natwick was a pioneering animator who created Betty Boop. He was also involved in Snow White, Mickey Mouse and Woody Woodpecker productions. The museum was a real treat. And, so was lunch at the very swanky Sand Valley Golf Resort.

It was hard to say goodbye to Nicole and Mark, but we needed to start moving west. Our first stop was Palisades-Kepler State Park in Mount Vernon IA. This was our first experience with an Iowa state park and we were impressed. The pull thru sites were laid out a little oddly, but we figured it out. That was about the only complaint, the grounds, facilities and amenities were otherwise terrific.

1970 Bultaco. I owned 12 Bultacos

As nice as Palisades-Kepler was, the real reason to stop here was so I could visit the self-declared National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa. Mark Tuggle turned me on to this place. As I suspected, the majority of the bikes were Harleys, with a smattering of Indians and long-defunct American manufacturers like Henderson and Pope. None of that is interesting to me, especially the customized creations. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to also see a number of European bikes, most of them thankfully unmodified, as well as a small selection of motocross machines from the 60’s, my racing days. 

BSA Victor, my first race bike

The non-Harleys were crammed together and the information on each one was pretty spotty or missing altogether, but there were some real gems: a Velocette Thruxton, a Bultaco Pursang, a few BMWs, and even a couple of older Moto Guzzis. Most of the bikes I was interested in had not been restored, they were in clean, unmolested original condition which is always better in my view than a perfect restoration. The museum had too many motorcycles crammed much too close together, making it impossible to get a good look at the details or to get decent pictures. That said, I was glad to visit.

And the food was good, too

The next day we drove to Coralville/Iowa City and to Cedar Rapids, just to look around and to restock at Trader Joe's. On the way we stumbled across a restaurant called Estela's Fresh Mex and had great tacos. While not quite up to Taco del Gnar standards, we’d gladly stop there again.

In 2018 we discovered Ashland, Nebraska, and the town RV park located just a block or two from the small, attractive downtown area. This trip we planned to stay two days, but extended that to three when we blew another dolly tire on I80. I have to say that I’ve had all the tire-changing-on-side-of-the-highway practice I need. It took a couple of days to get new tires shipped to us.

Ashland RV Park site 9

We like Ashland and spent a very pleasant afternoon eating lunch and wandering from one end of main street to the other. We visited several shops, had ice cream and just generally played tourist. If you are traveling on I80, plan on stopping in Ashland for a day or two. UPS showed up right on time, and we had the new tires mounted and got back on the road.

We had planned to leave I80 near Ogallala (Country View Campground is a good place to stop for a night or two) to take I76 to Denver and I70 to Grand Junction, then onto US50 to Ridgway, but a large landslide closed I70 for several days. We decided to make the best of the situation and stayed on I80 to Cheyenne, Wyoming, a town Kayeanne wanted to see. Then we would head southwest across Colorado on US highways and state roads to bypass the slide area and get back on our planned track.

Cheyenne is a Union Pacific Rail hub

We found a site at Laramie County Fairgrounds RV Park, which turned out to be pretty disappointing. I guess I’d stay there again because it is easy to access, but only if there wasn’t anything else available.

Cheyenne didn’t turn us on, either. We drove around looking at the city and some of the neighborhoods, and did a little shopping, but nothing really appealed to us. That said, there are a number of pretty parks scattered throughout the city, and the Cheyenne Depot Museum was quite interesting.

The forced detour made the trip through Colorado much more interesting than just pounding out miles on I76 and I70. Cheyenne to Ridgway was a two day trip so we needed a place to stop for the night that was roughly half the distance. Meeker, Colorado, was in the right place, and a quick search popped up the town park as welcoming RVs to spend the night for $20. They even had a few sites that included electric hookups at no additional cost. With nothing to lose we decided to give it a shot, and we found a small gem. The RV parking is right in the middle of a lovely park on the banks of the White River. We were the only ones there when we pulled in, so we got one of the power hookups. The park also offered a free sewer dump station, and a fresh water faucet to refill our tank! We quickly decided to stay two nights.

The White River runs through Meeker

Meeker is a small town that clearly has a lot of civic pride. We got a good vibe walking around the small downtown area. The place is immaculate, the stores are mostly occupied and busy, and there are a number of good restaurants. Don’t miss having  ice cream at Meeker Drug. Once again, a local museum turned out to be very interesting. Run by the son of the founder, the White River Museum is supported completely by donations. Everyone who works there is a volunteer. Some of the exhibits are pretty ad hoc, and most of the artifacts appear to have been donated to clear out the old barn, but nonetheless we spent a couple of hours just meandering around.

Site 260 at Ridgway State Park

We have been looking forward to returning to Ridgway State Park since our last
visit in 2015. Ridgway is one of the best state parks we have stayed in, bar none. This year we were fortunate enough to get a large pull thru site close to the river. The only downside is the state of Colorado’s rapacious charges for “extra” vehicles. A pickup pulling a trailer doesn’t pay anything extra, just the camping fee, but a motorhome pulling a car is charged $9 per day in addition to the camp fee. That increases the daily campsite cost to $50, more than many very nice commercial campgrounds. No one I’ve asked can explain this nonsense to me, but given the current demand for camping sites and states’ unrelenting zeal for ever more revenue I don’t see anything but higher and higher costs. This may be our last visit to a Colorado state park, though. Ok, rant off. 

A Luca Brau and a Drippy Mitch,
I think

Long-suffering readers of this blog (thanks to all nine of you!) may remember me raving about Taco del Gnar, the best tacos we have ever eaten. Well, I can assure you that they are still just as good as I said they were six years ago. They have 11 tacos on the menu. We went there for lunch four times, so I ate eight of them and tasted one more that Kayeanne ordered. Someday I will return to try the ones I missed, and maybe start over again. Check out the menu.

Ouray, a mountain town

Ouray is another favorite of ours. We parked close to the middle of town and walked up one side of main street and back down the other. There are lots of local shops, bars, restaurants, ice cream stands and a neat market to check out. The local museum is, as usual, well worth a visit. Ouray is an old mining town and the collection of historic photos in the museum is fascinating. That was a really tough way to make a living.

For some reason we didn’t get to Telluride on our last trip. This year we decided to make that a priority. Boy, were we disappointed. Telluride appears to be all about slick, glossy posers. It reminds me of Park City but without the charming old downtown part. We drove the length of the main drag, turned around and headed back to Ridgway. I guess the skiing must be fantastic.

I’ve clearly fallen behind in my reading; I guess YouTube has taken over. But, our wine drinking hasn’t slacked off. Kayeanne nominated two white wines this month, and I discovered a really good Malbec:

Trader Joe’s Vintjs Sauvignon Blanc - 2018
Santa Francesca - Pinot Grigio – Italy
Navarra Correas Coleccion Privada Malbec – 2017 Argentina

More soon,

Bob

Lunch in Ashland

The boys share ice cream at Meeker Drug

Velocette Thruxton - Just gorgeous

BMW R75/5 - My first Beemer

Nicole and Mark at the museum

Ridgway in the morning

Wow, great original patina! And, it runs!

#82 – July 2021 – NY, PA, OH, MI, WI, IN

 #82 – July 2021 – Six states in 20 days    

Leaving the tranquility of Casa Kendrick for the open road was a rude shock. We pulled into Camp Walmart in Oneonta NY and the bedroom slide wouldn’t work; the motor ran but nothing moved. Not a crisis you think, but we can’t open 80% of the bedroom drawers with the slide in. I didn’t know it, but this was the first of a pretty long list of problems that happened one after the other right up to today, seven weeks later.

The explosion in RV sales has led to very long leadtimes for parts and service. I called the local mobile RV tech who came up on Google braced for the worst. I called him first because he had the only 5-star reviews.  Jason not only answered the phone but agreed to take a look at the slide the next day. We met him at a gas station near his house because the road to his shop had washed out a couple of days earlier and the county crews were still repairing it. He met us by ATV. He looked it over and decided that he needed his tools and a few parts. The road repairs were expected to complete by evening, so he suggested that we get a site for the night at nearby Chenango State Park and he’d work on it in the morning. We did, and he did.

Working on that slide mechanism under the bed is best done by a small contortionist. Jason is a big, strapping guy. Much straining ensued, and I was able fit into the small space to reach the last two bolts. Once he had the slide assembly removed, repairing the actual failure required five minutes and $2 worth of shear pins to reattach the drive gear to the motor shaft. Getting the whole assembly out and reinstalled took over an hour. When he billed me $80 I felt like I’d won the lottery.  

Chenango State Park was our first experience with New York parks. Like most northeastern parks, it wasn’t designed with rigs our size in mind. Luckily, the camp host recognized a problem as soon as we pulled up. The site we had reserved online might have theoretically worked, but access to it was really sketchy. He reassigned us a better site and we spent a couple of days catching our breath and putting the bedroom back together. It’s a nice park, and we’d stay there again.  

That unexpected delay caused us to rethink our schedule. Reservations were hard to find, especially at state and federal parks, our preferred destinations for cost and aesthetic reasons. Weekends were sold out months ago, and midweek reservations at popular parks were also hard to get. Rather than trying to reschedule several reservations, we decided to bypass the Wright Paterson AFB Museum, again, and head directly to one of our primary destinations, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, aka “da’ UP”.

The waiter liked the "Ducati"
It's a Buell

That meant that the next four days were one-night stands, starting with a Walmart in Erie, PA; then the Wayne County Fairgrounds RV Park in Belleville MI; a Harvest Host site, the Wellington Farm Park in Grayling MI; Waterways Campground in Cheboygan MI; and finally to our first UP campground, Monocle Lake NFS campground in Brimley MI. By the time we got to Monocle Lake we were ready for a break from the road.

National Forest Service (NFS) campgrounds are always quiet and beautiful, but are usually inaccessible to large RV’s or located miles from anywhere. Monocle Lake is an exception. The lake-side setting is wonderful, the sites are huge and easy to get into, and it is located fairly close to Sault St. Marie, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and several other places worth visiting. All that for just $9 a day with the Senior Pass!

Entering the Poe Lock

The city (town, really) of Sault Ste. Marie was interesting. The Corp of Engineers visitors center next to Poe Lock, the main shipping lock, is really worth a visit. The displays are well done and the folks working there seem to enjoy it, always a good sign. A huge lake freighter was departing the lock as we were looking for a parking place, and that was uncharacteristically the only ship we saw in two days. Since 7,000 ships a year traverse the locks, that was highly unusual.

Sault Ste. Marie is actually two cities sharing the same name, one in the US and the other, much larger one across the river, in Canada. Canada’s Covid border closure was still in force, so all we could do was look at the shoreline buildings. We hoped the border would be open by the time we arrived because the food is much better on the other side of the river, but we had to make do with the local fare.

July at Whitefish Point

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the entrance to Whitefish Bay on the southern shore of Lake Superior. It documents the many wrecks that have occurred in these waters over three centuries, but the central exhibit focuses on the loss of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald, immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot’s well known ballad. The largest ship on the Great Lakes at that time, she sank in seconds with the loss of all hands during an especially severe storm in 1975. Her loss is only one of literally thousands of ships to be lost on the Great Lakes since the 1700’s. Storms are frequent and the relatively shallow waters quickly develop dangerous wave conditions. Before the days of Satnav, GPS and radar navigation was very difficult, leading to the loss of many, many lives.

We wanted to visit the area around Houghton but could not get a reservation anywhere. Any place close to the lake shore appears to fill up as soon as the reservation windows open in January. After a couple of days of fruitless calls and online searches, I went to Plan B: The Klint Safford RV Park in Iron River in the interior of the UP. Iron River is an old, small town working hard to become a destination for off-roading, fishing, snowmobiling, car clubs, etc. The RV park is the cornerstone of that effort and it’s a real gem. Fairly new, well designed and immaculately kept, it was a pleasure to stay in while we explored the area.

I wish it still ran

There isn’t much to see or do in Iron River, but the Cornish Pumping Engine and Glider Museum about 50 miles away in Iron Mountain caught my attention. It was certainly worth the drive. The pump is the largest ever made in the US. It was built in 1892 to de-water the Chapin iron mine, one of the most productive in the area. Pictures can’t impart the scale of it, and the specs are equally impressive: for decades it pulled 4.5 million gallons a day from the 1,500’ level of the mine. If you like iron, you really need to see this.

I had no idea that Ford bought over 500,000 acres of virgin hardwood forest near Iron Mountain beginning in the early 1920’s. Large scale timber operations began immediately and vehicle manufacturing started in the early ‘30’s. During WWll the Iron Mountain Ford plant was one of the largest manufacturers of the gliders used in aerial assaults like D-Day.

I found the gliders and other war related exhibits quite interesting, but the history of Ford’s impact on the whole UP area was fascinating. I could return to that museum with a stool and spend all day just reading the articles on the walls. For example, Ford sold charcoal thru their dealerships throughout the country because Henry Ford hated waste. The vast timber operation created enormous amounts of waste that he was determined to put to use. That business continues today as the Kingsford Products Company.

The front roof-top air conditioner had died when we were in New Hampshire and we couldn’t get a replacement before we planned to leave. We have two others and thought that they would see us through the summer and we’d deal with the problem when we got to Arizona. A few days on the road in 90° heat and humidity quickly changed our minds. The dash AC driven off the engine works until the temp hits 80 or the sun comes through the windshield. At that point we need the much more powerful cooling of the front roof unit.

Parking in Shipshewana

RV components like AC’s are hard to find because the manufacturers of new RV’s are sucking up everything. I finally got a reference to National RV Refrigeration in Shipshewana, Indiana. It turns out that they are one of the largest dealers for Dometic brand AC units in the country, the brand we needed. They had the model we needed in stock, so we reserved one and rearranged our plans, again. Two looong days later we arrived in Shipshewana with an overnight stop in Madison WI. The next morning we had a new AC unit. We spent a week in Shipshewana before heading right back to Wisconsin, but more on that next month.

Oh, yes, the folding stair mechanism broke, for the second time, when we arrived in Erie. I tried to order the part from the manufacturer but they were out of stock. That’s never good news.  Amazon was also out. PPL in TX claimed to have it, took the order, and then didn’t ship. It turns out they were simply incompetent, not actually deceptive. I finally found RVUpgrades.com who actually had them on the shelf and shipped one right out, but…. it was defective. The replacement finally arrived while we were in Shipshewana and after an hour under the coach it worked. We have stairs again.

I haven’t had a chance to do much reading this month, mostly rereads.

We stocked up at the New Hampshire State Liquor Store before we left and they carry a very respectable collection of both domestic and imported wines. That means we had lots of new wines to try and we hit an unusual number of good ones: 

Emma Reichart Rosé of Pinot Noir 2018 – Good
L'Envoye The Attache Pinot Noir – Willamette Valley – Good
Loudenotte Pinot Noir 2017 France – Trader Joes- Good
Trader Joe’s Reserve Cab - Columbia Valley - Wahluke Slope Lot 189 - 2016 - VG!
Pedra Cancela Selecao do Enologo Tinto - Dao Portugal- 2016 – VG
Dry Creek Fume Blanc – 2019 – CA

Santa Francesca - Pinot Grigio – Italy

More soon,

Bob

More pictures:

Ain't she pretty?!

Tahquamenon Falls.

Monocle Lake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom in on the specs

Wellington Farm - they still run!

The neighbors at
Shipshewana

#81 – June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick

June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick - Campton NH  

Casa Kendrick featuring Charlie and Mollie's lovely new coach

The world's best fire pit

Pulling into Charlie and Mollie Kendrick’s place in Campton, NH, was like entering a tranquil harbor after a blustery sail. We’d been on the move for almost seven weeks, packing up and moving every few days, looking for places to stay, making reservations, and then scrambling to find, see and experience many new places. We were a little hyper and a touch frazzled. A day later, though, we had come under the calming spell of great friends, easy living and no pressure for several weeks. Wow, that felt great!

My Father's Day present,
and the tort was good, too

To make June even better, Liesa flew out to spend a few days with us. We hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, and she looked great. Phone calls and emails are good, but there is no substitute for a big hug from my daughter. It was so good to see her. Since my sister lives in Concord NH, we had a reunion: the last four Coveys were all together for the first time since 2003. I hope it won't take 18 years for the next one. It was great to see Linda, too. 

We spent the next six weeks hanging out, sightseeing, doing chores, making campfires and visiting with their great kids. The time seemed to fly by in a very pleasant relaxing blur. 

One day we all went to Portsmouth NH for lunch and a walk around:

Mollie

Prescott Park in Portsmouth

It was a great day!

 

 

Not only did we get to see Liesa, but Judy Powell called to say that she was going to be in NH in June with her family. As we talked, it dawned on me that she was planning to come to the Lake Winnipesaukee region during Bike Week, when literally tens of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the country descend on the small lakeside towns and rent every motel room and B&B in sight. That didn't deter her, she rented a house on a small lake in Madison and we drove over to to see her. We'd had to cancel our usual SoCal visit in 2020, so it was a real pleasure to get together. 

Judy, Judy, Judy... and us

 

Every once in a while, Kayeanne reminds me that she is a great cook. She turned out the best blueberry pie I have ever had for my birthday. She even made the crust from scratch using her aunt's recipe. I ate way more of it than I should have, and wished there was another one. 

Tastes even better than it looks

New Hampshire is one of my favorite states. I lived in southern NH for several years before moving to California, but I realized that I hadn't seen a fraction of the great places and terrific scenery that central and northern NH have to offer. Our erstwhile local guides introduced us to several new places, including the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park; the 5,000 ton Madison Boulder, thought to be the largest glacial erratic rock in North America; the small but interesting New Hampshire Boat Museum in Wolfeboro; the beautiful Kancamagus Highway and the many local places near Campton that make this area so great to visit. 

Saint-Gauden's famous
Standing Lincoln

The rock won

The Kancamagus views

It still won

The musuem's old Quonset hut was
as interesting as the boats 

In Rumney Another fantastic
food truck find

Not "burgers and fries"

I really like Portsmouth. It has a variety of rivers, harbors and shorelines, and lots of things to see and do on shore without being too hectic or hard to access. One of the highlights of the whole visit was to cruise on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth on Mike and Holly Babin's lovely yacht Return Again. The Babins are very knowledgeable local guides, gracious hosts and accomplished mariners. They recently completed a one year trip up the Hudson River, across the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River, across the Gulf of Mexico and back up the east coast to Portsmouth. We always look forward to seeing them.

Portsmouth waterfront

Despite all the visiting and running around that we did, I still found time for a little reading and the odd tipple. Books included:
    Lake of the Ozarks by Bill Geist - Fun read

    Obsessions Die Hard by Ed Culberson - Wore me out

Lots of wines to pick from because the NH state liquor commission (monopoly on wine and liquor statewide) sources a very broad selection of wines and we have been taking advantage of the variety:

    Bousquet Malbec 2019 – VG
    Chateaux St. Michelle Cab - Col Valley 2017 – VG
    J. Lohr 7 Oaks Cab - Paso Robles 2018 - Old friend
    Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2020 - VG
    Sauvignon de Seguin  Vin de Bordeaux 2019 - VG

On July 11 we sadly said goodbye and pointed Ripley west. More soon,

Bob