After a rocky night and a big, white boy who was afraid of the rocking of the motorhome then ended up in our bed for the night we pulled out at 8:30.
We crossed the Continental Divide at 7000 ft. at 8:30. Then again at 6930 feet and 940am. It is so funny to cross it so many times.
After about an hour and an half of driving the roads were clearing and the wind was slowing down.
The east bound traffic on I80 was closed. Before we left Wyoming we saw the traffic backed up 4 or 5 miles 4 semis wide on the 2 lanes. Sure glad we weren’t going that way.
We got Utah 12:23. David is back in his RV driving mode. That was our 10th state. We stopped for gas. It was$3.69. We hit I84. We will be on this almost to Portland, Oregon.
We hit Idaho at 3:33 our 11th state. We stopped in a rest stop for the night around 4. We went 413.5 miles.
We got up at 5:45 and 16 degrees. We decided we wouldn’t leave until totally light.
We left at 8:28. It was clear, sunny and very windy.
The wind is terrible with gust up to 70 mph. The wind has caused us to slide many times. Once again I thank God that David is an old, Alaskan school bus driver.
It keeps saying that our next highway is closed 30 miles from Rawlins. We just keep going, no way we are turning back. David is driving about 35 mph. He is fighting the wind all the way.
We got to Muddy Gap Junction. The wind was so bad there I actually thought it would blow us over. Harrison was so scared he actually cried. He doesn’t like the wind blowing the motorhome. David went into the gas station and the guy told him the road was open, so we headed out.Â
We crossed the Continental Divide at 1:05 at a 6720 feet. A few minutes later we hit the road closer. I am glad we weren’t in our car because we could get comfortable to wait. We were finally on the move at 3:32. The wind and roads are not good. There was even an Amazon truck that slid off the road.
Getting out of the Continental Divide Basin we were up to 7114 feet. We got to Rawlins at 4:20.
We stopped for gas but it wouldn’t take cards. David forgot our gas cap there but didn’t realize until we were on I80. Soon as we got on I80 I saw a Flying J. It was so packed we could hardly find a place for the night. We were gassed up and settled in by 6.
Harrison was so scared he ended up in our bed. He has never done that before.
Of course, it was a very intense day for us and lots of prayers. We only made it 218 miles.
I will add more photos when I can, the internet here is too weak to upload. I will do it when I can.
I woke up at 5 and it was 23 degrees and snowing. David got up soon after me and took Harrison out. He said there was about 4 to 6 inches of snow. He also talked to the snowplow guy and he told us the road was only for necessary travel which we were not. If we want to go the other way it’s worse because that one was closed. He told us to watch the 511 that they kept it updated.
We kept watching the snow fall. I was watching the 511 maps. At noon we decided we better stay another night here at the Sagebrush RV Park. We thought that would be the safest since we wouldn’t be traveling that far and we weren’t sure where the next RV stop was.
David and I cleaned the RV good. We played games. It was a relaxing afternoon. Until David decided it would be a good idea to shovel the driveway and around the RV. The sun is out now and it has stopped snowing. Hopefully, we will be able to leave in the morning.
We even have icicles.
When we stayed at the Diamond A we bought some Pemmican that one of the daughters makes. It was wonderful. You can order it at the store.
We stopped so early that we were in bed by 7:45. I couldn’t keep my eyes opened.
We were up by 5 and on the road by 6:15. It is cold this morning 19 degrees. We stopped for gas at 6:37. Gas was $3.04 a little more than our last stop. I decided to stink up their bathroom instead of ours. We left at 7:02.
The temperature is still dropping. As the sun comes up at 7:30 it is 16. At 7:40 it is 14 degrees. By 8:17 it is 12 degrees.
We are having to keep the stove top going to stay warm. The windows are icing up on the inside. We have to keep scraping them. The flat Ole hippies are not sure of this.
Frozen windows
Then the sun came out.
The temperature keeps drops 16 to 14 to 12 degrees.
David’s plan of setting the cruise control 65mph is saving us around a gallon a mile.
We stopped to warm up at 9:15. The back heater is working so we can go back there to thaw our feet. I heated up some apple cider. David took Harrison for a nice walk. We left again at 10:08.
We crossed in Minnesota at 10:31. That is seven states now. Then it hit 10 degrees but when we turned west it started to warm up. It is now 18.
At noon it was 25 degrees. We are really having a heat wave now. We stopped to warm up again. It was 28 at 12:42pm. David has this great idea to cover the vents in front with duct tape because they have cold air coming out of them. We get back on the road then.
By 1:15 as we crossed into South Dakota it was 30 degrees. It was also nice in the camper to. That is number eight for us now.
We decided to stay at a Harvest Host tonight. We found one not far from the highway called Diamond A Cattle Company in Pukwana, SD. We got here about 3:40. Found where to park and plug in.
The owner came by when she got back from town. We paid her $20 for the electric. We also got some summer sausage and pemmican that one of her daughters made. That is one of the cool things about Harvest Host.
Harrison was enjoying the outdoors but we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
We went 498.4 miles today. We will get to see Mount Rushmore tomorrow.
We went into Today’s Harvest to get some coffee and fresh donuts. The people are very friendly. The store is adorable
We left New Paris at 8:37 a.m. this morning. It was 18 degrees.
David wanted to see how much gas the generator used during the night. He stopped to fill up. He figures it uses about a gallon an hour. Gas is still getting cheaper, $2.99.
We left the house at 8:48am for our next great adventure. Heading to Harrisburg we hit a little rain. Once we got on Highway 76, a toll road, the skies started to clear.
Our good friends, the Flat Ole Hippies, decided to join us on this trip. They are always a lot of fun.
We are driving in the rain again. At least it is not pouring.
There has been a lot happening here since I last wrote. I went to Friday morning mass to see Maria serve. I bowed in front of the alter and went to turn. As I turned my foot came out of my sandal, then down I went. It all happened like I was in slow motion. I was trying to grab the pew with one hand. The other hand went behind me to try to catch myself. I fell on the ball of my hand. I went home and David left for work. I took the neighbor shopping but when we got home my hand was killing me. David got me to the doctor. I broke my wrist, to be exact it is a scaphoid fracture in the wrist. I had to wear a splint for a week and a half. Now I am in a cast that keeps my thumb from moving. It will come off on January 12 when we get home.
I had to finish making the Christmas presents which was kind of hard with one hand. They are all done and ready to go.
We went to pick up our motorhome, Merida, and it wouldn’t start. David ended up replacing all 3 batteries. What a difference it made.
I got her loaded up yesterday with some help from Christina and Maria. We just have a few things to load today before we leave on our trip to spend Christmas with Sarah and Steve’s family. Also, Cade and his daughter, Brodie, will be moving back to York with us.
We are excited about our long trip. We will be making some side trips to checkout different things. The first main stop will be Mount Rushmore. It will take us a couple days to get there. We don’t want to drive to long, 6 to 8 hours a day is what we are trying to do. Of course, if we see something to go check out it might be shorter or longer.
We will be leaving this morning.
I will try to post when I can.
Thanks for stopping by!
Featured
Well I have been busy crafting and making Christmas presents. Last year everyone got home made presents. They all thought it was cool so I am making them again this year. I won’t post any here because my family might see it. I will post later what I have made.
I have been making some stuff for my Etsy store though.
Early summer David and I bought tickets to the Bluefield Blues Festival to see Samatha Fish. It was over a 7 hour drive but David and I love to go on road trips.
On the way we stopped to gas up and grab some lunch. Then we continued on laughing, talking and singing all the way to our hotel in Bluefield, WV.
Bluefield is a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. It is a coal mining town. You still see the coal cars loaded with coal at the railyard. They helped support the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The development of the coal industry in this area created a boom in the local and national economy, and attracted immigrant European workers and enslaved/ migrant African Americans from the Deep South to the mountains in search of industrial work. During the Great War and World War II, coal from this area supplied the navies of the United States and United Kingdom.
We decided to take our friends, Christina and Maria, camping. Christina had been camping growing up, but Maria had never been.
Christina and I decided to go to Codorus State Park because Maria was doing “Go York” which is program the library has in the summer to get people to check out the local parks. Then you find the marker and get a rubbing. There were several in and near the park so we headed on over.
We had been told that we should take Beka and Kate to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. It is only 30 miles from our house but we decided to stay at a Harvest Host on a farm.
Christina and Maria went with us too. It was tons of fun!
Our friend, Christina, had told us about Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium located on the other side of Gettysburg from our home in York, PA.
When our daughter, Sarah, and her family visited in February we stopped by when we were out checking out Gettysburg. We didn’t get to check out everything outside because of the snow but the store was worth the visit.
Christina tells me she read that they had opened up a shed that is full of teapots and she would like to go check it out. She then proceeds to tell me that she has never taken her daughter, Maria. I told we needed to go then.
I am so sorry about taking so long to since I have blogged but summer has been a whirl wind. Here it is August and there are so many things we haven’t got done. Anyway back to my new story.
I received a email about things to do in our area. One of the things listed was the River Discovery Boat Tour which was free. Well David and I are really into free and boats so I grabbed us some tickets.
David and I decided to go camping over Memorial Day weekend. I found us a campsite in one of the state forests, Buchannan. We left at 12:30 thinking we would be there in a couple of hours. We had put the forest in google maps and headed out.
At 1:30 we hit Maryland and at 3:18 we were in Pennsylvania again. Thinking we were almost to the campsite we drove all the way through the forest. NO CAMPSITE! We had noticed a place by a trailhead that had brochures so we headed back there to get one.
After looking at the brochure we noticed that there are like 5 different places that are part of the forest. Who would think when you put it in it is going to take you to the farthest away and you need to be at the closest one.
Then from the tiny map I notice there is a name of a road, which I had thought was a creek when I reserved the spot, I put that into google. Low and behold it was there and we were 3 hours away. We finally arrived at 6:30.
The kids, I mean the grown kids, wanted to go to a mystery dinner date. It was in Lancaster so we decided to use our Harvest Host and find a place to stay close. Oma and Grandpa could watch the girls while Mom and Dad had a date night.
We headed to Bird in Hand, PA where we stayed at Kauffman’s Barefoot Acres.
This was our maiden voyage with Merida, Winnebago Brave. Well that is what we have named her. She is just what we wanted. Merida is just the right size for David, Harrison and me, 29 feet.
David drove me to rehab so we could head right over to the kids to head out when it was over. I jumped out and got my rehab over with. I went back to the motorhome and David informed me we were over heating. We tried to find an auto parts store but nothing was close. David opened the hood and we could see the hose that was cracked. David and I reverted to our Alaska ways. I told him I have duct tape in the RV and water. David let it cool down before he could apply the duct tape. We didn’t have a funnel to get the water into the radiator, so David went into the store to see if they had one. He came out with a plastic cup. I had a pitcher we could use to pour the water into from the 5 gallon jug. We were then off to the kids house. Dan had David go pick up the hose. Then Dan replaced it. Thank goodness that boy loves cranking a wrench.
We finally go off around 4:30pm on Thursday April 1.
Heather called me one Sunday morning and asked if I would like to go to the park with the girls. I told her that there was a nice park by us that had a nice playground.
As Heather, my daughter, pulled up to the park the girls started yelling we want to go to the red one. We couldn’t get the girls out of the van fast enough.
Yes I am really running behind on my blogs. Here it is May and I am still blogging about February.
February is a big birthday month for our family. My youngest daughter, Sarah, was born on the first of the month starting the birthdays. Next is my son in law, Dan, on the 13th. We can’t forget the girls, Kate and Beka, who celebrated their 3rd birthday with us. Last of all on the 26th is my birthday.
Since the Mossberg’s were here visiting we had a party at Heather and Dan’s to celebrate all the February birthdays.
The middle child, Sarah, and her family decided to drive across country to visit from Gig Harbor, Washington. I call her the middle child because all her life we heard about her being the middle child of 5 children. We do give her a hard time about it. but she tried using it on her Dad and me. Got to love the middle child!
They were going to come in the spring but Steve, son in law, wasn’t working right now. He was waiting for his job to start up, so they came in February. They were all here for my birthday which was great.
Little Bear, their dog, snuggled up with Meadow.
Willow is a normal child who thinks she is already a teenager. Who in the old days we would have said can’t get her nose out of the book and now we say get them off their tablet. I think I like the idea of their nose being in a book better.
It just so happened that Santa rides his horse right down the street in front of our house. The twins were here to see him.
My son, Cade, and his daughter, Brodie came to visit us for Christmas. Brodie was hoping we had snow. Well she was lucky and got to build a snowman with the help of Daddy and her new friend, Maria.
It has been a long time since I posted. I guess it all started when I decided to make everyone’s gift. I should have started a lot earlier. I have learned from this Christmas.
Anyway David and the girls got all the leaves up during the fall.
The girls even got Dad in the leaves. Kate thought it was fun to sit in front of the leaf blower.
Even with Covid-19 causing many to think this year is the worst ever we found things to be thankful for. In fact, we found a lot; no one in our family have contracted Covid-19, we have a loving and caring family, we are very lucky to have 12 beautiful grandchildren, we have portal to stay connected to our family which seems to make them seem closer and many more.
David and I are lucky that we do have some family here. That means that we went to Heather and Dan’s for dinner. Heather and I split the cooking which made it easier on both of us. I did cheap on desserts by buying the pumpkin pie from a local bakery and the Lemon bundt cake from Maria to support her school. They were both delicious and I didn’t have to cook them which was nice.
When we got to their house Heather and the girls already had the table set.
Once again we head to a farm that we have been wanting to check out. A lot of people told us about all the things that go on here; like summer programs, corn maze, straw maze and more. We were a little late for the season but we still had a great time. The girls had a wonderful time playing.
I figured to start the day we should do a family photo of Heather, Dan and girls. Check this out MeMe and PopPop!
We loaded up and were off by 10:26am. At 12:15 we had to stop so Dan could check on the trailer. We ate lunch in the truck and were off again by 12:30.
We had to make a pit stop in Georgia for 10 minutes at 4:30. By 5:10 we hit South Carolina and were at the Whipperwill Farms by 5:36. Dan got us parked up while we took the girls to look at animals.
It is getting close to the end of our trip. One last day at Animal Kingdom. I said before this is our favorite park. We were hoping to ride the Banshee again but with it being a weekend the line was too long. I guess it will be on our list next time we go.
