Monthly Archives: August 2013

Corn Palace

Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning, while I was writing my post, Donna alternated walking and running laps around the campground. When I get the urge to exercise, I usually lie down until the urge goes away. Despite this, because I’m more active throughout the day than before I retired, I’m continuing to lose weight and will need to buy new jeans with a smaller waist size.

After breakfast and showers, we left the campground at 9:15 am and rode the scooter to Mitchell. We rode north a few miles into Salem then headed west on highway 38 for 32 miles. The scenery was a recurring theme. Corn fields, then soy bean fields, then fallow land or grazing cattle punctuated by the occasional wooded plot. Repeat. The road was straight as an arrow for the most part. For me it was a boring ride, but Donna said she enjoyed the scenery.

Mitchell is bigger than Madison with a population of more than 15,000. My first order of business was to find a bank to deposit checks. We tried several banks and none of them had an ATM that would accept a deposit into my Chase account or my credit union. This is frustrating. I’m still holding the check for the sale of my BMW motorcycle.

After running through a few banks, we found the attorney’s office on Kimball Street. We walked in precisely at 10:30, our appointed time. The receptionist greeted us and knew who we were. She remembered talking to Donna about our new lifestyle and asked if we found parking for the RV. The estate planning with the attorney turned out to be a little more complicated than I anticipated. My affairs are simple, as most of my assets already have designated beneficiaries. Donna, on the other hand has passive income, such as royalties that will survive her. This requires the attorney to study her contracts before writing her will.

While we were in Mitchell, we decided to visit the Corn Palace. This is Mitchell’s main tourist attraction. I have to say it’s unique. The Corn Palace is basically a community center with an auditorium, basketball court and performing arts stage. They hold various events there. What makes it unique are the murals inside the building and decorating the exterior. These murals are made from corn. They are created with different colored ears of corn and stalks. The murals are stripped from the building and replaced with new ones every year. Admission is free unless a special event is being held.

Southwest corner of the Corn Palace

Southwest corner of the Corn Palace

We saw tour buses at the Corn Palace from Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Apparently it’s a popular stop on the tour bus routes.

Corn mural on the exterior wall

Corn murals on the exterior wall

One of many murals inside the palace made from corn

One of many murals inside the palace made from corn

We had lunch in Mitchell at Pizza Hut. Donna had the salad bar while I had pizza. It’s sad to say this was the best pizza I’ve had in a while, but it’s the truth. The place in Madison or the pub pizza in Salem was that bad.

Back at the campground Donna, e-mailed her contracts to the attorney (she had scanned them all before leaving Michigan). Then she spent the next hour doing a recorded interview for “HOW” magazine on organizing and productivity. I sat outside and watched the changing of the guard while she was on the phone.

When I say changing of the guard, I’m referring to the turnover at the campground. When we returned from Mitchell, the park was nearly empty. All afternoon I watched RVs pull in to the park and set up. This park seems to be an overnight way point for many RVers. We’ve been stationary here for six days now – a new record for us.

Today we have a change of plans. No big surprise as our plans often have a way of changing. Instead of returning to Mitchell to complete our legal matters, we’ll go back to Madison. We found out that the licensing department is open there on Tuesdays. We can obtain our new driver’s licenses and also meet with the insurance agent there. I reviewed her quote yesterday and will activate new policies.

Tomorrow we will break camp and drive west in the motorhome. We’ll make a stop in Mitchell to sign our documents at the law office, then head west toward Rapid City. This makes more sense than our original plan which had us backtracking to Madison.

I found good news online. In the Rapid City area there are several credit unions that are linked with Genisys. This means I can finally deposit my checks when we get there. I’m also hoping that when we go through the Badlands and into the Black Hills, my allergies will calm down. I’ve been miserable the past few days with itchy eyes and blocked sinuses.

Time for breakfast now and then we’re off to Madison.

Gigabyte Trouble

When we were living in our sticks-and-bricks house, I never thought too much about an internet connection. We had a Comcast bundle for internet, cable TV and telephone. Their internet service was good. I had very fast downloads and became used to downloading things like European coverage of Moto GP races.

When we decided to hit the road, I did a little research on how we could stay connected. Some campgrounds have wifi, but their connection speed varies. What we’re finding is that it’s pretty good early in the morning, but as more people connect, it bogs down.

We have a couple of ways to get online other than relying on campground or other public wifi. Our main way of accessing the internet is through a device called a Verizon Jetpack. The Jetpack is a wireless router and hotspot that shares a data plan with my Verizon Galaxy S4 phone. As long as we have Verizon coverage, we can get online.

Verizon Jetpack.

Verizon Jetpack.

The other option is to make Donna’s T-Mobile Galaxy S2 a mobile hotspot. She has an unlimited data plan with T-Mobile. Unfortunately, T-Mobile doesn’t have the greatest coverage. We’ve had Verizon 4G service everywhere, so we have yet to fall back on using her phone as a back up.

Here’s the rub. When you are using a shared data plan with your cell phone provider, there are limitations. You can only download a finite amount of data under the plan you’ve chosen.  Exceed the limit and you may be charged an exorbitant rate for the overage. I had no idea  how many gigabytes (GB) of data we’d download (or upload) in a month. I didn’t want to sign up for too much, but I didn’t want to go over either.

The good thing about Verizon is they let you alter your plan during the billing cycle. You can monitor your usage and if you think you’ll go over your limit, you can change the limit for that billing cycle. If you raise it one month you can lower it down the next month. The price goes up or down by $10 for every 2 GB.

I decided to start with a plan that has unlimited talk or text on my smartphone and 6 GB of shared data. My first billing cycle was only 24 days and we used a little over 5 GB. I thought we were doing pretty good.

This month, one week into the billing cycle, we were at 1.3 GB. Right on track. The next day it was 3.2 GB! What! I asked Donna if she downloaded video content. She didn’t, but she did move a big batch of files from Dropbox to her computer. She also downloaded an upgrade to her virus protection program that may have been large. We discussed this and decided we needed to be smarter about handling data.

Whenever we have free wifi access, we can do large data files. On our dime, we need to be more careful. This requires a change in mindset. After years of unlimited internet access, it’s hard to form new habits.

Yesterday, I wanted to download the Moto GP race. I get this through a torrent program and it simultaneously downloads and shares an upload. Typically a couple of GB of data moves in a short amount of time. I was connected to the campground wifi and started the download.

In the afternoon, the campground wifi here typically is slow as more and more people get online. With the download running in the background, I worked on another project online. My screen kept freezing and I became frustrated. I disconnected from the campground wifi and connected to the Jetpack so I could complete the project. I totally forgot about the download running in the background.

Once I’d finished uploading a few pictures to a page I was working on, I remembered the Moto GP download. I opened the torrent program and the download was complete! Doh! I checked my data usage – it went from 3.2 GB to over 5 GB in 20 minutes! I can’t let that happen again!

I went to my Verizon account and upped our plan to 8 GB, which may or may not be enough for the rest of the month. We’ll see. But we’ll be very careful from now on. There are races I want to download over the next two weekends. Lesson learned: If I’m downloading a race on free wifi, I’ll walk away from the laptop until the download is complete.

Organizing and Eating Well

Donna here. Long before we left our “sticks-and-bricks” home, I ponied up to the challenge of organizing our motorhome for full-time living. We have about 300 square feet of living space in our coach – about the size of large hotel room or small hotel suite.

My first priority as chief cook was to organize our food storage. We have a pull-out pantry which is great, except that the low sides of the pantry baskets only allowed room to store a single layer of cans, leaving a lot of wasted space. So I got the idea to place two plastic magazine racks in one of the baskets which tripled the canned storage space on that “shelf.” In the organizing profession, we call that “re-purposing.” I was planning to get rid of the magazine racks, but instead put them to good use.

Pull out pantry

Pull-out pantry

On the floor under the pantry, I have a small Clever Container folding cube where I store things like extra bottles of sparkling water. I also claimed the two cupboards over the kitchen table for food storage, plus a small storage area under the clock and the back half of a drawer under one of the kitchen bench seats where I store sugar, flour and other baking supplies (because I rarely use those items). I store spices on a two-tiered carousel in our one large kitchen cabinet that has two doors for access.

Overhead cabinet

Overhead cabinet

Cabinet below clock

Cabinet below clock

Kitchen cabinet

Kitchen cabinet

Visitors are often surprised to see that we have a fairly good size refrigerator/freezer. Still, it’s smaller than the average home refrigerator/freezer and lacks the compartmentalized storage of a larger unit. On my next trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond, I may buy one or two Fridge Bins to help organize the shelves. I did buy a pack of reusable GreenBags. I’m glad I did because I love fresh veggies, fruit and herbs and our refrigerator has just two tiny crispers. I had a few peaches go bad (I prefer not to refrigerate them) and wish I had thought to put them in a GreenBag in the fruit basket (yes, you can use them for countertop storage also).

When we first hit the road, I had the freezer packed with meat. Now I’m using more of the freezer space for frozen fruits and vegetables. I prefer fresh, but frozen fruits and veggies are still highly nutritious and sometimes, our only option.

At this point in our journey, shopping for groceries is catch-as-catch-can. If I have an opportunity to shop, I do because I don’t know when I’ll have an opportunity again. If we overnight at a Walmart Supercenter, then I can wheel a cart of groceries back to the motorhome. But if we’re camped at an RV park, then we’re limited to what we can carry on our scooter. Where we are now in Salem, SD, the nearest decent grocery store is 30 miles away in Madison. I’m looking forward to being within easy walking, cycling or scooting distance of Trader Joe’s when we get to San Diego!

I love grocery shopping actually; it’s my preferred form of retail therapy. I do have to be more careful now though not to overbuy, because we have limited storage space. This morning, I planned our meals for the upcoming week which includes a couple of nights of dry camping where we probably won’t be able to run the generator. That means we can’t reheat leftovers in the microwave. And because we don’t level the coach or put the slides out, it’s a bit cramped for cooking. So one night, I’ll thaw some shrimp for shrimp cocktail and serve it with a salad plus leftover chilled cucumber soup that I made this morning for tonight’s dinner.  (If you want the recipe, leave a message below with your email address and I will be happy to send it to you. I scanned all of my favorite recipes.)

For meal planning purposes – and to reduce spoilage – I made a list of what’s in the freezer as well as a list of the fresh veggies, fruits, and herbs in the refrigerator and posted these lists on the inside of the pantry door. I also keep a running grocery list in a Post-It Pocket that I mounted to the inside of a kitchen cabinet door. So when I have a chance to shop, I know exactly what I need and can get in and out of the store pretty fast and we can be on our way.

In the process of moving, I decided to let go of things like my Pampered Chef mandoline (which I never got the hang of using), but was not leaving without my Keurig Platinum Brewing System, Vitamix, Cuisinart Food Processor, and crockpot – all of which I use frequently. I used the Vitamix today to make the chilled cucumber soup. Tomorrow, I’ll make hummus in my Cuisinart. And on Friday this week (after sightseeing at Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument) I plan to try out a new crockpot recipe for Balsamic Chicken.

For dinner tonight, we’re having Blackened Tilapia with Cumin and Cayenne and a generous helping of sauteed spinach. We’ll start with the cucumber soup and end with a fresh peach for dessert. I haven’t been exercising as much as I usually do and snacking more than I should, so I’ve been fasting on leek soup (from the French Women Don’t Get Fat cookbook) since yesterday morning and I’m really looking forward to dinner!

Kitchen counter and refrigerator

Stay tuned for more small-space organizing tips. I can’t wait to show you how I re-purposed a set of clear plastic shoe boxes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scooter Tour

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. I wrote the blog while Donna practiced yoga. I’m suffering a bit from pollen allergies. I’m having a reaction to all pollens I was tested for – tree and grass pollens. I’m guessing the many thousands of acres of corn surrounding us are the reason.

Later in the morning, I rode the scooter over to Salem. Salem is a town of less the 1,500 people a few miles from here. I looked around Main street but it was pretty quiet. They have a park with a community pool. There appeared to be some kind of picnic event with more than 50 people at tables under a roof.

I decided to scooter over to the next town 10 miles to the east, Montrose. When I arrived there, I found it was smaller than Salem. I was hungry and looked for a place to eat. There was a restaurant but it only served dinner. The only place to get lunch was the Montrose Irish Pub. It seems like no matter where you go, you can find an Irish pub. When we were in France the the James Joyce Irish Pub was next to the Westin hotel where we stayed in Paris. They’re everywhere.

I thought it was a little early for an Irish pub, so I rode back to Salem. After searching the town for a diner, all I could find was fried chicken at the gas station/convenience store or pizza at the brew pub here. I decided it wasn’t too early for a pub after all. I could watch a little pre-season football as I washed down pizza with a pint of Guinness.

In the afternoon, Donna played piano. She has a digital keyboard that we set up in the bedroom. I set up an amp and played electric guitar for the first time since we left Lake George. I need to get back into practicing.

Later a new neighbor arrived. We chatted for a while. His name is Fred, He and his wife are from Yucaipa, California. They make an annual trip in their motorhome to visit family in Wisconsin. They’ve been doing this for the last ten years, Fred gave me a suggestion for our next campground in Hermosa, South Dakota.

Donna looked it up online and it looks like a nice place, It’s in a location that will allow us to make a day trip to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument. It’s also conveniently close to Custer State Park while being far enough away to avoid the crowds. We’ll try to book a couple of days there.

I don’t have much excitement to post about. Maybe Donna will add a post today.

Site 33 - Campground America

Site 33 – Campground America

Why South Dakota?

In the USA, every state is a sovereign in our federal system. Each state has its own laws regarding things like taxation, marriage, inheritance and so on. A domicile is the status of permanent residence in a particular jurisdiction. This doesn’t mean you have to be physically present in that jurisdiction at all times, but you must have sufficient links to that jurisdiction to prove intent to remain or return there.

There are a number of ways to establish a residence, the most common being to live in a particular jurisdiction. Since we are living a nomadic way of life for the foreseeable future, we don’t want to buy or rent a home at this time. We’re establishing our state of domicile in South Dakota by 1) having a mailing address here 2) obtaining driver’s licenses 3) registering to vote 4) registering our vehicles 5) having an attorney draw up our will 6) obtaining vehicle insurance and declaring South Dakota as our state of residence on our health insurance.

It’s important to take these steps and not leave connections in other states. The main reason for this is taxation. I wouldn’t want my last state of residence, Michigan, to collect income tax from me.

That leads to the question, why South Dakota? It works for us for the following reasons:

No State Income Tax. There are other states without state income tax such as Florida, Texas and Washington. This quickly narrowed the field of which states we wanted to domicile in.

Mail Service. South Dakota has a few businesses that are set up specifically to cater to our nomadic needs. These businesses not only collect and forward mail; they also assist with licensing, vehicle and voter registration.

Driver’s License Requirements. A South Dakota’s drivers license is fairly easy to obtain and doesn’t have restrictions or special requirements for large RVs.

Jury Duty. South Dakota may send us a notice for jury duty but they will excuse a full-time traveler.

Vehicle Insurance. South Dakota is one of least expensive places to insure a vehicle. When the 50 states are ranked by insurance cost – most expensive to least expensive – South Dakota is number 47.

* I have to add a correction here. The above statistic does not reference vehicle insurance, it’s overall insurance costs. In the vehicle category South Dakota is ranked 16th.

Residence. South Dakota requires proof of being physically present in the state for only 24 hours before you can obtain your driver’s license. Pretty easy, right?

So, yesterday we rode the scooter over to Madison. Madison is a town northwest of Sioux Falls and is home to about 6,500 permanent residents. It’s also home to a business called “My Dakota Address.” We went there first and met with the proprietor, Terri Lund. Terri gave us a pile of mail that she had already received for us and prepared our driver license and registration documents.

We weren’t able to obtain our driver’s licenses since it was Friday and they only do driver’s licensing on Thursday in Madison. We’ll complete that task on Tuesday in Mitchell. We’ll need to bring a receipt from the RV park with  both our names on it. This will provide proof of our physical presence in the state.

Our new hometoen

Our new hometown

Yesterday was unseasonably cool. The scooter ride seemed like it would never end. From the campground, we bombed north on 81 at 60 mph for about 21 miles. The roads around here are mostly straight and fairly flat. Speed limits on secondary roads are mostly 65mph. It’s all farm land. When 81 ended, we headed east at 60mph for another 13 miles before we entered town.

Donna was chilled from the ride while we met with Terri and then walked over to the courthouse on the next block. I was hoping the walk would warm her up. We paid for our vehicle registrations and were given plates for the trailer and scooter. Our RV plate will take a couple of weeks since we opted for a personalized plate. Neither Donna nor I have ever had a personalized plate before, but we went for it. We’re doing a lot things we never did before.

We strolled around, looking at our new “hometown.” We stopped at an insurance agency that Terri recommended and gave them information so they could prepare a quote. Later I applied online for a quote from an agency in Sioux Falls that specializes in RV insurance. I want to have that wrapped up before we leave. Most insurance companies have a grace period of 30 days. Since we won’t be legal residents of Michigan, our vehicle insurance policies won’t be valid for long.

The people we talked to in town were very pleasant. It’s a nice place to call home. We had lunch at a pizza place called Skippy’s. I can’t give it more than a 2.5 on a scale of 5. The service was good but the pizza was bland. After lunch we walked a around. We boarded the scooter and looked for RV friendly parking – we’ll stop back in town with our rig to pick up mail again when we leave the campground.

We stopped at the Sunshine Grocery before leaving town. Donna wanted to pick up a few things for a special “balancing” diet she’ll be on for the weekend. I’ll have leftover pizza and balance it with beer!

One of the items in our pile of mail was a check from USAA for the sale of my BMW motorcycle. We bank with Chase and Genisys Credit Union and neither have a branch in the area. I want to deposit this check into the Genisys account and park the money there in case of emergency. I’m thinking about “what if” scenarios. Like, what if I lost my Chase credit card and debit card? How would I pay for things until they were replaced? I keep my Genisys debit card separate from my other cards. That way I always have an an account I can access if I need to.

After we returned to campground, I rode back a few miles to the town of Salem. I stopped in at a credit union to see if I could deposit the check through their ATM. They didn’t have one, but they directed me to the Dakota First Bank a few blocks away. When I inquired about making the deposit there, they said an ATM would be the way to do it, but not their ATM. It doesn’t accept deposits. I’ll try on Monday at a bank in Mitchell.

We’ll hang around the campground this weekend. Monday we have an appointment with an attorney in Mitchell to set up our estate plan. Tuesday we’ll return to wrap that up and get our driver’s licenses. Wednesday we’ll be back on the road.

 

Hippies?

It’s 6:30am Friday morning. We’re in the land of my paternal ancestors – southeast South Dakota.

Wednesday, I was still a bachelor as Donna was in New York City shooting a national TV satellite media tour. I didn’t do much. I took a couple of walks around the area and explored a little on the scooter. For lunch I walked to the casino in search of a cheap meal.

I wouldn’t call the menu there cheap. Reasonable? Maybe. I had two tacos with Spanish rice for  $9. It wasn’t bad – I’d rate it a 3 on a scale 5. I’m looking forward to Roberto’s for tacos when we reach San Diego.

I read more of “Covert” by Bob Delaney and snoozed in the outdoor recliner. I decided to get a head start on packing as we would pull out of Dakotah Meadows RV Park in the morning. Before I knew it, I had almost everything loaded in the trailer and the awning secured. After taking a shower, I thought about dinner. Doh! I’d loaded the scooter in trailer and had things packed behind it.

The grill was put away and I didn’t have anything laid out for dinner anyway. So, I walked to the casino for another mediocre meal. This time it was a mushroom burger and fries. Doesn’t measure up to the meals I’m accustomed to – life with Donna means I usually eat well!

Around 9pm a text message appeared on my phone – “Outside now behind the coach.” I walked out and found Donna sitting in a Lincoln Town Car behind our site. I was happy to have her back!

Yesterday we were up around 7:30am. After coffee and yogurt I disconnected the hook-ups while Donna packed the interior. We pulled out of our site at 9am drove over to the RV wash. I pressure washed the coach and trailer, then topped up the tank. 29 gallons of unleaded at $3.37 – the cheapest we’ve had so far. It’s the first time I’d left the pump without spending over $100.

Our route took us southwest through Mankato. We hit I-90 at Worthington where we stopped at Walmart to to stock up on groceries. I don’t know what was going on there. We saw several young people in parking lot and store. They looked like “hippies” from the 60’s. Unwashed, strange clothing and hair. I must be getting old – I was one of them decades ago.

As we headed west on I-90 it got dark with heavy cloud cover. We drove through some light rain, nothing much, but enough to undo the hour I spent washing the coach and trailer. It’s what they always say – wash your car and it’s sure to rain, right?

I wanted to stop at the Welcome Center when we entered South Dakota. I’d heard good things about it – like free detailed road maps of the state and plenty of tourism brochures. Immediately after we crossed the state line there was a truck scale and rest stop. I blew by it, then realized that was the Welcome Center. Oh well.

Our site at Camp America

Our site at Camp America

We arrived at the Camp America Campground in Salem, South Dakota around 4:00pm. I booked a week here a couple of days ago. We have a large pullthrough site in the back corner. Nice! The view out our windshield is farmland with woods in the distance. Full hook-ups with 50 amp service. The weekly rate if you pay cash is $175 – that’s $25/day. Not too shabby. We’ll appreciate the 50 amp service in a couple of days. The weather forecast calls for temperatures to rise into the 90’s. With 50 amp service we can run both A/C units at the same time.

I’m getting our set-up routine down. I had the rig hooked up, leveled and slides out in no time. It was still cloudy and cool – in the upper 60’s which is very unusual at this time of year here. Today will remain cool before the temperatures rise over the weekend.

At dusk swallows (maybe they were martins) swooped through our campsite. Once again we had insectivores targeting flying bugs. Whether they’re birds or bats, I like it!

The business side of the rig - utilities hook up

The business side of the rig – utilities hook ups

Today we’ll scooter over to Madison to get our driver’s licenses and register our vehicles. We also need to change our insurance as we’ll no longer be Michigan residents. I’ll explain our reasoning for this in my next post.

 

Bats!

We couldn’t have asked for better weather in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Yesterday was mostly sunny with the temperature around 80 degrees. The dew point was in the 50s which means the relative humidity was low. Today will be more of the same, maybe a little warmer. It’s sunny and 55 degrees as I write this at 7:30am.

Donna missed the beautiful weather as she left for New York City. Her driver arrived right on time and took her to the airport at 9am. She will return tonight around 9pm. So, I’m posting today without my editor! I’ll do my best to proofread before posting but a second set of eyes always helps.

I mapped a route to Eden Prairie to go to the Best Buy store. I needed to go there to pick up a new laptop for Donna. The route I chose worked out great. From the Dakotah Meadows RV park I went through Shakopee north to Chanhassen then directly east to Eden Prairie. This was an easy route to memorize and a nice ride on the scooter. The main routes in the area are wide, fast roads. Speed limits vary from 40mph to 55mph.

On the way back I saw a restaurant sign proclaiming “Chinese Cuisine”. That sounded good. I dropped off Donna’s laptop in the motorhome and went to the restaurant for lunch. Once seated there I looked over the menu. I had a sinking feeling when I saw another sign in the window that said “Chinese – American Food.” One of my restaurant rules is to avoid eating at a place that advertises “Chinese – American Food.”

I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken. It was quite good and came with fried rice and a spring roll. My only disappointment was the lack of soup. If they had served a cup of Hot and Sour Soup with it I would rate it 3.5 on a scale of 5.

While I was out, I stopped at an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store. When I was checking tire pressures I lost one of the valve stem caps. I dropped the cap into the opening on the wheel and couldn’t retrieve it. I’m sure it bounced out of there once we drove away. So, I bought a set of steel valve stem caps with rubber seals. I like these because they can prevent the loss of air from the tire through a leaky Schrader valve. You never know, the valve may not seat properly and that can create a slow leak. Using a cap with a rubber seal is a second line of defense – a belt and suspenders approach.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty lazy. I sat outside and read a book. I went for a long walk and took a few pictures. I don’t know why I have a camera bag full of gear in the coach. I’ve been taking all of my pictures with my Samsung Galaxy G4 phone. They call it a smart phone but I rarely use it as a phone. I play games on it, I e-mail with it, I check Facebook on it and I take pictures with it.

View towards our site from across the pond

View towards our site from across the pond

Last evening, I took another stroll through the park. I saw bats flying over the road behind our coach. Donna and I used to enjoy watching bats from our deck when we lived in Rochester Hills. There are more than 45 species of bats in the US. They can be found throughout the USA – and the world for that matter. They exist everywhere except for the Arctic, Antarctic and a few islands. About 70% of the bat species are insectivores. The rest are mostly fruit eaters. I like insectivores – anything that feeds on mosquitoes is okay, right?

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Today I’ll check and adjust the tire pressure. Now that I’ve weighed the coach I know I should increase the rear tire pressure from 90PSI to 95PSI. I have a small compressor that provides up to 150PSI. I plug it into the outlet in one of our basement compartments to fill the tires.

I also plan to re-arrange some of the items in the trailer. I want to move some of the heavier items rearward to increase the axle weight and decrease the tongue weight. I think I’ll also disconnect the hitch to inspect and grease the ball. The trailer hasn’t been disconnected for more than 2,200 miles. That’s how many miles we’ve covered since we left three weeks ago.

By the end of the day, I’ll have most of the stuff packed and ready for tomorrow’s travel. We’ll head to South Dakota tomorrow. Our original plan was to stay a few days near Madison – we have business to attend to there. Then we would move to Mitchell where we have an appointment next week. I’ve booked a week at Camp America Campground in Salem, South Dakota. We couldn’t get into the campground at Madison for more than one night. They’re completely booked for the weekend. As always, plans have a way of changing.

Salem is between Madison and Mitchell – roughly 30 miles southwest of Madison and 30 miles east of Mitchell. We’ll scooter to our appointments. I hope the beautiful weather holds up! The campground is in a rural area, it’s about a mile and a half north of I-90.

I don’t know how the internet access will be in that area. So far we’ve had 4G coverage with our Verizon Jetpack everywhere we’ve stopped. Here in Dakotah Meadows I’m using their wifi – we have a good connection and it’s fast most of the time.

Before we head out of here tomorrow, I want to use the RV wash. The coach and trailer have 2,200 miles of road grime. I’ll also gas up here. The Gas Buddy app shows this to be the cheapest gas in the area. In fact, it’ll be the cheapest we’ve seen at $3.33/gallon.

That’s about it. I don’t think I’ll post tomorrow morning before we leave.

RV wash and gas pumps

RV wash and gas pumps

Inside the RV wash - catwalk to reach the upper areas of the RV

Inside the RV wash – catwalk to reach the upper areas of the RV

 

Hot Pink

In yesterday’s post I wrote about the Hormel mystery meat called Spam. Today I’ll open with a few words about the other kind of spam – the electronic type. We all get spam in our email inbox from time to time. Anyone with a blog or website knows they are also vulnerable to spam.

In my case, spammers hit my blog daily through the comments. I enjoy reading comments from people who actually read the blog and I wish I could allow people to post their comments freely. I can’t do this because of the spam. Therefore, all comments have to be approved before they are visible.

I can understand some of the spam I receive. Sometimes the spammer writes what appears to be a valid comment at first glance. Further reading reveals the product(s) the spammer is hawking. Other times the spam is trying to sell me software to “enhance” my blog. These spam entries usually contain links that I immediately delete – this is to protect my blog and to protect readers from clicking on potentially dangerous links.

There’s another type of spam I receive on a daily basis. These “comments” are pure gibberish. I don’t understand what these are about. It’s usually a series of hanzi or kanji characters (I’m not sure if they’re Chinese hanzi or Japanese kanji) followed by “words” that look something like “jjgrt kllpt”. What’s this all about? This is the most prevalent spam I have to screen out. End of rant.

Yesterday I unpacked Donna’s road bike. She went for a ride in the morning while I attended to some business. I rolled my 401k into an IRA. I did this because I want to set up a 72t (SEPP) distribution that will allow me to supplement my pension without paying a 10% penalty. The IRS has a rule, 72t, that allows this with certain restrictions if you are under 59 and a half years old.

My company’s 401k rules also had a provision for allowing withdrawals without penalty if you are separated from the company and over the age of 55. This provision requires a one time annual lump sum payment. I opted for the IRA with a 72t distribution because it allows me to dribble the money out of my account in monthly payments. I think this is a better way for me to take the money and allow the investments in equities and bonds to keep working. There are pros and cons to each method, but I think what I’m doing is right for me.

After Donna returned, we had lunch. She had conference calls to attend at 1pm and 2pm. I got out of her way by taking the scooter for a ride. I explored a bit and found the easiest route to Best Buy. After her conference calls, Donna wanted to go shopping for a new laptop. I came back and picked Donna up around 2:30pm. We rode to Best Buy. Donna found the laptop she wanted. It’s an ASUS with a hot pink shell!

Unfortunately, the Best Buy we were at only had it in green. We were told the Best Buy in Eden Prairie had it in hot pink. Donna wouldn’t settle for green. The route to the Eden Prairie store was complicated due to construction on I-169. I wasn’t too keen on scootering “two up” on the interstate anyway. So, we returned to the park. I looked up an alternate route online while Donna packed her bag for her trip to New York City.

We had a simple dinner. I grilled Wisconsin bratwurst and roasted corn on the cob. The Wisconsin bratwurst had cheese stuffed in the casing along with the sausage. It was a little on the salty side for my taste, but I enjoyed it.

Wisconsin Brats - that's cheese oozing through the casing

Wisconsin Brats – that’s cheese oozing through the casing

This morning Donna will fly from Minneapolis to New York City for a job she has there tomorrow. Later I’ll take the scooter and go to Eden Prairie to pick up the hot pink ASUS laptop she wants. I don’t have much in the way of plans beyond that for today. I might laze in the outdoor recliner and read a book. Maybe I’ll get motivated and get my road bike out to bicycle the area. We’ll see.

I walked around the RV park and took pictures of a few million-dollar-plus coaches. These were all built on Prevost chassis and body. The three pictured started with the same chassis and body but the coach work was performed by different manufacturers.

Liberty coach built on a Prevost chassis

Liberty coach built on a Prevost chassis

Marathon coach built on a Prevost chassis

Marathon coach built on a Prevost chassis

Royale coach built on a Prevost chassis

Royale coach built on a Prevost chassis

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up a few more financial arrangements and start packing our coach before Donna returns. Then we’ll head west to South Dakota.

 

Across the Mighty Mississippi

Sunday morning, instead of cooking breakfast in the coach we ate at the campground pancake breakfast. This was more convenient than cooking and cleaning up before we broke camp and departed. Donna had the pancakes and brought her own syrup (pure maple) plus a hard-boiled egg. I chose the biscuits and gravy with sausage. I ate hearty but maybe not so healthy.

During breakfast the camp host couple talked to us about points of interest as we head west. They knew we were westward bound and leaving that morning. A family from Toronto at the next table overheard this and offered to give us their AAA Guides to the western states. They were on their way home and said they didn’t need the guides anymore. After breakfast Donna walked with them to their camp and returned with the guides.

It continued to rain as I made preparations to leave. I dumped and flushed the holding tanks while Donna prepped the interior. Once I had the shore power and water disconnected, I had her pull the slides in and retract the jacks. I was a little wet, but I was also glad that we packed the trailer, loaded the outdoor furniture and mats and put the awning in the night before.

I weighed the coach at the truck stop before we hit I-90 west. As I suspected, we are a little overweight. It’s not the total weight, it’s more of a weight distribution issue. Our rear axle is overloaded while the front axle and trailer are below capacity. I think I can relieve some of load by reorganizing the trailer again to reduce the tongue weight. I’m not sure how I can redistribute things in the coach. I’m not too worried about it.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi on I-90 and are arguably in the west. I really don’t consider Minnesota to be a western state. I’ll feel like we’re in the west when we reach the South Dakota Badlands. After we crossed the Mississippi, the rain stopped and the clouds thinned out. We continued on I-90 to Rochester where we turned north. Just before we left I-90 we stopped at a rest area. It was very clean and nicely landscaped with several picnic tables. Donna made tacos with leftover pork loin and avocado. We sat in the sun at a picnic table and enjoyed our lunch.

We considered detouring south to stop at the Spam museum in Austin, Minnesota. Austin is the home of Hormel foods – the maker of the mystery meat in a can. Roadside America rates the Spam museum as Major Fun. It features the history of Spam with humor.

Spam (the meat) always reminds me of Hawaii. They have the highest per capita consumption of Spam in the US there. It’s on the menu in many restaurants – eggs and Spam, Spam omelette with cheese. Grilled Spam and cheese sandwich. In Hawaii, McDonalds has Spam on the menu. In 2007, Burger King added Spam to the menu there to compete with McDonalds. Enough about Spam. We passed on the museum and stayed on our planned route.

At 3pm, we pulled into the Dakotah Meadows RV Park. As I mentioned previously, this park is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewankanton Sioux Community. It’s a large, fully paved and nicely landscaped park. We have a pullthough site near a pond that covers a couple of acres. The pond has an aerator sprayer – it looks like fountain spraying water in all directions from the center of the pond. Last night we slept with windows open and the aerator provided a soothing white noise. Otherwise it’s very quiet here.

The tribe operates this park to complement the casinos they have in the area. Free shuttle service from your campsite! I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I’m not too interested in the casino. The concept must work though. There are more high end motorhomes in this park than I’ve seen anywhere else. The shuttle came by several times. It doesn’t follow a schedule, you call for pick up. Including tax our paved, full hook-up 50amp pullthough site is under $30/night. The sites were graded fairly level before paving, so I didn’t have to do much adjustment of the jacks.

Today Donna wants to do some bicycling. We’ll also go laptop shopping – there’s a Best Buy a few miles from here. Then she’ll probably go to the casino resort for a manicure and pedicure. She has to fly to New York City tomorrow to do a national TV satellite media tour on Wednesday. She’ll fly back Wednesday night. I’ll be a bachelor for a couple of days.

The weather forecast calls for sunny skies, temps in the upper 70s with low relative humidity for the next few days. Not what I expected in Minnesota but I’m not complaining.

View of pond from our site this morning

View of pond from our site this morning

 

 

 

Overweight?

It’s 7am Sunday morning. I’m typing to the rhythm of rain drops on the roof. I’ll recap the past couple of days.

Friday’s weather couldn’t be beat. It was mid 70s, mostly sunny with a breeze. Donna took advantage of the heated swimming pool here at the Oakdale KOA. Later, I unloaded the scooter from the trailer and we rode into the next town, Tomah, in search of cheese. We found it at the Humbird Cheese Mart. It was a longer ride than I anticipated. On the map it looked to be seven or eight miles, but it turned out to be close to 12 miles.

Donna at the Humbird Cheese Mart

Donna at the Humbird Cheese Mart

The Humbird Cheese Mart has every type of cheese you can imagine and some you probably never thought of – like cranberry cheese (this is a cranberry growing region), pepperoni cheese, habanero cheese, etc. It also has the typical tourist “gift shop” items and sausages. Donna selected a white cheddar with morel mushroom and leek. I bought a couple of garlic beef sticks and local bratwurst with cheese.

The town of Tomah is a quaint village. We rode down the main street. Apparently there is an Amish population in the area. We saw a few vegetable stands set up by Amish people. We stopped at a supermarket in town. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and freshness of the food there. They also had a section called the “Hootch Hut” with liquor and wine. I checked the prices and they were quite good.

Amish stand

Amish stand

When we returned to the KOA, I saw another Amish stand a quarter of mile from where we’re camped. Donna and I walked over there to see what they had for sale. This stand had mostly baked goods but they also had maple syrup at a great price. We saw maple syrup for sale in Humbird’s but they wanted $13.50 for a pint! The Amish sold a pint for $7. Donna bought a pint of syrup and a small jar of sliced sweet pickles.

Some people think when you’re on the road it’s all fast food, restaurants, or grilled burgers and such. Life with Donna is not like that. I’ve posted some of the meals we cook and I’ll continue to do that. She doesn’t just come up with great meals when we have company. I eat like a king most days! Friday night I grilled Mojo Marinated Pork Tenderloin with grilled onion slices and local corn on the cob. It was the best pork loin I’ve ever tasted.

Mojo Marinated Pork with grilled onion

Mojo Marinated Pork with grilled onion

The campground was nearly full by the evening. The sites here a little bit tight – our neighbor apologized for crowding our space as he was hooking up. I said, “No worries, you didn’t lay out the site.” He had a large motorhome – a new Fleetwood Expedition, with a large slide out that extended near our picnic table.

Saturday was another beautiful weather day. The breeze picked up a little pace, but I wouldn’t call it windy. Donna told me the floor in front of the refrigerator was wet. Oh, no. You know how I feel about water intrusion and the damage it can cause. I started pulling things apart to investigate. From the outside panel behind the refrigerator, I could see the floor it was mounted on had some wetness. There are only a couple of places where the refrigerator could leak water – the condensation drain hose and the ice maker.

I put my efforts towards making sure the drain hose was clear. It didn’t make sense though. I couldn’t see an active leak – nothing was wet but the floor. After an hour of futzing about, I realized I had turned the ice maker on the night before. All this time I was thinking the ice maker was off and not a suspect. Now I understood why I didn’t see the actual leak. The ice maker solenoid only activates briefly to add water to the unit and then shuts off the water flow. These solenoids are notorious for leaks coming from the cheap plastic housing they’re made with. I shut off the ice maker. Problem solved for now. It’ll be job done when I replace the solenoid.

Donna used the pool again – the water was 80 degrees! She used her pool weight set to get a jogging workout in the water. I rode back to the supermarket for a couple of items and to get a look around the area. Donna needed mango and vinegar. I also bought a three liter box of “Black Box Cabernet.” It’s our favorite box wine and they had it for $17.99. I bought another bottle of bourbon – they had one of my favorites – Eagle Rare – for $27.99. The liquor cabinet is well-stocked at this point.

We walked over to the Amish stand again and Donna bought a pie. We’re expecting visitors in Minneapolis Sunday evening and will serve blackberry pie for dessert.

Blackberry pie

Blackberry pie

I checked the weather forecast and the weather guessers were calling for rain to move into the area overnight. I believed them. I spent a couple of hours re-organizing things in the trailer and loaded the scooter. I put the awning in and packed up our chairs and floor matting. With rain falling this morning I’m glad I was ahead of it.

We’ll finish packing up after breakfast. There’s a truck stop with a certified Cat scale before the freeway entrance. I’ll gas up there and get the coach weighed. I’ve been wanting to know our actual axle weights and total combination weight. This is important information, necessary for setting proper tire inflation pressure. I wonder if we’re overweight?

We’re driving about 200 miles today to Dakotah Meadows RV Resort. This campground is just outside of Minneapolis on the SW side. It’s on a Sioux reservation and run by the tribe. On the internet it looks like it will be the nicest park we’ve stayed in. I hope it’s as good as it looks online.