Once we left scout camp, we headed to SE WI to spend quality time with family, take care of Dr appts, including a colonoscopy and then relax. Little did we know that we would be fortunate to be in town when Rick's dad had a medical emergency and was rushed to the hospital, only to have surgery on a brain bleed the following day. He is doing much better and is in rehab, getting stronger every day, to return home soon. It was great to see everyone again, albeit the circumstances were not what we wanted and the whole Covd thing made it much more stressful since we were unable to see him or be there speaking to the Dr's. Rick's mom was a trooper though, being the only one who could be with him and we were able to speak to the Dr and his dad via phone, from the hospital grounds below. We also were able to spend time with my family as well with a family get together. We had a wonderful time with great food and drink, laughs and as always, a very contentious washer box tournament $$$. A complete surprise to me since it has been years since I played but the winners were...yup, my brother and I! Wohoo! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!! We also had several contestants instantly win a game by getting a washer on the rim of the box and we had to take the traditional pictures. Our oldest son works at a boat/sales and service business and was able to reserve the company "test drive" pontoon boat for a day and we went out on the lake near our old home for a relaxing cruise. What a beautiful day for it! After saying our goodbye's, we headed south to get some work done on our RV at the Grand Design Service Center. Again we cannot say enough wonderful things about our manufacturer! They go above and beyond to earn customers for life. We arrived at their campsites on a Monday and were up early Tuesday to have the RV ready to go in to the shop at 6am. We had a couple things for them to look at and they also do a once over as well to check the rig out. They did find an issue that they wanted to address so we spent a little over a week in the Elkhart area while our coach was being worked on. Being smack dab in the middle of Amish Country we had to check it all out, even if we have been here before. That included a visit to the Menno-Hof museum in Shipshewana, an Amish dinner at the Essenhaus, a buggy ride through the countryside and perusing several stores to purchase Amish made goodies. We even found several "quilt" flower gardens on our drive around the area. Soo pretty!!! We had another day to burn while our rig was at Grand Design so we started off with a very interesting visit to Bontragers RV Surplus. They have several buildings that have just about every piece you would need for your RV! After an hour and 93 degree temps with 85% humidity, we threw in the towel and got back into a nice cool truck. From there we headed on over to one of our most favorite food haunts in the area, Flippin Cow. This place has such great burgers and a really cool vibe that we make a point to stop every time we are in the area! We even went back again before we left town, with our dear friends, the Golden's, who were also having work done at MORryde. From there we headed to Costco to pick up a couple items and then went to a place we have not been for what seems like years...A Movie Theater!!! EEEKKK!!!! Well to say that we felt safe is an understatement! Cinemark definitely has gone the distance to ensure everything is thought of to keep the customers and staff safe. Our show was at 4pm and we were the only ones there! We had the movie theater all to ourselves. We saw Unhinged and let me just say that I will never look at Russell Crowe the same way ever again!!! It took awhile for our heart rates to come back down after that one! When we came out into the parking lot, there were several more folks there and the staff seemed sincerely happy to be back at work. It just so happened that our extra time in Elkhart caused us to have to cancel our reservation at Maumee Bay State Park on Lake Erie. It looked like a really nice park on the lake and had great reviews but alas...RV'ing plans are usually made in jello. This wasn't the only change we needed to make. Due to the whole Covid fiasco and NE states having strict quarantine guidelines, we had to cancel our plans to go to PA and NY, including Niagra Falls. Oh well, the Canada border was closed as well, so we will make that trek once it is all open again. It was quite interesting when canceling reservations as to the different policies in place. Some were just a nominal cancellation charge, another had a $25 cxl fee but would be used as a credit on a future stay within a year and then there was yet another that would not refund any deposit and laughed when I asked if the 1 night deposit could be a credit a later date. Yup that one was in NY! Grrrr. Oh well, it is what it is. Lots of wiggly jello plans that change. We quickly examined our options and decided to explore West Virginia next. I must say though that we have been quite lucky, as I have seen other folks have their travel plans completely upended. Our next stop was a couple nights just outside of Cincinnati at Winton Woods County Park. What a gem! Fantastic county park with camping, a petting zoo, boat rentals and soo much more to offer! We were also blessed to have our friends, The Golden's, stay for a night on their way to TN. From here we said our "See You Again's" and hope to meet back up with them next summer. We also were able to snag some Skyline Chili. Oh yumm!! For those that have not experienced it's yumminess, Cincinnati chili has a very distinct taste. It is a meaty chili with cinnamon and allspice. You can then add beans if you'd like and their most popular is the three way which is on top of spaghetti with a mound of cheddar cheese on top. The social calendar continued to hum along as we met up with more friends. Good friends, good food!!! Right up our alley! We met up with Ginger who we met way back in 2018 when we did a workamping stint at their private grass airstrip in Hanover, IN. Unfortunately Rich wasn't able to join us since he was on call for work, but hopefully next time! We met Ginger at the Incline Public House on historic Price Hill in south Cincinnati. The food was good, the company was even better and the views of downtown Cincinnati were amazing! The next day we met up with Terri and Mike, friends we met at the 2018 National Grand Design Rally. We had a great lunch at LaRosa's Pizzeria. Since there was no rally this year in Elkhart we brought them some yummy Amish goodies and they brought us some delicious bounty from their garden and Mike made us a beautiful 5th Wheel RV charcuterie/cutting board. Thank you both!!! Our busy, social time in Cincinnati quickly came to an end and we needed to pack up and head down the road to our Labor Day weekend destination. Until next time...
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Well our time here in the beautiful north woods of WI is coming to an end. We finished up at the scout camp Saturday, breaking down the sites and tidying up. Camp went pretty smooth this year, despite the whole Covid pandemic. The scouts had fun, as did we!!! Elvis, the Camp Ranger, gave us beautiful glasses with a panoramic picture of Crystal Lake as a parting gift. Rick helped out as an Assistant Ranger this year and got several things done, including cutting in and grading a new road to the maintenance shop, leveling out some land around the shop, grading some sites and roads, packing up sites for logging company to come in and clear, painting the welcome center, storm damage clean up, among other misc things. A productive summer! We had a wonderful site for the summer, although there was a point when we thought we might need to build an ark! It was the second wettest July on record for Rhinelander. Campfires, smoking lots of meat and get togethers were plentiful this summer! We even had plenty of time to explore new eats, visit old haunts and celebrate birthdays. Adventures were many. Hikes with beautiful views... Of course we found some strange characters in the northwoods... There was definitely a train theme this summer... We also completed some work on the RV as well. We were looking for a better solution for our entry door to keep the heat and light out. After hearing positive reviews from friends, we decided to install a Lippert Thin Shade. Besides the obvious awkwardness of trying to install a window on a swinging door, up on stairs; the install went pretty smooth. The shade can either be pulled down or left up...or in our case, pulled down 99.9% of the time. But, it might be nice to have the shade up in the winter to let the sun in. We also took down the roman shade behind the stovetop and put blackout UV window cling on to cut down on the heat. With cooking, the shade was getting dirty and we would put it up when cooking, which leaves a non tinted window with the sun beating in. It is really nice now and have noticed a difference with the interior not getting so warm when the sun shines on that side. I am toying with the idea of putting some sort of applique on it to dress it up a bit. We will see where we land with that, but we really like how it turned out. Alot cleaner looking. When moving from a spot after a bit and being in trees, especially pine trees, there is bound to be some roof cleaning that is needed. Rick spent the afternoon closely inspecting and cleaning the roof. He even took a look at the AC's to ensure we were not bringing any hitchhikers with us. We are done with hitchhikers and I am pretty sure we have rid ourselves of those other four legged critters! From here we are heading to our favorite family moochdocking spot for some Dr appts and family time. Then off to IN for some rv repairs and after that is up in the air. We were planning to head to PA and NY and then to Washington DC, but with this neverending pandemic, we will most likely be scrapping all of those plans due to the travel and quarantine restrictions in the NE area. Stay tuned to find out where we land... SHOP AMAZON HERE
Would you like to help support our blog and keep these updates coming? It is easy to help, just do your Amazon shopping through the link above. You still get all your Amazon Prime benefits and the prices are the same. Since we are in the Amazon affiliate program, any shopping you do through our link, provides a little kickback to support this blog. Thank you for stopping by!!!! We arrived in northern WI to volunteer for the second year at a Scout Camp near Rhinelander. We love the area with its towering pines, crystal clear lakes, fresh air and lots of space! With the year as it is, this is a great place for us to spend the summer! Camp this year will look alot different with all of the precautions and social distancing that will be in place. We have been busy readying the camp for its delayed opening. The scouts will be arriving on the 5th and we are down to the final days of preparation. We have been busy mowing, readying the campsites and cleaning and stocking the latrines among other varied tasks. Oh yes, and ridding the latrines of their current inhabitants...MICE!! I will admit that there is a certain amount of heart stopping surprise when you open the door and spy little beady eyes staring at you or scurrying overhead or under your feet! Oh, and to add to that excitement, we have waged an all out war on the hitchhikers that came along with us from the canyon! No longer content to hide out, they have made themselves known and decided to share in our food and surroundings. It has made for some stressful days, and nights! BUT, fingers crossed, I think we have seen and heard the last of them. Knock on wood, salt over the shoulder, we have not had any activity for 9 days now. However, we will not let down our guard and continue to monitor the situation and have glue traps at the ready! We are blessed to be volunteering with friends this year and have had a great time showing them around. We have introduced them to a WI fish fry, brandy old-fashioneds, hand and foot card night, a water ski show and the beauty of the northwoods. We have alot more to explore, but we are trying to pace ourselves. We are looking forward to a 4th of July picnic in our secluded camping area with friends and our boys are going to hopefully come join us as well! SHOP AMAZON HERE
Would you like to help support our blog and keep these updates coming? It is easy to help, just do your Amazon shopping through the link above. You still get all your Amazon Prime benefits and the prices are the same. Since we are in the Amazon affiliate program, any shopping you do through our link, provides a little kickback to support this blog. Thank you for stopping by!!!! We left Palo Duro Canyon State Park the last Thursday of May. With temperatures that continued in the 90's and hitting 100 a couple times, we were ready to get to cooler temps! We packed up and climbed out of the canyon around 10am and were on our way north. Our first travel night we utilized our Boondockers Welcome membership and stayed at a really cool "castle" home called Milam's Castle. It was conveniently located on the south side of Oklahoma City so we could stock up at Costco and get some new tennis shoes. We even had 50 amp hookup...FREE!! This home was amazing and we talked with the owner for awhile on its history. It took 3 years to build and he brought over an artist from England to paint the front overhead door like a castle entrance. We enjoyed two peaceful nights here soaking in the trees and green grass. Our appreciation for greenery increases every time we visit the arid, dessert landscapes. We do enjoy the change in landscape but deep down, we are woods and green grass people. Our next stop on our journey north was just north of Wichita at another Boondockers Welcome site. This location also had 50amp hookup, free of charge. Gotta love these fellow RV'ers who open up their property to other RV'ers. During all of this Covid mess, these have been appreciated retreats. This host has a peaceful country location where they keep their RV in the pole shed when they are not traveling and allow fellow RV'ers to utilize the circle drive. We even picked up a delicious pizza from the local, small town pizza shop and enjoyed a quiet evening. In the morning we were off early to our next destination, Milford Lake State Park outside of Junction City, KS. This was a purposeful stop as it is on the doorstep of Fort Riley, Kansas, where Rick was stationed for his last 2 years of active duty. He had wanted to see his ol' stomping grounds and we wanted to visit the historical museums on base. However, it was not meant to be. The trip down memory lane was cancelled due to COVID...grrrr. A 40 minute wait in line at the base visitor center, only to find out visitors were not allowed on base unless they had a previously approved pass from the commander. That was not going to happen in the couple days we were going to be there. We did however, drive around town and all the way around the base. That dug up a couple memories and will have to do for now. Since the state park had a party, long term resident vibe and our site was quite unlevel and on top of the neighbor, we decided to cut ties a day early and continue our journey north. Love, love that our home has wheels!!! We got up early and were on the road by 8am. Today was going to be a long haul day of 8 hours. We like to keep our travel days to 3 hours and in by 3pm but we wanted to get further down the road so our last day to WI would be only 5 hours. We stayed the night at Amana RV Park in the Amana Colonies and again woke early to get our last leg of our journey moving. It was a beautiful day for a drive and beautiful countryside as we made our way to our most favorite family boondocking spots! We have also been busy with some RV upgrades and repairs these last couple weeks. We have put a new, taller faucet in the bathroom, replaced the converter that was failing and painted the bumper that really took a beating from the salt air on the coast. We are now back in SE WI enjoying catching up with family and friends. Later this week we will head to northern WI, back to the scout camp we volunteered at last year. This year will look alot different as new precautions will be in place to social distance and ensure a clean and safe environment for the scouts. We are super excited to return because we will have fellow full time RV friends joining us! SHOP AMAZON HERE
Would you like to help support our blog and keep these updates coming? It is easy to help, just do your Amazon shopping through the link above. You still get all your Amazon Prime benefits and the prices are the same. Since we are in the Amazon affiliate program, any shopping you do through our link, provides a little kickback to support this blog. Thank you for stopping by!!!! |
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