Author: sandcastle

We’ve driven this stretch of I-35 many, many, many times over the years so it is no longer exciting for us to do so. In fact, I slept part of the way. There was road construction that caused the trip to take substantially longer than we are used to it doing but that’s OK we had the time available. Plus it meant that we got to stop at Tobies in Hinckley for lunch. Their hamburgers are so good we eat them plain–not even catsup or mustard on them.

I have only two signs to tell you about today.

One adverstised a gun shop and said, “machine gun rental.” What?! Knowing how my mind works now you can probably read my thoughts. I can see some guy coming in and saying, “Excuse me. I have some people I need to mow down so I need to rent one of your machine guns.” “Sure thing, we just need to see some ID.” “I don’t want to give you my ID because then you’ll know who killed the guys I plan to shoot.” “That’s OK; it doesn’t have to be a real ID. We just need something to put in our records.” “Oh, OK.  Here, you can have this one I took off the last guy I killed.” What an odd world we live in. Or, at least, I do.

On the other sign I started reading in the middle for some reason and missed a space so what I saw said, “E85 camping.” Ethanol camping? Methane camping? Camping next to  a silo that’s becoming compost? Or a field of cows? Phew! Sure am glad we are headed to Dave’s sister’s house for a night of driveway camping in Duluth, Minnesota.

TTYL,

Linda

The PGA is at Hazeltine this week and we are nearby. There is overflow parking in Shakopee just off MN Hwy 101. School buses shuttle people from there to the golf course. 101 is a 4-lane divided road that is not particularly busy during the day. West bound they have one lane marked off with traffic cones so the shuttle buses get their own lane when they turn onto 101. East bound there is a traffic cop. The cop sits in his car in the area between the lanes of 101 facing the oncoming buses. When he sees a bus, he pulls out across both eastbound lanes so traffic has to stop until the buses go by. Then he backs up into his holding space again. When was the last time you saw a traffic cop that gets to sit down on the job? In an air-conditioned vehicle? Not bad, eh?

Today is our last day in the Twin Cities. Tomorrow we head north. The plan is to take US Hwy 2 east through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula then down the west side of Michigan to Indiana Dunes. Then we will head east. Depending on how fast–or slow–we move we may go to Maine to see our daughter and to attend a rally there of people who own RVs like ours. Then we’ll probably go to Ohio to another Gypsy Gathering. If that all works we hope to head south via the Blue Ridge Parkway followed by the Natchez Trace.

Stay tuned.  I’m blogging again.

TTYL,

Linda

The Winnebago rally is over but we are still sitting on the rally grounds taking advantage of a couple of nights free camping and trying to catch up on all our internet stuff now that there’s not as much competition for bandwidth. Our connection still drops occasionally so it’s slow going but we are getting there.

As I mentioned before I missed most of the rally but we did get to see the new Winnebago Via built on the Sprinter platform and decided we don’t want one which saved us a bunch of money.

We do want the new microwave/convection/range hood that puts it down where I can safely use it but hours of research and discussion with the service people indicate it won’t fit in the space we have available so we saved that money, too. I would rather have the oven, though.

And we picked out our next window shades. They are miles better than what came in our RV but they have to be ordered and can’t be sent to General Delivery so we have to have a place to send them to by UPS at a time we’ll be there to get them. They also require something to hide the mechanism so I need to buy curtain rods and make valances to have ready before we get the shades. Fortunately, I have made valances before so I know I can do that when I get somewhere that offers access to a sewing machine. I just need to get all our excess sheets and pillowcases from our storeroom to see what can be adapted to this new use.

My face is healing but I still have numb and swollen lips which means watching me eat is not pretty.  I can’t tell I’m dribbling.  It’s a good thing I don’t have to do this in public; it’s bad enough that Dave sees the mess.

This week we are headed back to Minneapolis to see the doctor, dentist, optometrist, and audiologist. What?! You don’t want the details of those visits? OK. But, don’t fuss if I don’t post for awhile, OK?

TTYL,

Linda

We are in Forest City, Iowa, for the Winnebago-Itasca Travelers’ Grand National Rally. We arrived here Saturday, just in time to pick up our registration packet before they closed at 2:30. I spent the rest of the afternoon entering data into a spreadsheet to help me analyse where I wanted to be when then we spent the evening visiting with neighbors and meeting internet friends.

Sunday morning I took advantage of the last time I’ll have all week to hang out in my pajamas then we went next door to the Heritage Center for a traditional Norwegian lunch. Meatballs, potatoes, vegetables, lefse, and wonderful deserts served in the Heritage Center’s church basement, of course.

I rode my Segway over and back. Well, I only rode it most of the way back. I could see the edge of the asphalt road I needed to cross was a little higher than I should probably try to ride up but I tried anyway. Splat! I kissed the asphalt. Scared everyone around me.

Once a wonderful lady brought me a bag of ice, I was quite content to lay there face down for about ten minutes before changing to a sitting position. Someone called 911 so the emergency vehicle arrived before I was ready to get all the way up. They checked me over and said I didn’t appear to have any broken bones but I had sure messed up my face. It was a one point landing right on the nose.

They insisted on taking me to Mercy Hospital in Mason City, Iowa, which is about 30 miles away. Fortunately, they did that in a security company jeep rather than the ambulance since I’m sure my insurance would not pay for an amulance ride for a smashed face.

We spent several hours in the emergency room since people in worse shape than I was kept coming in. But they did clean me up, take x-rays, give me meds plus prescriptions for more, and teach me how to care for my wounds.

I look like I just came out of a boxing ring. And I wasn’t the winner. I have a black eye, a broken nose, a chipped tooth, another lose tooth, and a fat lip that’s split in two places.  Be glad you don’t have to look at me.

And the pain pills act on me like knock-out drops so I’m getting lots of sleep but I’m sure not seeing much of the rally we came here for. Fortunately, the group gathers outside our RV every evening so I am able to join in the socials. I put a bandage over the worst part of my face before I go out so they don’t all have to look at my messy face. I think everyone here is going to remember me.

TTYL,

Linda

We found a WalMart that actually does prescriptions right!  It’s in Shakopee, Minnesota. We ordered five prescriptions between the two of us and they were all ready on time. Because, when one of the on-line orders did not come in clearly, they called me to ask which ones I wanted filled. Maybe it’s because we are in home territory so it was a local call. All I really know is, they made me happy by not making us jump through any hoops this time. And our insurance covered the cost so we didn’t have to pay anything. Doubly happy.

You all know I have a Segway on the back of our RV.

The straps that hold it in place are wearing out.

I need to do something to keep my Segway secure. I called the business I bought it from and they said they could get some of the straps for $50 each. So I set about looking for alternatives.

My first research was into alternative tie down straps. Not so good. Mine are more narrow than standard straps and are mostly continuous loop straps. I could only find one of those and it was about twice as wide and 200 feet long! That wouldn’t slide into the fittings on my mounting system.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_32963_32963

So I started looking at hitch mounted platforms with ramps that I could load my Segway onto instead of the system we have now. I thought Northern Tool + Equipment would be a good place to find that. So I did a Google Maps search for them around here and found a bunch. We set off to see what we could see.

First, we found their warehouse.

Second, we found their corporate headquarters.

Third, we finally found a retail outlet. So Dave started measuring things to see how big a platform I would need while I started shopping Northern Tool’s on-line site so I’d know what to ask for when we went in.

Northern Tool doesn’t sell what I was looking for. We left without ever going inside their store.

More research on-line discovered that Harbor Freight does sell a platform that would work for me and they have a retail outlet in West St Paul.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=66303

So we headed there but stopped for lunch along the way.

While we were stopped Dave decided to try something else with the current mounting. Then he dragged me out to see what he found. By putting the main strap on at a different angle it stopped rubbing where it was previously tearing the strap. And it bounced less at this angle so it wouldn’t be stressing the other straps as much either. And we figured out how we could use some double sided Velcro we have as an emergency backup system if we need to do so.

So we stopped shopping without having spent any money. That’s our favorite kind of shopping.

TTYL,

Linda