Repairs Made

Well, we are close to leaving Elkhart after our repairs. The body work and paint were completed today. We talked to the shop owner about repairing a crack we have in our granite counter top. He said in order to have it done right there is a specialist in town that does this kind of work and it doesn’t look patched. It’s under warranty, so no cost to us. Unfortunately, the guy can’t do it until Wed afternoon. So we are paying $35/night for 3 nights waiting for this guy to come out and do the repairs. I also had some problems with my truck. A couple days ago the speedometer, tach, oil pressure, water temp, radio, and cig lighter quit working. I suspected a fuse, but couldn’t find a bad one. I took it to the shop today and it turned out to be one fuse labeled "clock". It cost me $50. I told the mechanic I felt stupid, but he said they never should have labeled it "clock. He also said later model Kenworths don’t have all those guages going to one fuse anymore. I figured they charged me $1.00 to change the fuse, and $49.00 to know what fuse to change.

Repairs Being Made

The insurance adjuster finally got a hold of us so we can start the repair process. I had gotten tired of waiting for the adjuster so I called the company that is going to do the repair (Charger Enterprises), and they came out and gave us an estimate. Our deductible is $1,000, and I figured if the repairs cost around that I could go ahead and get the work done and not worry about filing a claim with the insurance company. The estimate came out to $2,700. So much for that idea.
On the way to the repair place we stopped at La-Z-Boy furniture. We had picked out 2 new recliners to replace our uncomfortable recliners that came with the trailer. We wanted to make sure they fit so we parked in the lot and put the chairs in the trailer before we committed to buy. They fit fine, so Nan went back in the store to see if they would take less for them. Because they were already sitting in the trailer, I didn’t have high hopes for a better price. After a couple of minutes, my straight-laced Christian wife came back and said "We had to pay full price. They had us by the balls."
After we purchased the chairs we drove the whole rig to a Goodwill drop-off point to get rid of the old chairs. We got the rig in the Wal Mart parking lot where the Goodwill drop-off box was, but it was very busy, and half the parking lot was under being repaved. The sign by the bin said if we left something outside the bin we could get fined $2,500 for dumping. They had a small hole in the bin to put goods in there, but the bigger door of the bin was locked. We got the chairs out of the trailer, took them to the bin, reclined them fully, and were able to cram them in that hole of the bin and get them in there. It feels good donating to poor people. Then Nan had to stop traffic coming into Wal mart so I could back the rig out and get out of Dodge.
Now we are sitting in the parking lot of the repair facility, plugged into a 30 amp plug so we have electric. Tomorrow is Thursday, so they have 2 days to work on it before the weekend begins. Our guess is we will be in Elkhart through the weekend, then head for Cleveland after the repairs are completed some time next week.

I put my tire pressure monitor system to the test

Well we had a boring day in Salem/Madison SD picking up mail, washing the RV, etc. Then today we left for Minn and had an exciting day. We planned on working our way to the upper peninsula of Michigan in the next 3 or 4 days where Nan’s grandparents had a house and 3 cottages. After we entered Minnesota we heard a loud pop. A couple seconds later the alarm in my tire pressure monitor started going off. One of our Chinese tires blew, and I saw a part of our trailer flapping in the breeze. I pulled over to inspect the damage. A couple minutes later 2 nice highway workers pulled up to hand me my plastic fender and hot water tank screen. I declined their offer to help since I had some experience changing these tires before. I put the spare on and we headed for Fairmont, MN. Originally I thought Fairmont would be too close to spend the night, but it turns out it was a good place to stop. I called a local tire place and they had some Goodyears in stock, so I replaced the Chinese blown out tire with a Goodyear. I’m going to take the trailer there tomorrow and have 3 more Goodyears put on, and keep one Chinese as a spare. I had hoped to make it a lot further today, but it turns out that cheap tire really put a chink in our plans. In case you can't make it out, the first picture is our fender sitting by our kitchen table.

Heading East from Deadwood

Yesterday we had a long day of driving. We hung around in Deadwood an extra day waiting for a package in the mail. I had bought a Pressure Pro tire monitoring system when we started traveling that monitors the pressure in each of my 14 tires. The trailer came with cheap Chinese made tires that are known to blow out. Unfortunately, the American made tires don’t have a much better reputation, so for now I’m sticking with the Chinese tires. I couldn’t get the Pressure Pro system to work consistently. I suspected I had a bad monitor. They said they hadn’t had a bad monitor in several years. Turns out I was right, so they sent me a new one.
We left Deadwood at about 9:00, stopped at a Subway for lunch by Wall Drug, stopped in Wal Mart in Mitchell, and arrived at Salem, SD at around 5:00. The Pressure Pro system worked perfectly. Now I don’t have to be stressed about having a tire blow out on the trailer and me going down the road not knowing that I’ve lost a tire. If this happens, an alarm will sound and I can pull over and put on the spare tire. The good news is that the Pressure Pro monitor costs only $250. The bad news is that you have to put a sensor on each tire, and each sensor costs $50.

A couple of stories that happened to us while I was still working for the State of Ohio, but living in the trailer.

1) When we are at a campground, we hook up to water so we can shower, flush the toilet, etc. When traveling I can put water in a water tank in the trailer if I want in case we spend the night without water hookup (like a Wal Mart parking lot). I didn’t bother putting water in the tank because we always planned on spending the night in a campground, and I didn’t want to carry that extra weight of the water in the tank. I told my mother this, and she said you should always carry some water in the tank in case you have to use the bathroom on the road. I hadn’t had any bathroom emergencies in years, so no water in the tank.

We were taking a vacation to Myrtle Beach in May, and on the way down I kept seeing signs for boiled peanuts. I had never tried them before and was curious. We stopped at a truck stop on the way down, and they happened to have some for sale. I tried them and thought they were pretty good, so I had quite a few. Then we hit a traffic jam. I was bored sitting in traffic, so I had a few more. Turns out, Mom was right. You should always have had some water in the tank, especially if your going to eat truck stop boiled peanuts.

2) We were staying in a campground in Bluffton, Ohio while I was working in the area. They had a pond that Roxy could swim in, so I took her for a swim. Everyone was very friendly at the campground and would wave and stop to talk with you while passing by. Roxy was done with her swim so we were walking back to the trailer by the pond. There was a couple and their 2 young kids in a paddle boat in the pond coming toward me as I walked to my trailer. There was a high bush on the bank of the pond between us. I wanted to be friendly like everyone else in the park, so I stood by the bush waiting for them to come into view so I could wave to them and say hi. As they came into view, I noticed the woman was nursing the one child, and when she saw me she quickly put her boob back in her bathing suit top. As I walked bach to the trailer, I thought to myself, instead of coming off looking like a friendly fellow camper, now I look like a pervert that was lurking behind a bush trying to get of glimpse of that woman’s boob.

Wall Drug

Yesterday Nan and I went to Wall Drug. Originally this was a struggling drugstore, until the wife came up with the idea to offer free ice water to truck drivers. After that, the business exploded. It was a 2 hours drive from Deadwood. I’m not sure it was worth the drive, but I wanted to visit Wall Drug at least once in my life.
Originally we planned on visiting Wall Drug on our trip from the Badlands to Deadwood last Monday. I was following my GPS, which is accurate about 75% of the time on a good day. It took us down a dirt road that it said was Rt. 6. We went about 2 ½ miles until we got to a cattle guard in the road (a metal grate that cattle will not cross). I wasn’t sure it would hold the weight of my truck, so we started backing up. After about 2 miles in reverse we came to a spot where we could turn around. After that we just stayed on paved roads till we got to Deadwood.

Custer State Park

Today we went to Custer. When we first got there, we drove about 20 minutes and hadn't seen any wildlife to speak of. Then we came accross a herd of Bison right by the road. I got out my video camera because some people were so close I thought I may be able to submit the video to "When Animals Attack V" Unfortunately nothing happened. I did have some concerns of my own though. I read that the bulls could be aggressive in August for mating season, so I was afraid that a dominate male could either start ramming or humping the Smart Car. Luckily we were able to conclude our visit to the park with our dignity in tact. We also saw some pronghorns, and some "wild" donkeys that were begging for food.

On edit - We went back to Custer State Park on Sunday (8/16/09) and I took a video of some bison. I was able to upload the video to this blog. Unfortunately they were standing much farther away than the herd we originally saw, but it will give you an idea of whats out there.

On a side note, Nan and I have been eating at the Silverado Casino in Deadwood for breakfast. They have the 2-coiner breakfast for 50 cents. It's 2 eggs, 2 peices of toast, and roasted potatos. I tell Nan to only drink water so the 2 of us can get out for only $1.20 (after my generous 20% tip). That last part is a joke, but the breakfast really is good.

Mt. Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse

Yesterday Nan and I went to Mt. Rushmore and the Chief Crazy Horse monument. The Chief monument was kind of interesting. The tribe hired a sculptor to sculpt this thing. He was using no public funds, even though the government offered him $10 million twice. He started in the 1940's. You can see in the picture the hole in the monument. That is 10 stories high, and took 10 years to blast through. The sculptor died a few years ago. Now 7 of his 10 kids are working on it. If that's all they got done in 60 years, I wonder if there will be any 100% indians in the U.S. when it finally gets done.

Corn Palace

One of the things I had on my "Bucket List" was to visit the world famous Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Let me tell you, that is one big scam. I went there expecting to see a palace made out of corn. If you look at the front of the building, that's what you see. But if you sneek behind the building you will see it is nothing but a typical brick building with a corn veneer. As I left dejected, all I could think of was "What's next? Will the biggest ball of twine have a cork center?" What about the world's tallest thermometer? Stay tuned while I expose further lies and deception.

S. Dakota Storm

While camping in Salem, SD, establishing residency, etc, we got quite a storm. We were instructed to go to the men's room if we saw a tornado. We had the dog and cat ready to go, and put the slideouts of the trailer in so that the slideout awnings didn't rip off in the wind. It ended up we didn't have any damage.

Our internet access has been sporatic lately, so I'll try to catch up. We use the mail service - MyDakotaAddress.com. There's a picture of our new "home".

Our Adventure Begins

After 28 years working for the State of Ohio as a bank examiner, I was offered a 2-year buyout which allowed me to retire at the age of 50. So Nan and I sold our house and began living full-time in our 2009 Grand Junction 37 QSB, towed by our 2001 Kenworth T2000, with our 2009 Smart Car on it’s back.

I retired on Thursday, 7/30/09, and we started heading to S. Dakota via Rockfor, Il for a nice visit with my sister and her husband. We arrived in Madison, SD on Sunday, and by Tuesday we were SD residents.

We are camping in Madison this week because it is in the eastern part of the state. The Sturgis rally is going on this week in the western part. The bikers seemed to like our rig on our way out here, but I’m afraid if they get a few beers in them they may get in the mood to go Smart Car tipping. We’ll start heading west once Sturgis clears out a little.

Nan and I don’t know how many years we plan on full-timing in our RV, but we hope you enjoy our adventures and travels while we do.

Tom