We can see these from our campsite. There are several scattered around the campground. The cg host came by to tell us that there have been bears, coyotes, and mountain lions around recently. 😳. Everything is put away and locked up tight tonight!
Survived the rains
It started slowly. Then it picked up.
The the start of the trip.
Turquoise Lake
We are just about an hour from home but seems like a million miles away. We are in site 6 in Silver Dollar CG. So quiet here.
I’m realizing that camping puts me in the here and now. Thoughts of home and events happening there are not here. Nothing moves too fast and time is moment to moment. The storyteller in my mind has quieted down and my peaceful brain has emerged.
We are staying here for three nights and will explore the lake area and town of Leadville. Probably won’t ride the whole loop around the lake. Just parts of it. Mineral Belt trail looks interesting too. Dogs are happy too guarding the site and hanging out together.
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Wally World Resort Parking Lot
Looks like we’re going to spend some hours resting here tonight. Seems like a nice quiet community, Watseka, IL.
This has been the longest day of driving on this trip yet. We left at 7:45 this morning. So it’s been like almost 11 hours. Didn’t seem to bad. Perhaps we’re getting used to it. Main reason to stop now is because of location and Simon seems hungry.
Sunday night dinner
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Early start
Our spot in the Walmart parking lot was too brightly lit and busy with traffic to allow for a good night’s sleep. So we were on the road by 6am to start our journey south and west. It took about an hour to realize we were not on the best road and by the time we got back on track we had been traveling for more than two hours. We got to see some back roads and pretty countryside even though it was raining.
Decided to head to a state park in Ohio for the night. Listening to Siri took us to the wrong state park and once again on the wrong road. During the day we had been talking with Pat at the state park (we thought) who said she would wait for us to arrive. As we neared the state park we realized that Pat was at a private campground. We backtracked and finally found her. The state park was closed for the season but not sure how we ended up talking with Pat.
So instead of Pymatuning State Park we stayed at Lake Village CG, a resident owned park in the woods. Picked our site carefully and enjoyed a home cooked meal, a hot shower with lots of pressure and peace and quiet. Glad we had our shower shoes though cuz these bath houses need some maintenance and updating.
Fortunately we knew that it was going to rain in the night so we packed up camp completely and went to bed. We didn’t know it could rain that hard for so long.
Four states today
And now we are in a New York State of mind. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. We’re staying in Gloversville Walmart Super Center tonight. We’re starting to get in traveling mode and didn’t want to spend too much time setting up a campsite. We’ve parked the trailer and car in each their own parking spot to be less conspicuous. We’re thinking of naming our trailer “Lucky Dog T@G” because Simon always gets to sleep with us.
Tbis serms like a really quiet Walmart. At least we’re hoping so. We’re planning on getting an early start in the morning.
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10-5-17 Gallery
Galley of 10-4-17
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4 October, 2017 06:04
4 October, 2017 06:02
Moved our spot
Couldn’t believe that another camper parked very close to us! Finally, just before sunset, we decided to move into another spot. There were plenty available. That was one of the reasons we found their choice so irritating. All the open space and they picked one right near us. They were practically on top of us with the way they parked across instead of parallel.
We’re happy we chose to move. We don’t really understand why the CG attendant put us down there in the first place. We’re much happier with this site.
This was a very windy CG. Nice grass though. Not too many other campers probably due to late season. Sites are close together typical of RV parks.
Anyway we are on our way to Fort Kent today.
Ready for day 17
We’re ready to start today’s adventure. Last night was the sixteenth straight night in the trailer.
Acadia NP is pretty cool. The drive up route one had been awesome. We were lucky to get the last trailer site the camp lady said. It’s fairly quiet, but it’s getting close to the end of their season. We imagine this place is very busy during season. Even now there are lots of people here in the park and on the park roads.
Great meal last night cooked on the fire. That’s codfish, fresh.
Acadia, NP
We are surprised to find one spot left in Blackwoods CG. It’s early so we’re going to explore the sights. First on the list is Catilac Mountain.
Our site only has a fire pit and picnic table. We’re not going to set up too much since we’re only staying one night.
Brunswick, ME Walmart
We’re going to go up Rt-1 tomorrow in daylight. The AllStays app doesn’t seem to know where many camping locations are in this part of the country. We found a few camp and RV sites while driving that are not in the app. It did know where this Walmart is though. This is one of the better Wally Worlds we stayed in. There are landscape islands around the parking lot and the perimeter is mostly treed. We found a spot out of the way and quiet.
Morning walk
This is just a few minutes drive from Rick’s mom’s house. Nice walking path around Lake Winfield. It’s a place for Simon to walk and sniff things. Yesterday he jumped in the lake. Still hot and humid but cooler weather is coming. Planning another bike ride today. Maybe we’ll stay on the path this time.
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Backyard camping
We arrived yesterday early evening. This is our spot for next 4 or 5 days in my mom’s backyard. It’s nice to be able to not disturb everybody’s sleeping arrangements just for our trip. It’s very comfortable back here.
Trout Run Camp Resort
This private camp grounds is like a huge flat lawn with electrical hookups spread evenly for RVs. It’s got new saltwater pool that used as soon as we were set up.
We were looking forward to a good nights sleep but we’re soon reminded that some private CG can be noisy. Sound really carries here. Guess the wide open space allows for sound to travel. We think that it being Friday night meant that families were here for the weekend with kids, parties, and merrymaking. There was a site across the way that played their percussion music until wee hours in the morning. There was also another camper that had flood lights shining brightly our way. Urrrg. I was able to politely ask the light people to dim their high beams. They were very nice and just turned them off. The music people however just got rude when I asked them if they knew when quiet hours were in effect. They did turn it down a notch or two but they were in party mode. All we could really do was turn on our vent fan to help drown out the party noise.
Humidity
It has been so humid at night that the moisture collects on the T@G windows and it appears to have rained. Skin feels good though and my hair and nails look great too!
It’s time to go
Simon seems to worry a little that we might leave him behind. Sometimes he makes sure we won’t by hanging out in spots he knows we’ll need to occupy. Like here on the driver’s side floor.
It was a good nights sleep. We’d recommend this park.
Using shore power
Seems like all the campgrounds have electricity at the sites. Using it has taken all the worry out of wondering if we have enough battery power to run the Norcold, the fan and even the stereo. It’s been warm at night so running the fan is a necessity. This is new territory for us since we have only used our solar panel for charging the battery all summer.
Ride around the lake
Took this shot of punderson lake while riding my bike. Beautiful quiet morning.
Site 188 Punderson Lake CG Newbury, Ohio
Our spot for tonight. We were able to find this state park with an app called AllStays. There seem to be CG far and few between in this part of the country. Guess it’s because there isn’t as much US Forest Service land and the much more dense population.
We’re glad to find this park These are Susan’s old stomping grounds as a child. She may want to add her own words here, but she seems to remember things as familiar names and terrain and horse farms and such. She’ll see something and tell me stories about her childhood as we travel along the country roads.
Simon is traveling well. We put ointment in his ear last night and it seems to have helped his ear scratching. It’s nice to have him here as a warning guard dog.
We’re planning on staying here tomorrow until final check out time. The park and country roads are inviting us to get on our bikes and get a little exercise.
Mini Mountain Campground
One nighter outside South Bend, Indiana. This is another one of these resident campgrounds that allow campers like us too. We are amazed that so many sites are here with homes on them. This would be a trailer park in colorado and would not allow transients like us. Very humid. The sky is white. Good thing our primitive site had electricity. Ran the fan most of the night. Heading east to see touchdown Jesus.
Mini Mountain CG Carlisle IN
Here’s our spot for tonight. We drove for about seven hours today. We’re getting ready for dinner. We’re not used to the humidity. Seems muggy to us. I think Simon is getting an ear infection.
Leaving from Adel
Almost forgot to take our point-in-time picture marking our departure this morning. We very much enjoyed our stay at Wendy and Matt’s home in Iowa.
Susan and Jane’s Madison County bridge tour
Hogback Bridge
Jane was a great driver
This is in its original site
John Wayne Avenue
We only saw three of these
Town Hall, Winterset, IA
Cutler-Donahue in City Park
This one was moved 18 miles
Clark Tower. Nice view from the top
John Wayne’s birthplace
Why the bridges got covered
Holliwell Bridge. Last one built
Wendy and Matt’s House in Iowa
Lots of rain and moisture on our drive today. This is where we are spending tonight and maybe tomorrow night. Nice and peaceful and quieter than last night that’s for sure. There is an extensive bicycle trail system in Adel and we’re hoping to explore them a little. There are covered bridges here that inspired the novel and movie Bridges of Madison County. And it is very near the birthplace of John Wayne! Sure is nice to have friends along the way.
Early start
I decided to move to a different spot in the parking lot at about 1:00 o’clock in the morning to try and find a little more quiet. This is a very noisy location. It was like being in a truck stop. The million dollar RV we were near had some sort of machinery (air conditioning, generator, or something ) running all night long, non-stop! Do I sound irritated?
I threw our step stools into the back of the car and drove around the separate parking lot with my window open searching. I discovered sound can be blocked by other vehicles.
Not a great night of sleep. But an early start of getting back on the road. I’m wondering if I-80 is just characteristically lots of truckers.
TIP: When spending some sleep time in parking lots be prepared to move at a moments notice.
Oglala, NE Super Walmart
Not much of a campsite but we are tired and just want to get s little sleep. There are two lots here. One specially for semi’s and RVs.
Saw a huge rainbow on Interstate 80. We listened to the whole Bronco’s and Dallas Cowboys game on the AM radio.
Simon is riding well but he’s nervous tonight and didn’t eat much.
A note about packing
Since our planning for this trip was based on minimalism, I started making notes a week ago to remind myself what I needed. Every time I thought of something I put it on the counter or in the trailer. That way I could visually see my pile of stuff. I also packed bike clothes, jackets and my traveling clothes during the week. I did not wait until this morning to figure out where everything was going. I also had a to do list that I kept handy and checked off items as I completed them. Now that we are on the road, I know I didn’t forget anything.
The time to pack
It took longer for us to pack for this trip than any other time I remember. Perhaps it was because we decided to minimize as much as possible. In the past we probably would have just thrown everything in until the space was filled up. Well we think we’ve learned a thing or two about what is really needed on a traveling trip across the country. We started packing and prepping, days and days ago. This morning was all about bringing it all together. Where everything gets placed and where we take it from was all carefully considered. I find that walking through the house helps me to know what I’ve packed and if all my daily needs are accounted for. Anyway this post marks the date and time we actually left for this adventure.
Interlaken Horse Stables
Just wanted to show this picture of the Interlaken horse stables. I thought it’s a good pic. You need to walk a couple of miles along the opposite side of the lower Twin Lake to reach this spot these days. Apparently before they dammed one end there was a land bridge between the lakes to get to it.
Nice Man Named Channi [chun-nee]
Channi was camped across from our site. We had some interesting conversations about everything from water quality to bicycle engineering. Simon really like Channi and wished him a good morning each day with some friendly barking. We laughed one night when Channi was standing in the road wearing all black and back lit from the twilight sky. He startled Simon who thought he was seeing a ghost.
Parry Peak CG in September
This was the last weekend that Parry Peak CG was to be open for 2017. Just a short trip was all we intended, but we ended up spending three nights here.
The leaves were literally changing by the hour it seemed. On the way up, looking up at the Aspens I thought they would surely be changing soon. As it turned out, we kept saying to each other, “can you believe how fast those leaves are changing?”
Coffee is important to us. But wouldn’t you know it, we brought the wrong kind of coffee. These were whole beans! We figured out you can use something like a pan and spoon to grind ’em up. The coffee was a little weak, but still satisfying.
Short hike
Climbed above the campground searching for cell service. It’s really pretty here.
Parry Peak Campground
We are outside twin Lakes tonight. Easy setup. No canopies or add ons. Aspens are starting to change already. Sent from my iPhone
Test Post
Trying to figure out here a more straight forward way of making posts. This is created directly on this web site as a logged in user.
This us right where I’m sitting on my back steps. I’m on my iPhone in Safari logging into this website adding a post. And with media!
I think this might be way simpler and direct than send the site an email.
Sending via email is what we used to have to do before sites were responsive. This interface is just as easy, if not easier, than sending an email.
Our next route to CT
Practicing taking a snapshot of map. I might use this feature on our upcoming trip.
Our Little Guy Travels 