Sunset Over Ontario

Took a walk with Simon our stowaway wheaten terrier just in time to catch this shot. We really don’t think anyone cares that he’s in the park without proof of rabies vaccination. Very peaceful in the “non electric” section but over where the big rigs are, it’s noisy and crowded. Gonna sleep good tonight!
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Four Mile Creek State Park, NY

Here’s our site number 177. It’s a back in with no hook ups. We don’t need em anyway. The expansive lawn is nice.
They require proof of rabies vaccination for Simon. We’re waiting for Mt Shavano Animal Hospital to send verification to Susan’s email. Then we’ll tell them we have our Simon with us or we might just wait until they ask us.
Lake Ontario is beautiful. Pics to come. It’s nice to stop and rest in such a beautiful place.
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Trains, planes and automobiles

Discovered there must have been an airport right next to our island parking spot. Low flying loud planes passed almost overhead. The trains were also nearby and rumbled noisily. Both stopped by around 10 pm. The automobiles however with their noisy passenger started partying around 11:30. Their party was over by 12:30. Good thing we could stay one night! Off this morning towards Niagara Falls.

Tip: Try to anticipate possible nearby nighttime activities.

Shopping for Walmart

Left Terryville and Rick’s family today around noon. Our intended destination was Pittsfield, MA with a couple of sites to see along the way. The drive was beautiful with typical New England towns along the route.
When we arrived in Pittsfield we planned to stay at Walmart. No deal. No overnight parking. A quick check with Siri showed another store 38 miles away in Troy, NY. Another beautiful route through the Berkshires but alas no overnight parking at this store either. Another Siri check and one more store 45 minutes away. This time we called and yes, you can park in the back for just one night. Works for us. Arrived by 7 pm and found our spot. Next time we will call ahead!
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Tip: Call ahead if you can.

Chambersburg, Walmart “Resort”

We didn’t realize it until We got here but we stayed here three years ago in our Silver Shadow tear drop. I think we’re parked in the very same spot even.

We wanted to tour the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park today but it was so foggy we didn’t get to see much of it. We considered staying in one of the campgrounds but thought it wouldn’t have been worth the hassle with mud and rain and not far enough along to where we are going. So another Walmart it is for the night. We were surprised to discover we’d stayed here before. We’re even able to verify it by reading past posts (See it here).

Here’s a pic I took today hoping it will work for our blog header.

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Here’s a pic of Simon scratching himself. See how he can balance on three legs while using a back leg to scratch his ear. Well now that I look at it he isn’t balancing on three legs in this picture, but I did see him do it today.

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He’s traveling well, but we think he has an ear infection . We’re thinking of taking him to a vet.

Roanoke VA Walmart

Found a pretty nice spot at this Walmart parking lot. It’s quiet. We are way on the other side near the home and garden parts. Not too many people over here because they close that section for the night. The 24 hour part of the store is on the other side of the parking lot.
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Met a guy from my home town parked right next to us about my same age. He must be doing better than me. Here’s his rig.
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Actually he said he has a hard time finding places to park. I kind of like our set up better I think.

Frozen Head State Park Tennessee site no. 1

Kind of far off the beaten path but we picked a great night to be here. Only one other camper right now. Looks like all the sites are reserved for this weekend, but we will be long gone. Looks like they’ve made lots of improvements here recently. Nice looking campgrounds. I bet it would get noisy when there are lots of people here. Sounds seem to carry.
There are some sort of nuts all over the ground. Gonna have to take a few with us and figure out what they are. They look kind of like chestnuts but that can’t be right.
Much nicer here than Walmart parking lot. I think we’ll sleep in in the morning.
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Milan Tennessee Walmart Parking Lot

Much quieter here than the one in Jackson. That Walmart was right on I-40 and the parking lot was very sloped. At least this one is relatively flat and much less crowded.

I think I failed to plugin the trailer completely this morning. The T@G battery showed low voltage. Had to buy a styrofoam cooler and ice to save the milk and yogurt. Just glad to be settled in for the night.
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Bull Shoals State Park

Just arrived here. Simple set up. Simon is fed. Now our turn. We’re in site number 90. $8.96 per nite. The showers are a short walk. 74 degrees. Nice evening.
I find the driving a little nerving in this part of the country. I’m used to seeing the mountains and the ability to see long distances. Here we’re in the trees most of the time and no telling what’s up ahead. 😳 if it wasn’t for Siri I’m sure we’d be lost.
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Dinosaur Tracks

Clayton lake is known for its dinosaur tracks that were uncovered when they constructed the dam. We took the time to see the tracks. Just a short 1/2 mile walk. Very interesting. Glad we did
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Luanne and Steve

These really nice folks are from Indiana. Turns out they had one of the original Little Guy 4 x 8 trailers. So they knew all about tear drops but said it looks like they’ve come a long way since they had theirs. Steve said they ended up selling theirs for one and a half times more than what they paid for it. We were able to share info about locations in Colorado they might visit while here. They shared some of their camping experiences with us, mostly about maintenance issues. He said he used to carry an extra set of wheels bearings and grease for the their trailer just in case. He said they’d go on 6000 mile trips. Made me wonder if extra bearings might be a good idea. Little Guy says the bearings need to be repacked every year or some sort of mileage. I’m hoping there are some zerks under there.
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Collegiate Peaks FS Campground Site 31

This is a very large site. There’s enough room to park three cars in the parking space. Susan came up early Thursday morning to grab a site in this campground and this was the last one available for a two or three night stay. There are lots of shaded spots throughout the campground but this one and a couple around it are wide open with out trees. I’m hoping it won’t get too hot. But because we’re finding our T@G to be more self contained than our SS, we wanted to try setting up closer to the trailer not depending so much on a provided picnic table.

Monarch Park site #11

Here’s our site for tonight. We decided on a whim to check out Monarch Park while we drove near it. We discovered not very many people camping here and decided to pay for a spot and we’d go home to get our trailer.

What worked out well was most of our gear was still packed from the trip we took this past week. It’s nice and cool here compared to Salida today.

Reliance Portable Potty Storage

We used to carry our Reliance portable potty in the storage box mounted on the Silver Shadow tongue. But the new T@G Max has the propane and battery mounted there. Thought maybe I could carry the potty on the extra space on the tongue with a cam strap. It looked like the strap would slide off and loose grip of the potty. So to keep the strap in place I cut slots in a five gallon bucket cover. Was pretty easy to do. Used a grey one to look a little nicer. Hopefully it will all hold in place.
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Tool to move trailers!

Great idea here. Wonder if I can make a more portable one.
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[6-28-2016] On the other hand, we’ve found that our new T@G is sooo much easier to move around than our Silver Shadow was. The handles work really well. I’ll probably not think of how to get one of these tools much anymore.

David with a Harley

This is David. We exchanged phone numbers cuz he’s interested in getting a Harley. I told him I’d sell him ours. He is the first person to complement us on our new T@G.

Eric and Narelie

This couple was traveling with a tear drop from another company and stopped near us at the rest stop today. They’re from Virginia and on their way to Colorado. Told them they should stop in Salida sometime.

Goodland KOA

Well after avoiding RV campgrounds for the last few years in our Silver Shadow we decided to stay in a KOA tonight. Given that we’ve been traveling all day and we are tired and wouldn’t mind playing with our new toys plugged in we said lets do it. The air is cool compared to the mid nineties we had all day. Nice little campground. We’re in spot #34.

Television and stereo work great. I think we got the fridge working, but not sure how. It was showing an error on the road today. Now it seems to be getting down to the right temp. We are hooked up to the 30amp plugin at our site. I’m thinking that might have something to do with it. The air conditioner works great. We love the windows and doors. Big improvement for us.

First Stop Rest

I wanted to turn the fridge on. This was our first stop after we left Missouri Tear Drop. It’s actually a rest area along the highway. We just pulled out the umbrella and set it up for shade. We literally had three couples and a guy ask us if they could check out our trailer. I said that I think putting up the umbrella sort of makes folks think we’re not in any hurry so they think we have time to answer all their questions. We are used to folks asking us about our tear drop from having our Silver Shadow, but today has to be some kind of record. We were here for no more than 30 minutes.
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New home for Silver Shadow 5×8

Our Little Guy Silver Shadow has a new home with Lawton and Tom. It’s sad for us but at the same time we are looking forward to getting our T@G. We hope they have as much fun as we’ve had with that Little Guy. It sure is a great little unit.

South Rim Campground

We’re in site #A9. Surrounded by scrub oak. Lots of wildlife: birds, deer, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and mice. Simon hasn’t been trying to chase any of them but we’re keeping an eye on him.

This has been one of the nicest sites we’ve ever stayed at. One of the first things we noticed was the lack of generator motors running. Later we learned it’s because they are not allowed in this loop of the campground. The amount of vegetation also makes most of the sites feel isolated. Choose wisely.

Another welcome addition to our “system” is our ground mat seen clearly in this pic. It’s relatively cheap at Walmart, reversible, and gives us a nice clean area to be on. Folds and stows super easy. We highly recommend it. Don’t know why we waited so long.

Lunch stop

Got all the way here for lunch on our way to the black canyon tonight. Keep your feet off the ground away from the ants!

Tip: Watch out for ants in this visitor center. You’ll need to keep your feet off the ground.

Fun in Durango

No campgrounds wee open for the season in Durango so we contacted our friends Greg and April who moved here from Salida. It was great fun catching up with them while enjoying the warm sun. Simon got along well with all three of their dogs. We camped in their driveway since they were leaving very early on a trip. We took our time leaving this morning and are looking forward to our campsite in Chaco canyon.

On the road again!

After being delayed by unusual heavy spring snow, we are headed to Durango today. Our destination is Chaco Canyon in New Mexico for some cultural experiences and a Star Party with the new moon. Chaco canyon is a designated dark sky area so it should be interesting and fun!

One nighter

Supposed to be the height of the meteor showers so we found this spot in hopes to see some later. We’re just about 25 miles from home but seems like so much further.

We are in the San Luis Valley Campground, a private campground. There are only about half a dozen sites. Only one other camper while we were there who seemed to be semi-permenant resident.

Our last night

Spent our last night in site 38 at the Colorado National Monument-same site we stayed in at the beginning of this trip. Beautiful warm night with quiet neighbors around us. This was night 16 of the 18 nights on the road in the Little Guy. Looking forward to seeing our garden and riding our bikes on familiar roads.

Cave lake state park

About 7 miles east of ely, this was a beautiful stop for the night. Clean, large sites, plenty of water and showers albeit not very warm but plenty of pressure. Probably the quietest place we’ve stayed in. A little pricey at $17 but still recommend it. On our way hoping to make it to the Colorado National Monument tonight.

Picnic stop

Took a break here at one of the nicest “free” camping spots we know. Stayed here last year – if you ever find yourself on highway 50 near Austin be sure to stop. We’re planning to go to ely and the cave lake state park. We hear they have showers there!

Not the best parking spot after all

We were sleeping in a Target parking lot, in Susanville, CA.

It was all good until about 5 am when we realized we had parked where commuters leave their cars for the day. Two large buses waited while 50 or more workers loaded up. Clearly not happy that we were in their spaces. So we left that spot and found Safeway and Starbucks and were on our way to highway 50 by 6:10. Lesson here is to try and anticipate what it’s going to be like in the morning. Gonna be a great day.

Tip: What’s it going to be like in the morning?

Simon gets to lay in some grass

We’re stopped in Susanville, CA for the evening. Walmart closes at 10 but they said we can park overnight. There is a do it yourself dog wash very nearby in the Safeway shopping center next door. We took advantage and gave Simon a much needed bath. We can tell he feels much better. Now in our parking spot at the end of Walmart’s lot he’s enjoying mowed grass. He hasn’t felt that in over two weeks. We’re finding Susanville to be a pleasant little town. At over 5000 feet the weather here is cooler and the air is a little thinner. Much more like what we’re used to in Salida Colorado. Enjoying it for now. Tomorrow night we will be in the desert somewhere along hwy 50. The loneliest highway.

On the road again

We decided to leave the redwoods after doing our laundry and checking the map. It’s gonna be a long drive home!
We found this site at the east fork campground on CA 299 near Willow Creek. Just $4 with senior discount.
We plan to be out early anticipating road construction as we head east towards Redding and points beyond.

Redwood forest

We’re stopped near Crescent city California in a part of the redwood forest. Amazing how dark it is in the trees. We’re lucky to find this site. It seems all the campgrounds are filled. We should have known because it’s the weekend. We probably should have stayed one more night at our spot at Crater Lake. Luckily we got the last spot in this campground. Unfortunately our new neighbors have had their old noisy generator running non-stop since we got here about 3 o’clock. We think the adolescent boy needs the power to play video games inside their motorhome. That was four hours ago. Hopefully they’ll follow camp rules that say quiet time after 10pm. For now we just have our music turned up loud enough to make tolerable.