Decorah to Gays Mills, WI

We did more exploring yesterday to confirm some locations that we want to tour this fall with our group. For starters, Sandy took me to a business deep in the hills (3 miles of hilly gravel) just south of Burr Oak. The business sells perennials for landscaping. Sandy was going ough and ahh all the time while we were there. My observation was that the hill side had the blackest loam soil I've seen on such a steep hillside. Also, a lot of time has gone into hoeing around a lot of "stuff". (Gene's opinion.)

Our next stop was a business called "Seed Savers". Their goal in life is to preserve the original genitics of our food chain sources. It is unreal how many varities of onions or potatoes or garlic there are. The typical number is in the hundreds.

We also drove around more of the streets in Decorah and learned that not all of the streets are level. Some of the streets are down right challenging and it makes one wonder how they survive during the winter. I guess they could load the street with sand and in the spring just gather it back up at the bottom of the hill for the next season. I guess I've become a real flat-lander and especially if road conditions are not the best.

It was moving day again and all went well. But 20 miles into the day, we found a laundromat and so we had to stop in Waukon, IA. It is a little community that seems to get its name in the paper quite often. They have a nice city campground that we explored once and decided that it was just a bit too hilly. The uptown streets are not especially wide either. The laundromat was not rated a number one, but as long as you didn't drop the clothes on the floor, they came out pretty well. The other good news was that they had a decent service station and we decided that it would be wise to top off the tank before crossing the river into Wisconsin, where they add an extra 10 to 15 cents on to the price of fuel for the governor. Now without another fuel stop, we can slip back into Iowa without fueling up again.

We arrived at Gays Mills at noon and found a spot in the city park campground. Our first surprise was that the camping rate has doubled since our last visit from $7 to $15 a night. For that we're parked on grass (?) with a weak 20 Amp circuit. Depending upon your opinion, we're either blessed with lots of geese to watch or its a pain to pick your way to avoid tracking anything in. (We always remove our shoes, here and elsewhere.) Geese eat a lot of grass and one has to wonder about their digestive system. It appears to be a high speed processing system and they leave suitable deposits as they go.

In the PM we headed out to located an apple grower that might be willing to spend some time with our group this fall. Our guess is that if we go to a specific grower retailer for a show and tell, the group will buy their apples from him. (I suspect that he will be well rewarded.) One thing that really impressed me was the size of the new apple trees. On the farm, the trees are 20 to 25 feet tall, and of course the best apples are always on the top. Here in the new orchards, the trees are only about 6 or 8 feet and loaded with apples. (No need for a step ladder here.) We did find a grower store that we think will help us out. The bookkeeper was there and gave us the information to contact the grower. She indicated that he does it quite often for tour buses.

Back in Gays Mills, we went exploring at the fairgrounds, which is the overflow campground. A well attended ballgame was in progress so we didn't find much in the way of outlets. We went back after dinner when everyone had cleared out and located the electrical outlets in the picnic shelters. Not exactly what we'd like, but they will work. We were also very impressed with the cleanliness of the grounds, with all of the garbage picked up and in a 100 gallon barrel. That takes civic pride to have the teams do a clean up before they leave after the game.

While we're inside of the rig, the lawn-mowing geese have been busy outside along the river. I just counted 45 of them, mostly young goslings, and they seem to know to keep their head down and eat as much and as fast as they can!

Gene

Decorah to Gays Mills, WI

Decorah to Gays Mills, WI

We did more exploring yesterday to confirm some locations that we want to tour this fall with our group. For starters, Sandy took me to a business deep in the hills (3 miles of hilly gravel) just south of Burr Oak. The business sells perennials for landscaping. Sandy was going ough and ahh all the time while we were there. My observation was that the hill side had the blackest loam soil I've seen on such a steep hillside. Also, a lot of time has gone into hoeing around a lot of "stuff". (Gene's opinion.)

Our next stop was a business called "Seed Savers". Their goal in life is to preserve the original genitics of our food chain sources. It is unreal how many varities of onions or potatos or garlic there are. The typical number is in the hundreds. I seem to recall that they have over 700 varities of apple trees also growing. These are unique source varities, not hybrids etc.

We also drove around more of the streets in Decorah and learned that not all of the streets are level. Some of the streets are down right challenging and it makes one wonder how they survive during the winter. I guess they could load the street with sand and in the spring just gather it back up at the bottom of the hill for the next season. I guess I've become a real flat-lander and especially if road conditions are not the best.

It was moving day again and all went well. But 20 miles into the day, we found a laundromat and so we had to stop in Waukon, IA. It is a little community that seems to get its name in the paper quite often. They have a nice city campground that we explored once and decided that it was just a bit too hilly. The uptown streets are not especially wide either. The laundromat was not rated a number one, but as long as you didn't drop the clothes on the floor, they came out pretty well. The other good news was that they had a decent service station and we decided that it would be wise to top off the tank before crossing the river into Wisconsin, where they add an extra 10 to 15 cents on to the price of fuel for the governor. Now without another fuel stop, we can slip back into Iowa without fueling up again.

We arrived at Gays Mills at noon and found a spot in the city park campground. There is room for 12 rigs and we're number two. Our first surprise was that the camping rate has doubled since our last visit from $7 to $15 a night. For that we're parked on grass (?) with a weak 20 Amp circuit. Depending upon your opinion, we're either blessed with lots of geese to watch or its a pain to pick your way to avoid tracking anything in. (We always remove our shoes, here and elsewhere.) Geese eat a lot of grass and one has to wonder about their digestive system. It appears to be a high speed processing system and they leave suitable deposits as they go.

In the PM we headed out to located an apple grower that might be willing to spend some time with our group this fall. Our guess is that if we go to a specific grower retailer for a show and tell, the group will buy their apples from him. (I suspect that he will be well rewarded.) One thing that really impressed me was the size of the new apple trees. On our farm, the trees are 20 to 25 feet tall, and of course the best apples are always on the top. Here in the new orchards, the trees are only about 6 or 8 feet and loaded with apples. (No need for a step ladder here.) We did find a grower store that we think will help us out. The bookkeeper was there and gave us the information to contact the grower. She indicated that he does it quite often for tour buses.

Back in Gays Mills, we went exploring at the fairgrounds, which is the overflow campground. A well attended ballgame was in progress so we didn't find much in the way of outlets. We went back after dinner when everyone had cleared out and located the electrical outlets in the picnic shelters. Not exactly what we'd like, but they will work. We were also very impressed with the cleanliness of the grounds, with all of the garbage picked up and in a 100 gallon barrel. That takes civic pride to have the teams do a clean up before they leave after the game.

While we're inside of the rig, the lawn-mowing geese have been busy outside along the river. I just counted 45 of the, mostly young goslings, and they seem to know that they must keep their head down and eat as much and as fast as they can!

Gene

Allison to Decorah and into a crowd!

I'm ready to go back to "Boondocking"

We moved this morning from Allison where we had good 50A power in a nice city park. Now we're in a bit more rolling city park in Decorah, IA with lots of people. As we pulled in, we could see that the park had very few spaces. When I asked for 2 nights, she said that it would have to be across the creek and there were only 2 sites. We didn't argue. It makes me appreciate the county park near Albert City even more where we were the only occupant for 4 days (and it was free.)

I asked when the people would leave, since it was Sunday and the weekend crowd ought to be clearing out. Her response was a bit stronger than I expected. She informed me in a rather disgusted voice that the place is full of people who want to make sure that they get a spot for next weekend (the Fourth of July). I don't think she was too happy about the business. (She was a young college student, so I suspect that she is a bit hung over from last night and was hoping to relax today.

We're running a pre-caravan/rally tour of our planned fall Cranberry Caravan Rally from Decorah to Warrens, WI. Our intention was to spend about 4 or 5 days checking it all out and then on Thursday or Friday (before the Fourth), we'd look for a campsite. It sounds like we'll be a bit late. But never fear, we'll find a spot (Walmart if necessary.)

Any one traveling in Iowa, mark down that state highway 24 is the pits. They were starting to resurface it near New Hampton and none too soon. The wind was a real blast today. Going east was great! Going north was the pits, with very gusty cross winds out of the west. Here in the park, which sits down in a hallow with lots of tall trees, there is little wind, we only hear the rustle of leaves high in the tree.

Our stay in Allison was most enjoyable. The rally went very well and we had lots of time to visit and catch up on what everyone had done last winter. Everyone just wanted to visit, and that is great. To top it off, we had a most congenial park hostess who couldn't do enough for everyone to make sure we enjoyed our stay. We were a couple of days early, plus we had met her in our Winnebago group, so it was renewing old acquaintances there also.

Here in Decorah until Tuesday morning when we head for Gays Mills in Wisconsin.

Gene

Allison, Iowa and it continues to be HOT!

We've been here since Sunday afternoon and it has been 5 hot days. There is no doubt that I'm glad that we're in a park that has adequate power. Air Conditioning is great! If this heat keeps up, there is no doubt that my days of boondocking this summer are over. I wouldn't even ask Sandy if we could try it again! (I may be a slow learner, but I'm not that slow.) It sure looks like it is going to be a long hot summer for us.

The chapter rally for the Iowa Escapee's chapter of the Escapee's RV club started today, with only one more rig appearing today. Otherwise, 16 rigs showed up on Wednesday. The Wednesday park fee is zero if you pay for the next 3 days. In other words, it is a free day for rally attendees if you're there for the weekend.

It has been great to see all of our chapter members again. So much to catch up on, where they have been, what they are doing and where they are headed. For most, it is too many things to do and too little time to get it all done. Combined with the heat we're experiencing here in the Midwest, most of us are being pretty laid back. No heavy exertions by anyone. We've made good use of the shelter house.

Gene

Allison, Iowa city park

I guess perhaps I'm a bit delinquent, as I see the last entry was last Monday. I would have sworn that I did a more recent copy.

Anyway, we packed up and moved about 40 miles south and east to another city park. On the way, we stopped in Hampton to do our weekly plus laundry. Then finally to the Allison city park. Once here, we settled in, met some friends from the Iowa Escapee's chapter and relaxed. At 6 pm, we were warned that the weather bureau had issued a severe storm warning. So we stuck close to the rig, with the TV on. Shortly, the mist turned to a down pour with lots of wind from the southwest. When it was over, we found out that we had over an inch of rain in about 30 minutes. More than a little shower.

After watching the TV for a while during the rain and wind, Gene decided to audit a cartoon. As far as I'm concerned, it failed. What a piece of trash!

Sandy is working on a handout for the seminar that I'm hosting at the GNR (Winnebago Grand National Rally). She and I don't always agree on how things should be said. Of course, you know who gets her way!

So it looks like it will be a quiet evening, now that the rains have passed us by.

Gene

Leaving Winnebago in the Morning (again).

Well, we were parked in the Winnebago lot over the weekend, after finding more than a minor leak in the roof over the drivers side window and returning. So this morning, we joined the parade of RV owners going into the Customer Service desk for an appointment to get some work done. It was the usual fill out the papers, explain to the first tech manager, wait and explain it again to the fellow who was going to supervise the rework.

Of course, they are very diplomatic, never agreeing to anything, but they'll look at it. In the end, they did what should have been done before. They also felt that the fiberglass crack that I observed was an old crack and not from their work. But in the end, they did seal it also. So today, we escape with no funds being expended (for once).

Currently, we're in the parking lot while it is raining enough to keep us in and not enough to really test the roof for any more leakage.

In visiting with folks last night, one thing became very clear to me. Many people have no idea how things work electrically. The interaction between the external power, the generator and the charger is a big black blank. They plug in the power cord and it (has/did/or might) work. All of us need to do a self test to make sure we know how it works when all things are working. Then it is easier to determine what is wrong when things don't work. The fellow I was visiting with has an 05 rig and claims it never has worked right, what ever that is.

We look forward to returning to the quiet of our country parks.

Gene

Peaceful and Quiet this weekend

Here it is Sunday evening and we are really enjoying ourselves inspite of the reason that we're back here in Forest City. Rigs are rolling in, most with Monday morning appointments for service. We're here (without an appointment) hoping to squeeze in and have a problem quickly taken care of.

As mentioned earlier, Friday night found us in the Walmart of Mason City with it raining and the water came in very liberally to the left of the drivers seat. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy It has never leaked there before when we took it in for a routine roof check and re-caulking. Talk about a bummer feeling, that is one. I guess the old saying of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" still hold true.

Anyway, lots of nice folks here now and the visiting goes on. One stopper to the visiting in the evenings are the small flies or nats that continuously bother us. They especially like my ears and eyes.

This morning after church, Sandy and I walked over to the rally grounds and back. I think we got our mile plus in and I'm still feeling pretty good, but not another one today.

Have a great day

Gene

Out of Forest City and returning in the morning!

Well folks, it was a red letter day today.  We were cleared to depart after paying out bill (boy, did that hurt).   So we headed for Mason City and their friendly Walmart, where we're settled in for the night.  They ought to be happy, considering the money we dropped here, between 70 gallons of diesel and a major grocery bill  But all is not well.

 

Before dinner, I noticed water dripping from the ceiling on the drivers side.   Needless to say, I was only a bit upset.  I just paid the bill and part of it was $90 dollars to re-caulk and seal all of the upstairs roof top seams.   So guess where we're headed in the morning-- back to Forest  City. 

 

I went up  on the roof in the rain to see what I could.  They removed and re-caulked the primary seam between the front cap and the main roof fiber glass.  The seam looks very nice, but it had a couple of breaks in it where the caulking was too thin.  Not a good sign.   When we were driving down the highway after leaving, we also noticed some wind noise, the likes we have never hear before.  It was coming from the overhead.  Frustrating!

 

It was an interesting week waiting in their campground and in the customer waiting area.  We had ample opportunity to visit with some really wonderful people.  For the most part, they were very upbeat and giving Winnebago the benefit of the doubt that all would be corrected.  I guess that is my feelings also, but it is frustrating to have to return, even if it is only about 40 miles.

 

Sandy just told me that she is spoiled.  While at the customer service facility, we had good high speed internet. Tonight, our air card is doing well, but not as well as the Winnebago service was.  Sometimes, life is tough.

 

The good news is that we're parked on concrete and no chance of getting stuck.

 

Gene

Patiently Waiting our turn

Here we sit, waiting for a Freightliner part for  our RV which might be here this afternoon.   In the meantime, Sandy is keeping the internet busy as she prowls web pages for information on Visita, her favorite subject. (But Gene is more laid back,  why beat on a dead or dying horse?)

 

Yesterday we took the standard visitors plant tour here at Winnebago.  I'm not sure we learned much other than they now employ about 1700 people and build 2000 rigs a year.    And as they drove us around the grounds, they have a ton of Sprinter chassis waiting for production.  My guess is that they have enough chassis to carry them through Christmas if they get nothing else.   The most noticeable difference inside the factory was the few number people around.  But then when you look at the numbers of 2000 rigs a year, which is 40 rigs a week or 8 rigs per line per week or about 2 rigs per line a day, the lines are not moving very fast.

 

I continue to be amazed by what I see here and read in my Yahoogroups about new RV owners.    There are a number of baby boomers who have decided that it is time to enjoy the good life and are buying an RV with little or no experience behind them.  We introduced some new found friends who were our neighbors over the weekend to where they can park the rig other than what is listed in Woodall's or the Trailer Life Campground directory. While they have had their rig for 3 years, they have not really  ventured far from their home base in Florida and used only state parks.  This morning we received an email from them that they are headed west and stayed in a Flying J for the night.

 

It is an interesting aspect of the RV community that the dealers are interested in selling RVs and will show you all of the attributes of the RV.  The most visible RV campground community is led by the private campground owners who obviously want you to stay in their parks.   So there is no  one out there talking about the alternatives, such as city park, big box stores, and private club facilities.  My feelings are that when you're carrying everything you need with you, why pay to have someone else duplicate it.  I'll use what I have if I  can find a suitable location to park  it over night.

 

It is another overcast day here in Forest City, but no rain.  The forecast is light showers maybe.  I guess we can handle it since we're not dependent upon solar while we're enjoying Winnebago's hospitality.  Of course, we're in a big hurry.  We have 9 days yet to go about 40 miles for Sandy's school reunion.   So it doesn't make much difference where we park it (and here it is free.)

Gene

 

 

 

A quiet wet week-end in Forest City, IA

 

Here we sit in the Winnebago campground and it has been raining most of the weekend. So obviously, we haven't done much other than church on Sunday morning and get a few groceries afterwards.   But everyone (Sandy and myself ) seems to be happy since we have "high speed internet access".   That is getting us spoiled to say the least.

 

Saturday morning, we did the usual phone calls to my mother and our two daughters.  It is always great to hear their cheery voices. 

 

It's now 5 hours later and we just learned that it will take them two  days to get the parts for our wheel and another day to put it on.  So we'll be here through most of the week.   With that in mind, we just ordered our mail from our remail service.   I would expect that we'll be here until Thursday.  Oh, the luck of the draw.

Life could be worse.  Presently, the rains have stopped and a gentle breeze is blowing.  And again I say, everyone is happy since we have a very good (that is fast) internet connection using the Winnebago Wi-Fi.    Today, we finally found a switch for our crockpot in a small town hardware store, just as I expected.  So I do have something else to do this afternoon also.   Sandy used the crockpot yesterday and I told her she needed to do that more often.   The meat was so tender to eat.   

Other than that, not much.  So we won't bore you with non-essential stuff.

 

Have a great day.

 

Gene

We're in Winnebago Country

Today we made a speedy trip to Forest City, Iowa to have the engine serviced on the motorhome and a couple of other things looked at as well..   Okay, with no appointment, things have really gone very well.   We arrived at 10:30 AM and they took the unit in at 11:30 AM, which was fantastic.   They returned the unit to us at 3:30 PM with most of the items finished and a parking pass  so that we can stay in their campground until they have time to  finish it.   We get free parking but I suspect that we'll pay later.

 

The item that wasn't finished was determining where a strange rattle underneath  is coming from that only started recently.  (Their Freightliner specialist was off today.)   They also found that we have a bad front wheel  seal and it will  be changed early next week.  Since we're a non-scheduled drive in, they will take care of us after they take care of the scheduled appointments next week. Since we have no pressing appointments, that is fine with us when they even provide us free parking (with electricity).

 

Tonight we're in the Winnebago lot next to the service facility,  with some trees and 30 Amp electric.  We also have close neighbors to our right and our left, plus street lights.  (At the previous county park, it was dark outside, really dark!)  But I think we can manage.

 

We met a couple here that were in my seminar on boondocking at Sedalia last week and it was enjoyable visiting with them, as if they were old friends.  Here in the campground our other neighbor is a couple that is on their first long RV trip from Florida.   They stopped at the factory, not knowing if they could get service and are they pleased about getting some things fixed!   From here they are headed west to Mount Rushmore, the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Park.  They have never been in the Midwest before and I suspect that we'll be spending a lot of time with them suggesting what they need to do and see. It kind of makes us want to go back again this summer. 

 

I probably should have had this out  sooner tonight, but I fell asleep watching the TV, which we haven't been using while boondocking.  It is now 11 PM and I'm really refreshed, so here  goes.. 

 

Gene

Our day off

I actually started this blog with the next paragraph and experiemented on adding a photo.  Now I see that it has moved everything down, so we'll fill the white space.  Isn't that what you're supposed to do when expounding on great and wonderous topics?

It is a bright sunny day here in the park and we're taking the day off.  No travels, or commitments.  I decided that today I'd learn how to insert a photo into the blog so that all of you fine folks can see how we're roughing it smoothly.   So here it is:  Our  Lake side parking spot.

We don't have a water faucet, electrical box or sewer dump to tie us down to a spot.   Also the grass is mowed, there is a picnic table under the trees and a garbage barrel in the picnic shelter to our left (that you can barely see).   Right now, the loudest noise besides a bird now and then is the sound of the burner in the refrigarator.   Peacefull and very quiet, we love it.

It looks like it is going to be a wall to wall sunshine day, so Sandy gets to use the inverter as much as she wants.     This morning we were down 52 Ampere-hours, a few more than yesterday.   But the solar system recovered the charge by noon, so we have high hopes of being up to par by noon today (minus our usage now.)

We are also not isolated as much as we were.   Last night, I cut the power cord to our weather radio and fixed it so that we can plug it into a 12 volt outlet.   Now the wx radio will be on irrespective  if we're plugged in to AC or not.    So in the event of severe weather for this county, we're listening.    I had trouble programming it last night until we learned that the keep alive batteries were ker-plunk, that is dead.   I guess we pulled the power to the rig and hadn't taken the time to turn the radio off, so it reverted to battery until they were done for.  We'll learn.

It has been a very quiet day  here in our little county park.   We had the usual visit by the local RFD mail carrier and in the ensuing conversation,  he mentioned that there was a small "township" park north of Albert City that had free camping.  So late this afternoon, Sandy agreed to take a little ride in the country with me and check it out.  It is there alright and if you approach it right, it is a hard surfaced road.   

 

But when you turn off of the road, the fun begins.   The entry road is through a railroad trestle (abandoned track), and the posts aren't much wider than my motorhome and the height is similarly limited to about the height of the motorhome.  Then once we were in (we drove the Saturn), we spotted a no, no sign.   Second on the list was "No Camping without permission", but no phone number on how to get permission.  The park  is an obvious picnic ground and there are no obvious RV parking locations.  Plus the tree limbs are encroaching upon the roof clearance space.    We decided that it had possibilities, but the negatives ruled out suggesting it to the group.  (It is one mile west of Marathon, IA.)

 

We then trapst off to Laurens, IA, which we were also told that they had a new city RV park.  We found the camping sites on the east end of town, down by the river and the ball diamonds.   Five brand new sites suitable for the longest RV you can have with plenty of gravel and  with water and very good electric (15, 30 and 50A) plus cable.  (It is a city cable system.)   They also have a nice dump station designed by someone who had their head screwed on right.   It has a nicely recessed bowl and no curb to pull the hose over.  Since there was no sign up yet, we found city hall and inquired about the rates.  It will be 15 bucks a night.   Considering the amount of grading they have done, it is probably right,  but more than I like to pay. 

 

When we finally returned to the motorhome, the solar system had the batteries up to par and I even suggested to Sandy to use the inverter and microwave to thaw something for dinner.  Of course, we're now both surfing at 5 pm.  (Yes, we love our solar system, four nights here and no need for the generator.)

 

Tomorrow it is off to the big city, Forest City for an oil change on the motorhome and some minor service stuff.

Gene

Enjoying a neat Primitive campground

 I mentioned in the previous posting how Albert City had jacked up the camping fee for their city park.   So we became very serious about finding alternative parking early Monday morning.

 

Just east of AC on highway 3 is a Pocahontas county park on a small lake.   So we called the  office Monday morning and requested permission to use it.  The department secretary was concerned that there was no water or other amenities there, to  which I replied, "I have everything I need with me."     Permission was granted and here we are.  We have lake front property, on mowed grass, with a garbage can near by and all the kid's playground equipment you might want.  Monday I mentioned to Sandy that the place was so un-used that even the swing sets had no holes in the gravel under the swings.  I must have been blind, as yesterday, the department apparently was in and added some stone to a number of sites.   Woh.

 

I think Sandy is happy  here, as we're parked in the open and the solar panels finished topping off the batteries by noon.  So I told her that she can have the inverter on all afternoon.  That should really make her day!     She has her computer running,  learning more about Vista (ugh) I'm sure.

 

Yesterday, we made a quick trip in the Saturn to Sioux Falls to renew our drivers license.  On the way, we stopped in at a small primitive county park near Aurelia, IA called Larson Lake county park.  It is a mile from highway 3, on gravel and has 4 RV parking sites, around an old gravel quarry filed with water.   The nice thing about it is that the interior road is gravel and all of the sites are gravel, so there is no danger of getting stuck when it rains.   The downers are that it has broken tree cover (poor solar)  and they ask for a $5 nightly fee.  It had one RV parked there.

 

This morning was laundry day again.  I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, perhaps a day of relaxing.  We called Winnebago about getting the unit serviced  on Friday and a couple of small items fixed and they suggested that we just come on it.  As long as we're in no hurry, they'll work us in.   I like that kind of treatment.   Of course, since we have no near term schedule, it helps.

 

We're parked on grass that is rapidly drying up.  So a good rain would be in order, plus it would settle the dust on the gravel  road coming in (and hopefully wash the dust off of our rig.)   In the meantime, we're going to enjoy our little bit of heaven.  Yesterday the local RFD mail carrier stopped and left the advertiser, as he did again a few minutes ago.  If nothing else, it would make a  good fire starter.

Life is good!

 

Gene