A FRUSTRATING DAY!!!!

Picture is of Kelly trying to program the satellite stuff.....No luck!! We'll try again when we get to Utah.

TUESDAY OCT. 30/07
Beautiful morning & we were out the door walking the dogs before the sun even got over the horizon. Nice well kept & groomed trails through the forests & adjoining fields. No people visible anywhere but did see a fox & could hear deer close by. A very peaceful start to what soon would turn out to be a very frustrating day for us. Because we liked it here & the weather was going to be sunny & warm we decided to stay here in Pawnee State Park for another day. Around 9 a.m. we decided to set up our satellite/TV internet system & get caught up on our internet correspondence. It was not to be:(( No problem setting up the tri-pod & dish or finding the satellite but when it came to getting a connection from Hughes Net we ran into all kinds of problems. For 4 hours we tried this & we tried that, talked to Hughes Net support system, (cell phone) re-located the dish, ran modem checks, etc. etc. but no luck. Finally by 1 o'clock we gave up & sat dejectedly in our chairs. Our nice day was ruined. To add insult to injury, unbeknownst to us, the parks people decided to turn the water off to-day for the season, so that was the end of our planned hot showers at the end of the day. We can have hot showers in the motorhome but we hadn't bothered to re-plenish our water tank because we were going to do that later to-day. Too late, water off!!
We will leave here early in the morning & head west on I-80 once more but have decided to head south down highway 81 into Kansas & pick up I-70 west from there. Figured we might have a better chance of finding State Parks that will still have water on because of warmer weather to the south. In hindsight we probably should have taken the St. Louis route which would have taken us further south before heading west. Oh well, wouldn't be normal if we did everything right, that's for sure.
Nice sunset over the lake to-night & still on the mild side at 65F. Maybe to-morrow will be a better day for the Bayfield Bunch:)) Dya think huh!!

(You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them)

PAWNEE STATE PARK, NEBRASKA

MON OCT 29........... Finally, a good night's much needed sleep. No hurry this morning so we lazed around until it got light outside. Packed up & headed out past grazing deer along the winding park road. Stopped at a Wal-Mart super center for some groceries & then climbed aboard I-80 west & headed for Des Moines Iowa. Beautiful clear sunny day & the traffic wasn't too bad either. The motorhome is running great. The fellow we bought it from (Ron Krauter of 4 Seasons Performance) said we wouldn't even notice any difference towing our car behind. Because of the Chevy 8.1 engine & Allison transmission we have lots of power to pull our Santa Fe. Haven't noticed any difference in braking either. If it wasn't for the back up camera we would never know the car is there.
Stopped at another Iowa Rest Area with Wifi & was able to check our email again. Connection was very slow but I was able to update our website but not upload a picture to it.
Breezed through downtown Omaha Nebraska with the excellent guidance of Garmin Gertie. This GPS stuff is so totally amazing & sure takes a lot of stress out of navigating through cities. To think we are being guided mile by mile from a satellite high in the sky is a bit mind boggling.
Kelly randomly picked out a State Park west of Lincoln Nebraska & after the usual confusing sojourn up down a number of assorted roads we finally arrived at Pawnee State Park northeast of Milford. What a beautiful park & right on a lake again. We are so lucky to find so many beautiful parks all the time. Only 2 other rigs & they are no where near us. We drove around looking for a site & realized there were no pull-thrus. No problem, we simply unhooked the car & backed ourselves into a picturesque spot overlooking the lake. Didn't take us long to take advantage of the hot showers in the main building followed by a doggy walk down to the lake. It's been a long grind on the highway these past few days but when you get to places like this, it just makes it all worthwhile. Thought briefly about setting up our satellite TV/Internet system but neither one of us had enough energy left to attempt it. Nice after dark walk with the dogs on the quiet park roads. Lots of stars & a great chance to get caught up on some long overdue stargazing. All & all, a good day:))
Observation: The State of Iowa sure has itself an awful lot of corn.

HAD TO UNHOOK THE CAR:((

SUNDAY OCT 27
Up about 5:30 A.M. under clear skies & 48F temps. Rolled out of the campground at 6:15 Ontario Time. Traffic was light as we headed for Chicago & pretty much stayed that way right through the city. With the help of our Garmin GPS system (Garmin Gertie) we breezed right along on I-94 & transitioned onto I-80 without any problems & before we knew it we were out the other side of Chicago. Good thing it was early Sunday morning though because I would never want to go through there at that time during a week day.
We Cracker Barreled ourselves about 9:30 somewhere well west of the city. A nice sunshiny day with a light breeze but cool. Noticed a rest area with a sign that said Wife so we stopped there & were able to pick up a few emails. Connection was very slow so we didn't try sending anything. The picture shows Kelly sitting at a picnic table with the laptop.
Didn't sleep well the night before so we were both really tired & decided to find a State Park around 1 P.M. Noticed on the map an Army Corp of Engineers place called Coralville Lake so got off I-80 & headed in that direction. Twisting, winding road but we finally found it. Then, the roads got even more twistier & windyer. Some tight turns, crossed over a dam, made a hair pin left turn up a road into the parks service area & ........it was a dead end with no room to turn around. (the downside of a motorhome towing a car is that you can't back them up) Needless to say we had to un-hook the car & then get the motorhome turned around, then hook the car back up. Luckily for us, unhooking the car can be done in a matter of seconds (once we get good at it) The area we were in was beautiful but we decided not to look around there anymore & headed back to the interstate & resumed our tedious trek west. Kelly spotted a State Park near Grinnell around 4 so we decided to try it out because I was totally beat from driving since 6 in the morning. As usual, it turned out to be a difficult park to find. I think one of America's best kept secrets is it's hide-a-way State Parks. Usually poor signage & directions to get to them. Had to stop in Grinnell several times asking for directions but the locals didn't seen to know too much about Rock Glen State Park. We made our second fuel stop of the trip here as well. Finally, one kid sent us out north of town & we found a road leading to the park but missed it. Remember, no back up!! It was a narrow road we were on so we had to continue straight until we found a little hamlet called Newberg, about the size of a postage stamp. It had one main street & one back street so that was enough for us to go around the block & head back the other way. I'll bet the folks in Newberg will be talking for quite some time about the day they saw a big white bus pulling a little gray car come into their town & actually use their back street.
Finally made it back to the road the park was on but a sign said road was closed for construction. We were desperately tired so decided to take our chances & look for the park anyway. Again, it was a very narrow road & I had visions of having to unhook the car & back the motorhome all the way back out to the other road. Came to a construction barrier & was just about ready to resign myself to the fact we were totally doomed when Kelly spotted what looked like a sign way down the road near the bridge construction site. Got the binoculars out, focused in on the sign & holy smokes, it said, Rock Glen State Park. Wow, what a piece of luck. Around the barrier we went, down the road about 300 yards & turned left right into the park. Nice place on a small picturesque lake. Only about 2 or 3 people in the whole place so we had our pick of sites. Luckily again there was some "pull through" spots & we managed to wiggle into one finally. Our overall length with the car on the back is 53 feet so sometimes we have to add a little waggle to the wiggle. We have electricity but no water again so sometime in the next few days we'll have to find a site with water to replenish our fresh water tank. If we're smart (which I'm not) we'll not push as hard to-morrow & try to have an easier day. We may keep heading north for Nebraska or drop south to Kansas where the temps might be a bit warmer & we'll have a better chance of finding a State Park that hasn't turned their water off for the season yet.
And here's my question for the day...........Why can't the Cracker Barrel restaurants butter the toast before serving it instead of bringing 2 slabs of dry bread with about 45 cubes of frozen butter!!!! And while I'm at it......why not include the price of coffee with each breakfast!!
Anyway, that's it for another day. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Monday Oct. 28 Emailing 2 updates from another Iowa Rest Area just west of Des Moines.... Connection slow so wouldn't upload the picture:((

HUNG UP AT THE BORDER

Mild & 58F as we loaded the last few things into the motorhome before departure this morning around 6 A.M. Still plenty dark as we headed south on # 21 highway in a slight on again off again drizzle. Arrived at the border about 7:45 & had about a 20 minute wait on the bridge. Watched 2 other motorhomes take only about a minute to clear the checkpoint ahead of us but of course we were the third motorhome & I think they were out to ransack every third motorhome to-day. And sure enough, the guy gave us the yellow slip to pull off for an agriculture search. (again) We had to exit the coach & walk over to the border check building. Kelly went in while I stood outside with the 3 doggy guys on leashes. It was windy & cold & it took awhile for the border guards to finally go over to the coach to search it while Kelly had to remain in the building. They confiscated 10 chicken breasts which we thought we were ok with. Searched all the bins in the basement plus the car!! They really hung us out to dry. All & all it was about a 40 minute delay. I was sure glad to get back into the motorhome & get the heat cranked up. Lucky thing the dogs had their fur coats on outside.
The rest of the day went ok as we drove through heavy rain showers, drizzle, & a bit of sunshine. Decided just before Lansing, Michigan to take our original Chicago route. Not sure why we picked that route at the last minute, but we did. Gassed up at a Flying J in Benton Harbor & headed a bit further down I-94 to Warren Dune State Park pulling in for the day about 3:30 P.M. Dumped our tanks & pulled into one of only two pull through sites. Wasn't long & the sun came out for a bit. Nice park & very much like Ontario's Pinery south of Grand Bend.
All & it was a pretty good day for the Bayfield Bunch considering it was our first trip ever in a motorhome towing a car. Takes a bit of getting used to having your own car following you around so close everywhere you go. We couldn't help but make comparisons to our truck & fifth wheel trip last year. So far, we are soooooo glad that we made the switch to a motorhome. Just soooooo much better & so much more comfortable. Nice to be able to go much longer distances between fuel stops & I think we're doing a lot better on gas mileage this trip too so far.
Well, it's 8 P.M. & we're zonked!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

WISH US LUCK:))))))))

Well, we're only a few hours away from blast off now & I'm still not sure which route we're going to take but I'm kinda leaning towards getting off I-69 at Fort Wayne Indiana & heading west on 24 & eventually either linking up with highway #36 or I-70. Dunno yet.

We'll be glad to get the big wheels rolling because this waiting & waiting to go has been a real stretch!!

I will post again as soon as we get an internet connection somewhere. If no one ever hears from us again you will know we headed off up a long, dark, dusty, unknown road, down into a big green valley, up & over a large forested hill, & fell right off the planet................with a big smile on our faces:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

"REVISING" THE PROPOSED ROUTE

Well, maybe it's one of the things I like best about myself...constant indecision!!!! Just when I figured I had the westerly route figured out, I changed my mind again. Talked to a few seasoned travelers at home here & some fellows on an RV forum we belong to & am taking a look at 2 other route options.

Route 2 would take us from Fort Wayne down through Indianapolis & west to St. Louis. This is familiar territory for us. From St. Louis we would stay on I-70 all the way to Colorado.

Route 3 would get us off at Fort Wayne onto #24 west & we would pick our way southwest to Springfield Illinois. From here we would hook up with highway #36 & take that all the way to Colorado as well. The big advantage of route 3 is that we could avoid Indianapolis & St. Louis. I don't like big cities!! We are in no hurry this time so maybe we'll consider the secondary roads rather than the highball interstates. Once we leave here we have until about Lansing, Michigan to make up our minds on which route we'll take. At this moment I haven't got a clue just which way we'll go. Ya, that's what I like about myself alright, indecision based on good old fashioned time tested stress. Ya gotta love it!!

PROPOSED ROUTE

Here is the proposed route we expect to follow as far as Moab Utah in late October & then onto Sedona Arizona & points beyond later.

Bayfield to Port Huron & cross the border there.
I-69 through Flint Mi., Lansing, & I-94 west through Kalamazoo, stopping around Benton Harbor somewhere at the end of the first day.

Up early & onto I-94 because I want to get well west of Chicago before anybody wakes up & gets in their cars. I-80 west to the Colorado State line & then I-76 through Denver. (preferably very early in the morning before people are out playing in the traffic)
I-70 west into Utah & then off on highway 212 to a little place called Cisco (I've been through here before) It is at this point where our trip will slow right down to a crawl as we begin exploring the area from Cisco south on 128 heading for Moab.
We will remain in the Moab area for quite awhile exploring all the canyons, valleys, mountains, back roads, parks, scenic lookouts, etc.
Not sure of the route when we leave Moab yet but basically we'll be heading southwest to the Zion Canyon area & from there through Lake Powell to the Grand Canyon & eventually to the Sedona Arizona area. It will all depend on the weather where we go from here. If it's going to be snowy & cold like last year we will either head straight south into Mexico or southwest into California.

That should give you a bit of an idea but of course our route can always change in the twinkling of an eye. It all depends on weather, how we're feeling at the time or whatever whim or fancy leads us off in a different direction. We don't like to make any hard & fast plans like reservations because it adds on stressful time lines & parameters. Don't need that & it's detrimental to one's sense of adventure!!

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON:))

Monday Oct. 22/07
With all this beautiful weather in southwestern Ontario it's almost a shame to leave. Temps over 70F again to-day. We have the motorhome about 99% loaded & to-day I secured the bicycles to the back of the Damon & we hooked up the car for a test run. The cover we bought for the bikes turned out to be too small so we have them tarped for the moment until we can maybe find a better cover in the States. The car towed perfectly as we did a few dozen country miles & then toured around the tight little streets of Bayfield. Did the same thing last year with the truck & fifth wheel because I had never towed a trailer that size before. This will be our first journey towing a car so figured we needed some practice to get the feel of things. I had towed the car around for a short trial run in the spring so it's been a long time between novice tows. These learning curves are always stressful until one gets the hang of things.
Not exactly sure when we'll roll out of here but it will either be this Friday or Saturday for sure. I'll be glad to finally get the big wheels rolling because this waiting & waiting to go is a real pain in the asparagus. Kelly has a few last minute loose ends to tie up at the Lodge & then were gone..................................Ya-hooie Louie:))

SATELLITE SUCCESS:))))))

MONDAY NIGHT Oct 8/07 9 P.M. SUCCESS:)))))
Well, it's been quite a learning curve these past couple days here at home. We nailed the satellite right on with our very first set up in the driveway shooting through the pine trees & were able to get on the internet ok, but.........we could not get a Star Choice signal at all. Fought with that all week-end until to-night when we drove out into the countryside, found a totally clear patch of sky & set up again. Lots of little problems but 98% of them were all mine. Having the oval dish tilted to the left & not the right was the biggest thing I had wrong plus not taking the time to go through the set up steps in sequence with the laptop was another problem I created for myself. Luckily Kelly's patience, perseverance, & determination won out in the end & she finally had us cooking along on the internet & Star Choice. Now we know all the equipment works fine & it's just Al that isn't functioning correctly & needs a major overhaul:((((

TECH MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS & WIRELESS INTERNET

Let me begin by saying that we are happily enthusiastic but challenged internet people. We use it everyday & think it's gotta be the greatest invention since sliced cheese so it was a top priority for us when planning our future RV adventures. The last couple of trips into the American southwest showed us we needed to make improvements in some areas including television reception & internet communications. We do carry a cell phone but it's only used in case of emergencies. We just aren't yakky phone people. Last winter we had to look for computer savvy libraries or hit & miss wifi hot spots here & there. Our internet use was spotty at best. Not what we're used to.

Kelly spent a lot of time these past 6 months researching & reading forum discussions on what people on the move are using for television & internet services & what kind of cost is involved. It's a real mine field of ideas, theories, personal preferences, practical applications & solutions. Star Choice or Bell Express-Vu, Direct, Dish, etc. etc. Internet via telephone, WiFi, or satellite, etc. etc. Seems everyone you talk to has a different way of doing things or ideas as to what's best & what isn't. Every system has it's own unique pros & cons. Also depends on how much money a person wants to spend. Cost is directly related to priority. Tech support is a big consideration. Did we want help from someone in North America or somebody on the other side of the globe somewhere. A big megalith of a company or a firm that's smaller & more personable, maybe even close to home. Decisions, decisions.

To make a long 7 month story short we finally decided on a company that was first recommended to us by another RVing couple, Peggy & John McDonald. http://www.rvliving.net/

Over the summer months Kelly had been on the phone talking to

this company in Lindsay called, Tech Mobile Communications http://www.techmcw.com/contact.php

The two fellows on the phone, Todd & Armand were always patient with our questions & took time to explain things for us. They weren't our only iron in the fire but in September after going around in circles & suffering from severe information overload we decided wireless satellite was the way for us to go so we firmed up a deal with Mobile Tech. We knew we couldn't afford the automatic roof mounted DataStorm set-up so we opted for the more manually operated & affordable tri-pod system.

Arrangements were made for us to travel to Lindsay & take part in the installation & computer set up of the program. A perfectly clear, concise, & practical manual comes with the package but both Kelly & I felt it would be better for us to be there in person for a hands on lesson. I'm not real mechanically inclined & my short term memory repeatedly lets me down trying to follow written instructions. It's sometimes difficult for me to get a concept in my mind of how all this is supposed to fit to-gether. Being there in real time helps bring all the pieces of the puzzle to-gether in a much more practical way.

We spent four & half hours at Tech Mobile on Wednesday October 3rd/07 as both Todd & Armand alternately walked us through everything out in the parking lot from physically assembling & setting up the tripod & dish to installing the modem, router, running wires, etc. Todd programmed our laptop with all the necessary software while Armand made a few technical adjustments to the tri-pod & dish. We were shown step by step how to find the satellite & make the necessary adjustments using the laptop right outside at the dish. Longitude & Latitude were explained, Another fellow helped set up our Star Choice feed & before long we had a crystal clear picture on the television set. Huge improvement from last year when all we could get was a couple snowy channels here & there in the southwest. Outside, despite a bit of rain, Armand continued his adjustment work on the dish under an umbrella. They encouraged us to stay, take the system down & then set it up by ourselves again but by that time we were just too beat. We had come to Lindsay the night before, dropped a rear wheel in a ditch & then didn't sleep most of the night. We just wanted to head for home & get a good night's sleep. I think we were also suffering a wee bit from information overload. Actually, in the picture where Todd is programming the computer you can see Kelly standing there with her eyes closed. I think she was sound alseep:))

All & all though despite our tiredness it was a good day & we learned a lot. Todd & Armand, despite being in the midst of re-locating their offices to a larger facility, & being overwhelmly

busy, were very gracious with us & at no time showed any frustration at our ineptness or slower learning curve. Not the norm when younger folks are teaching older folks as a rule.

We are home now & plan to work at setting up the system sometime on the week-end. Unfortunately we live in a pine forest & the Star Choice satellite is totally blocked from us by a band of dense pine trees but I'm sure we'll figure something out. I'll update the blog with our progress as we get things up & running..............................................

AWWW NUTS!! WE'RE GONNA NEED A TOW TRUCK:((

I knew the mistake I made as soon as it happened & I knew right away without getting out of my seat we were gonna need a tow truck!! I had read about this happening to other RV'ers especially upon entering or leaving a campsite & especially at night. It wasn't a campsite I was turning off the road into, but a large parking lot on a dark street in an industrial section of Lindsay, Ontario Canada.

We had arrived in Lindsay Tuesday night Oct. 3/07 about 8 p.m. & thought we would take a drive past the Tech Mobile Communications place where we were going to have our satellite TV & internet installation & lesson the following morning. We missed the corner near their location but there was a parking lot just up the road on the right with a wide entrance. I could see there was a second entrance & decided to turn into that one assuming it was equally as wide. WRONG!!! It was dark & hard to see so I eased to the left of the road to make a wide sweeping right turn. What I failed to see was that the supposed entrance I was turning into was a narrow ramp type road for exiting the parking lot to the west. Everything was fine as we swung round & entered two thirds of the way up into the driveway. And then....... a bump, a scraping crunch sound & we stopped. A little pressure on the gas pedal & nothing. Into reverse, step on the gas a bit, nothing. We were hung up high & dry. I immediately remembered some of the RV forums where I've read about people getting into this situation so I knew what was wrong, we were in trouble, & needed a tow truck. What a sickening feeling it was as I stepped out the side door because the bottom step was only inches above the ground. The rear wheels had dropped into a ditch beside the driveway & the rear end of the coach was now sitting right smack down on the road. As I walked around the unit my heart sank even lower because I could not see any way of getting the motorhome out of it's predicament without causing a lot of further damage. Towing it out from the front or back was going to do some real serious bad stuff for sure. It was a really dumb mistake & I knew it. I was ready to give up RVing right there & then & just simply take up basket weaving & stay home forever. No doubt about it I figured...... we were in a rut!!

Meanwhile, Kelly was on the cell phone talking to our E.R.S. (Emergency Road Service) people, explaining our situation & location. The dispatcher had a tow truck scrambled within minutes. (Gaynors Towing Service-Lindsay) They even called back to see how we were doing. Now, that's friendly & efficient service I'd say & we had a tow truck there in less time it takes to drink a quick coffee.

As all the negative thoughts were rolling around in my head I had already made a second miscalculation by assuming the worst. (I usually do that) What I hadn't figured on though, was.....the positive tow truck driver. He was a young fellow, baseball cap, friendly & looking every bit like a capable mechanic type guy as he strode over from his truck. I didn't have to explain the situation, the problem was very obvious to say the least. He didn't say too much at first so I took that to mean we were really up the creek for sure. He got down in the ditch & crawled in behind the back tires for a look see. That's when I took the picture & you can see his legs & feet sticking out. In a muffled voice I heard him say something like, "hey, you got load levelers on the coach." Did I detect some optimism in his voice & maybe, just maybe, a ray of hope here?? He climbed back out & instructed me to go into the coach & put the rear passenger side hydraulic load leveler down. Well, that instantly got me real nervous for sure because I had only ever put them down once before at home in the driveway when I was trying to figure out how they worked. (which I never really figured out too good anyway) I remembered to put the emergency brake on, plus the hydraulic on/off switch but of course I dumped both valve levers & put all 4 levelers down. WRONG!! I could here him holler something at me from out the side door so I quickly managed to retract the front levelers & get us back down into earth's orbit again. I also quickly retracted the rear drivers side leveler too. Well, at least I think I did. Now, we were back in business & the tow truck driver fellow was probably wiping his brow & breathing a sigh of relief as he was thinking something like, TOURISTS!! He had me carefully move that last leveler lever into a down position & I could feel the back end of the coach lifting, & lifting, & lifting. Any higher & I figured we would roll right over into the next county. When it seemed almost certain, he hollered, "stop!! Then.... nothing but silence for about 10 seconds. Had he left & gone home, was it coffee break time, did Lindsay have a 9 o'clock curfew?? Finally I heard, "ok retract the leveler all the way up." I put the dump lever in the up position & the coach descended, but not as far as before. Hmmmmmm. "Ok, back up real slow & try not to spin the wheels" he said. What's this, could it be, could it be. YES, as I ever so slowly stepped on the gas the coach very smoothly backed right out onto the road. 'YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY:))" I quickly parked the rig & got out to see what wondrous miracle this young fellow had performed. "Short planks" he said. "Always a good idea to carry a couple of short sturdy planks with ya." He had them in the tow truck & when the leveler raised the passenger rear side of the coach he simply put 2 sturdy planks under the rear dual wheels. When I retracted the leveler the tires came down firmly on the planks & I was able to back straight out onto the road. Wow, talk about a feeling of relief.....but, then it got even better. As we inspected the coach underneath with flashlights it was apparent that there was no damage & a following closer inspection the next morning confirmed this. Thank heavens for butterscotch ice cream & smart tow truck operators:))))))) Too bad about some motorhome operators though:((

On our way home from Lindsay Wednesday afternoon Kelly remarked that she hoped I wasn't going to put this on our website. How ambarrassing!! I totally agreed with her so here I am putting it on the website. Well, here's the way I figure it. A lot of people don't like to talk about mistakes (especially men) but if we don't talk about them how are others going to know not to make them. Worked for me didn't it. I read about the hazards of turns with big rigs in unfamiliar darkness & went ahead & did it anyway....... Well hey, I'm a man!! Don't figure, do it.

Stay tuned for my next little blurb about Tech Mobile Communications & the reason we were in Lindsay.

WINTER'S TOUCH

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ATOUCHOFWINTER/photo#s5111321442134697826