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September 9 through September 16, 2004
A tribute to PURRY, a very special traveling cat!
It is with a LOT of sadness that we set out on this first RV trip without Purry. He passed away just two weeks after we arrived home this spring, from kidney failure, at age 17. His strong no nonsense feline personality helped us raise two fine children to respect those smaller and weaker than they, and yet he provided countless periods of comfort and cuddling to us all. When it came time to choose our retirement activity, he played a major part in our decision to travel by RV, as this way he could go too. Below is a picture we just found on a camera card we had forgotten about, taken last Spring as we all traveled on the Shenandoah Parkway.
This picture was taken by a volunteer at an overlook only weeks before Purry's death, and with Claire's brother Matt and his wife Teresia, Purry's birth family who raised him to 8 weeks of age, before we adopted him. We all loved him, and enjoyed his companionship, as he did ours. The fond memories of this companionship over the many years he shared with us will remain after this sadness surrounding his passing fades.... We'll see ya on Rainbow Bridge, Purry! :-)
Thursday September 9:
Departed after Claire's 12:30 Doctor's appointment, it was 2:38 PM by the time we got out of the gas station. The trip is uneventful, even though there were some high winds in heavy rain showers, the aftermath of hurricane Francis that messed up Florida. We arrived at Jim & Lynn's beautiful log cabin house around 7:20, as they were having dinner.
After a quick tour of the RV, we joined them for DELICIOUS red beans & rice, corn bread and a RICH cake for dessert. Allison & Evan were playful, and even though Allison had just finished soccer practice after her first day of school, she was perky and even played the piano for us...VERY well too! Evan was bouncing around happily until Mr Rogers calmed the evening down. We chatted late, but managed to find the RV in the dark. It was cloudy, and very little light comes from the surroundings in this beautiful rural area.
Friday September 10:
We breakfasted with Lynn and the kids. Allison again played the piano for us.
We are very impressed that she can play so well.... Evan showed us the family picture albums.
The morning has passed too quickly, and it is soon time for lunch and good byes; we must move on if we are to stay ahead of snow further west. We drove to a Flying J truck stop in Corfu NY for overnight, dump and water fill. We took on a partial fuel fill to give us enough to get across Canada to Port Huron MI. This Flying J was QUIET, deserted at night.
Saturday September 11:
In the morning we mailed some items home via priority mail from the Corfu Post Office, so we'd not have to deal with them at Canadian customs. On the way back to the NY Thruway we noticed the cost efficient way the road was repaired.
We certainly did notice the difference in the ride where it had NOT been fixed...We drove the short distance to Niagara Falls, and visited the Falls. We found two hours of free on street parking, and the Niagara Falls State Park that had free walkways for viewing the falls.
We decided we did not want to go to the bottom of the falls on the boats or the elevators, where the mist and splash would wet us and the camera. The opposite side of the American Falls had a brilliant rainbow displayed in the mist.
I did think it was profound that the rainbow ended right at Claire's bright smile... :-)) There were all sorts of folks hawking their wares, but no coopers that we noticed. :-) There did seem to be PLENTY of opportunities to launch a barrel into the water though....
The rocks WAY DOWN THERE 167 feet at the bottom would surely ruin a barrel rider's day though!
Before our two hours free parking period was expired, we found we were tiring of the walk, and returned to the RV for coffee before driving to Sam's Club. It shared a parking lot with Walmart, and there were several RVs and trucks already there. We joined them, and looked up Canadian customs regulations on line. After finding we had too much alcohol on board to import duty free to Canada, and that they might confiscate our plant and the fresh food which we were loaded up with, we decided NOT to bring the RV into Canada after all. It was not worth the hassle to save the extra miles to drive around the lake in the US. We shopped Walmart and Sam's before finishing the soup from home for dinner. I found the 3 mile walk we'd done viewing the falls had me tired, and it was HOT in the RV in the afternoon sun. There were a few things we wanted that we'd forgotten in the store, so we returned after dinner, then Claire retired while I took my turn with the dishes. It was not yet 9 PM when I was in bed....and sound asleep. This place was quiet! I am surprised at the lack of activity in the Niagara Falls area. I expected a zoo, but there were not many people here. The park had visitors, but not crowds anywhere. The roads were not busy either... I guess we should count our blessings when we find them! :-) Travel in the off season brings many benefits!
Sunday September 12:
We drove to Toledo after finishing with Internet. We noticed very much sneezing and runny noses, along with a smog looking haze in the air as we approach Cleveland and continuing into the Toledo area. We do not know the exact cause, but it is VERY uncomfortable. Our fuel is down to 1/8 tank when we arrive at the Perrysburg Flying J, but we won this one...it is $1.66/g with our RV discount. We fill 'til the fuel shows in the neck of the tank opening! :-) The RV islands at Flying J are hard to use, and I regretted pulling into an open one when I was unable to get the pump to work, even after a call to the desk. We move to a car pump, and fill. The bill's a shocker, but this is as good a price as we've seen anywhere so far. :-)
Monday September 13:
In the morning I sleep later than usual, then we shower, fill water, and dump quickly. This dump station has been abused by people dumping without a hose, and I must wash my rubber shoes off thoroughly outside after using it...I am thankful for the rubber gloves I always use! :-(( We are anxious to get away from whatever is causing our sneezing, and run the air conditioner on "max", which does not circulate external air, and notice marked improvement in our comfort. The drive to Gary IN is less than 4 hours, so we decide to spend time in the National lakeshore park at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. We find it easily thanks to a GPS waypoint left last time we were here, and enjoy the trail through the dunes...it is HOT though, and whatever causes our sneezing is still with us. We remove our shoes and wade in the lake.
The water temperature is quite comfortable and refreshing, the lake is pretty, but the Chicago skyline is barely visible through the haze.
Chicago actually cannot be seen in our pictures at all. Last year we had a clear fall day for our visit here, but that was almost a month later too. We eat left over beans for dinner and do dishes, and reset our clocks for central time. The news is on TV while I reload the GPS maps from the computer, but as the sun has already set we move out smartly as soon as the maps finish to avoid staying past the park's dusk closing time. The drive to Flying J is uneventful, other than the construction which closed the exit we'd normally use. We filled propane immediately upon arrival; the fill island is open and the price of $1.499/g is VERY good for the north. Gas is higher than the Toledo area, but it will require analysis to figure out whether it is cheaper than further west. We can fill that in the morning! The discomfort level here seems even worse than in Toledo....I am suspecting an industrial pollutant, but it could be high pollen as well.
Tuesday September 14:
Today I awake early; we had been in bed early, AND I am too uncomfortable from the nasal irritation to sleep more. It's time to catch up on the computer log. Today we will drive through Chicago, along lakeshore drive, and park to walk around a bit if we find the opportunity. Otherwise, we will see the city on the fly. It should beat last years unsuccessful attempt to find RV parking at rail connections, and our northern route west takes us that way anyway so little distance is added. We plan a short drive today to allow time to see the city if a parking opportunity develops. We decide to fill fuel here, as Wisconsin is definitely higher, and Minnesota is unlikely to be lower than here. After showering we dump, fill water, and fuel, and we're on our way. The route we select puts us along the lake south of Chicago. The advantage is no tolls. The part south of Chicago takes us through a "mature" industrial area and past what appears to be an oil refinery. As we enter the city of Chicago, the area becomes residential and much better kept. The lake shore drive in Chicago is quite pretty,
Parking along it is prohibited except for emergency, but there are bike/walking trails we would consider using if we found parking.. We look for parking at the Navy pier in downtown; we elect to return to lakeshore drive when nothing suitable for our size appears. Navy pier looks like an amusement park, nothing we are particularly interested in anyway. Further north we find parking near Foster Ave Beach and have lunch, then stroll along the lake front.
String bikini's seem to be "in" here, even with those who hide the string a bit too well. Claire was surprised to see an elderly lady 'au natural' on the beach. I recalled seeing her itsy bitsy teeny weenie string bikini from the front....after I looked at the poor quality picture we had taken that inadvertently captured her. No, the quality is just too poor to show....sorry! :-) We got back on the road, and after a bit of a problem missing the I-90 west interchange from I-94, we got turned around and moved on to Beloit WI, stopping at the Wisconsin tourist info station at the state line. We picked up a goodly amount of info, but little that fit our planned short stay in the state. The camera had refused to accept the replacement card I had tried to use....and after swapping batteries I actually believed the "Card Full" indicator...odd indeed! Perhaps I forgot to erase the card after downloading it last time it was used? Time to check that out later.... We continued the short distance to Walmart, where I checked out the camera card. It contained almost 200 pictures taken last spring in Virginia, when we were there with Claire's brother Matt and Teresia. These were "lost" pictures that I had not downloaded, and included the one of our whole group with Purry, shown in the tribute at the top of this page. I'm sure glad we found this happy picture. :-) We decided to check out the City Brewery tour in LaCrosse WI tomorrow, I did a bit of shopping, and we retired for the night.
Wednesday September 15:
We decided on an early start to try for the 1PM brewery tour in LaCrosse. If we arrived late, we could always take the 3PM tour. We planned to stay at the Sam's/Walmart there overnight, proceeding to the Cabela's outlet store in Owatonna MN the next day. The drive was uneventful for a while, then the weather radio alerted us to a tornado watch covering our area....well, that IS why we bought it, no? I still hope we do NOT see one.... Shortly after the weather alert, a driver in a pickup truck slightly ahead of us hit a large tire "alligator" in his lane, sending it airborne into our path in the next rightmost lane. I had no chance to avoid it, only to elect to hit it in the dead center of the vehicle to keep it away from our tires. Fortunately it hit below the windshield, and passed under the RV with a bit of noise, but no lurching from tires passing over it. I looked in the mirror and saw no wet trails following us, so had hope the waste system was still intact. At the next rest stop we checked and found no damage...whew! The former owners of our motorhome had the sewage pipes broken by hitting one of these alligators. I do think the pickup truck driver was negligent in hitting the alligator with no evasive action taken. These things are NOT good to hit lying on the road, and even worse to send flying through the air.... even semi truck drivers take extreme evasive action to avoid them. We passed a new Super Walmart on our way into LaCrosse, then one exit away the Sam's club. We could see the empty building there that Walmart had moved out of. The City Brewery had no apparent parking for our size vehicle, but the World's Largest Six Pack was hard to miss standing along the street.
We found out later on the tour that these are really processing tanks used in the brewing plant, not just a promotional gimmick. We drove around in street construction until we found street parking within walking distance. After waiting for a heavy rain shower to pass, we found that there was a 2PM tour. I decided to go back to the RV for my forgotten camera in the time remaining before the tour time, and returned just as the video was starting. It turns out that this brewery was the former Heileman's brewery, a really large capacity one, that was shut down after Australian businessman Bond embezzled money from it after buying it. Bond died in jail for his business crimes, but LaCrosse lost good jobs in the process. Local investors now own the plant, but not the Heileman brand.
Although the owners are now promoting the LaCrosse brand, the brewery's Heileman heritage is quite clear...and even tiled into the walls. Most of their work now is doing contract brewing for many other brands, such as Mike's Hard Lemonade. They now employ around 150 workers and operate at around 1/8 of full capacity. Only 2% of their output is their own LaCrosse brand. Their water is considered a major advantage, coming from 470 ft deep wells tapping into a very pure aquifer that is not used by anyone else. The tour ended with "sample" that was easily worth the $1 price of admission, and Claire generously agreed to be the designated driver..... :-) The deep tan "festival" beer was the best by my taste, but Claire liked the naturally carbonated lighter lager. I was a bit disappointed that the porter was not yet in production; it's said to be darker, resembling Guinness stout, but is a winter product. We found our way to the Walmart after a bit of snacking and coffee on the RV. After shopping in Walmart, I went looking for a post box to mail our request for absentee ballot to the town; the Walmart greeter had whispered in answer to my question that Woodman's across the street had a post box. I found the box, and also that Woodman's was a large discount grocery store. I found a few things that Walmart had not carried, including meat with no additives and a huge display of cheese including cheese curd like we had first sampled in upstate New York with our friend Doris in early August. This curd was not fresh this day, but it was still good and squeaked on our teeth. :-)) After dinner I shopped at Home Depot, returning with more of the Zep Septic tank treatment that we use in our waste tanks. I was ready for bed early, but found myself sneezing at midnight, so got up to work on this log....
Thursday September 16:
We decided on another early start, as we had bought everything we needed the night before. We'd have plenty of shopping in Cabela's later. Claire is interested in new boots. We stopped at the Minnesota welcome station, which was not staffed but had pamphlets available. The Mississippi river was pretty, just down river from Lock and Dam seven.
Our understanding is the Mississippi river is navigable up to Minneapolis/St Paul. We decided to leave Interstate 90 in Rochester MN for a more direct route to Owatonna on state roads, and found a bit of construction and a detour, but it was well marked. Good thing too, as the route we took was outside the area of the detailed maps I'd loaded into the GPS. There were a few fields of tall 3 bladed wind electric generators we passed. I could not help wondering why just a few fields? It seems that the whole countryside could be populated with them and not impact the farms much at all. I cannot see some areas of these flat plains being windier than others... Cabela's had a large sign saying to take either of two exits from I-35, so we took the closest one, and found we had to take local roads for a few miles to the NEXT one...gee, they could have done THAT better. The store was HUGE, standing out in the flat countryside so perhaps anyone who was here before could not forget it. The separate outlet store had an outside display of four large sized model air force planes in an aerial acrobatic maneuver, mounted on four support towers to show the planes overhead to folks entering the parking lot.
This display is hard to miss from the interstate! Cabela's had a separate RV parking lot WITH DUMP STATION AND WATER, and we are welcome to park overnight! I was surprised we had not heard about them before they were mentioned online this summer, but it's true; all Cabela's stores are said to have the dump and water, with some also offering electricity at nominal charge. This one has outside dog kennels visitors can use too. The whole property is immaculate, and we decide to stay even though a super Walmart is a few miles away. After a short rest, we walk the good distance to the store, admiring the outstanding statue of cavorting deer outside the main entrance.
This store is reminiscent of LL Bean in Freeport. There are few bargains here, but they have almost anything an outdoorsman could want. This season of the year the hunting equipment takes stage center. The huge aquarium with really LARGE game fish is quite interesting. My initial attempts at photographing them are largely unsuccessful as the camera will not focus properly through the glass.... :-(( This big mean guy makes me happy there is glass between us!
We look at LOADS of boots, but nothing really appeals to Claire. The value of this trip becomes apparent; some things it is just about IMPOSSIBLE to buy from a catalog without trying them first. Dinner is Woodman's 95% meat ground beef patties, garden kale mixed with mashed potatoes, and garden tomatoes. The garden stuff has held up well in the refrigerator, but we are trying to use it, as it will not last forever. Sleep comes easily, as this lot is quiet. Only a few other RVs occupy it, and the only noise is from traffic on I-35 hundreds of yards away.
PLANS: As long as weather remains favorable we will continue west along this northern route through South Dakota and into Wyoming. If snow flies, we will stay put until it melts, then flee southward ASAP. If we get sufficient warning, we will flee ahead of it....We hope to see the Badlands in South Dakota. With unusual good luck we may get a glimpse of Yellowstone as well; time will tell.
As always, ENJOY! We are.. :-))