Recovering from the Storm (Flushing, NY)

 

Here we are back in the house.  AC in the basement has been going non stop since we got home last Friday.

This is before:

This is After:

We had the rugs removed and all of the mold removed.  The wall were repainted with oil base paint.  The floors are now covered with a parquet looking linoleum tile.

Also, around the outside of the house, where the concrete on the ground meets the brick side of house was sealed so no water can go down into the foundation.  Hopefully that will solve the problem.

Now we can start showing the house again.

The Plan…

The middle of October, go down to Florida for the NHOG (New Horizons Owners Group) rally. Then after the rally we will store  the coach in Florida and drive back with the truck.  After the house is sold, rent another trailer with whatever clothes and stuff we will want to take with us in the trailer.  Drive back down and then we hit the road.

We will be writing another blog over the next week to recap our trip and links to pictures of our beautiful country

Next stop… somewhere in the USA.

See you down the Roan Road…

Trapped ( Altoona PA)

 

Finally, another blog post. 

On Friday (after the rally ended)  we went on a charted tour of Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument with our other Escapee friends.  We did not get back until after 10 PM. 

We decided to cut the trip short  (no stop over in Kansas) and get back early because of water in the basement of the house.  So after doing some food shopping Saturday morning we left Gillette and started for home on I-90 east. At Joliet IL we headed south to pick up I-80 east.  We have been staying campgrounds until last night when we decided to dry camp at Walmart so we could get an early start.  After going to bed around 8:30 PM we woke up around 4 AM made breakfast and took off. Today we kept seeing signs on I-80 that it was closed between exits 232 and 235.  Now what?  We decided to head south to pickup the PA turnpike and then I –78,

We are now in the parking lot of a Super Walmart in Altoona.  We will let you know what happens tomorrow.

See you down the Roan Road…

Alive and Well (Wall, SD)

 

Contrary to reports we are not in Boot Hill, in Deadwood SD.  We are alive and kicking, sort of.  We reached Gillette WY,  for the Escapees Rally, 2 days early because of the transmission on the truck.  Of course, Ford could not find anything wrong.  The dealer, Thunder Basin Ford, was very accommodating and seemed to be thorough.

When the Rally started we got up at 6 AM and didn’t get back to the camper until after 8:30 PM.  So, we were very, very busy all day long.

This morning we left the Rally and are heading east on I-90 home.  We had to cut our travels short because of Irene.  We have water in the basement of the house.  So we have to get back to clean up.

Right now we are in a camp ground right off the interstate in Wall, SD.  The campground is right next to the train tacks. There is nothing like a 3 engine 125 car coal train coming past blowing it’s whistle.  Especially in the middle of the night.

Well more to follow, with pictures.

Note: I am going to try to do short updates on Facebook.  So those of you with Facebook accounts, send me a Friends Invite, so you can keep up to date.  I will still be updating the blog as usual.

See you down the Roan Road….

Escapees Rally (Gillette WY)

 

Well we finally made it, a few days early though.

I am writing this blog from the Service department of a Ford dealer in Gillette.  After leaving the campground Sunday in the Black Hills of SD.  We had to take a very, very curvy mountain road.  Pulling our house behind us, the transmission on the truck started to slip.  After reaching relatively flat road and stopping for a few minutes the transmission finally cooled down and it hasn’t slipped since. We still wanted it to be checked out.  We continued on to Rapid City. Since this was Sunday, nothing could be done until Monday.  We found a campsite for the night about 10 miles from Rapid City. 

First thing in the morning we took the truck to the local Ford dealer.  Well, they could not get us in for a week.  What to do?  We called the Ford dealer in Gillette and they could take us on Thursday, the 25th.  We decided to push on, since it was a straight run on I-90. 

Now where to stay from Monday to Thursday.  Ann called the people in charge of the rally and they let us come early, but not until Wednesday.  Ann saved the day again!  We decided to break up the 162 mile trip and stop along the way.  At the campsites we stayed in, we met many other people on their way to the rally.

We stopped at Sundance, Wyoming for the night and while we were there went to see Devils Tower.  It is just like in the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

If you look really close, you can see two climbers on the tower.  I think one of them might be Dustin!

If you click on the picture to blow it up, you can see two climbers.  One on the ledge in the center and one climbing above him.  That is as close as I could get, guess I will have to get a bigger lens. 

You cannot believe how open and vast the country is out west.  No picture can do it justice, you just have to see it.

Well we are sitting here waiting to see what they say.  We will let you guys know when we find out.

See you down the Roan Road…

Missile Silo (Badlands SD)

 

This actually should have been in yesterdays post, so this is not really a new Blog post.

In 1992 after a treaty with Russia, we agreed to destroy 500 missile silos and the Nuclear war heads.  These were the Titian II missiles called Minuteman Missile.

The Russians agreed that we could keep 2 of them as museums. The National Park Service operates two of them and gives tours of this once top secret facility.

The tour starts with a film and the history of the Minuteman Missile complex.

After the movie you take your car and drive to the Control Center. 

This was the crews quarters above ground that house the Duty Officer and the Security personnel.

The control center controls 10 missile silos.  There is a bunker 30 feet below ground where two officers live 24 hours on and 24 hours off completely isolated from the rest of the world.

When the Air Force was integrated (men and women) there was a a lot of protests from the spouses of the officers that manned the bunker.

After the the tour of the Control center we drove to an actual missile silo.

So, if you are worried that the Russians are ready to destroy the world, not to worry.  We still have 500 upgraded Titan III Minuteman Missiles, with multiple war heads, that can destroy all of humanity several times over ready to go.

So you can sleep easy tonight.

See you down the Roan Road….

Hot times in the Black Hills (Keystone SD)

 

Here we are sitting in our Home after a hard day of driving through Custer State Park.  It’s hard work but someone has to do it.

Let me back track, since I have not Blogged for a while and I do not want any more complaints from you know who, H & K!

Thursday August 11

Mitchell SD:  After the excitement of the previous night’s thunderstorm. we took a day off torest.  On Saturday, we decided to tour Mitchell.  If you look up Mitchell, SD you will see that their claim to fame is the Corn Palace.  The walls are covered by specially grown corn to make Murals inside and out.

Now that is really “Corny”.  Get the pun, folks?

After that we went to the Ancient Indian Archeological dig.  It is an Indian village approximately 5000 years old.  Now that was interesting.

We then tried to go to the McGovern Library, but it was closed.  So no pictures.

We left Mitchell, SD on Sunday and went to the Badlands.

Sunday August 14

We arrived at a small campsite on Indian land after driving back and forth trying to find the entrance.  Turning around on these back roads pulling your home in back of you is not fun.  Backing a 36ft 18,000 lbs. camper to turn around, is a challenge.  But we did it.

After we arrived we went to the visitor’s center.  Note to all.  When going to any National Park, always go to the Visitor's Center first.  They are very well done, full of information about the park and the park Rangers are very knowledgeable and friendly.

The first night we went on a nature walk where the Ranger explained all of the plants in the park.  Being from NYC, and having no idea about plants, most of it was over my head.  But we enjoyed it anyway.

The next day we toured the Badlands Park.

That evening we went for a night time star watch.  Let me tell you, there are stars in the sky.  Being from NYC, it is hard to tell.  Although the night we were looking up it was a full moon so not all of the stars were visible.  We got to see the Space Shuttle pass by overhead twice, along with many other bright stars.  They had 3 telescopes setup that we could look through, along with an interesting and knowledgeable presentation.  No pictures, too dark.

The next day we headed for the Black Hills, where we are today.  Today we toured the Custer State park.

 

This one I call Penis Rock.  I don’t think that is the real name, just my twisted view of a rock.

See you down the Roan Road…

Rest Time (Mitchell SD)

 

Yesterday we stayed in a campsite in Albert Lea, Minnesota.  We woke up around 7 AM, took a nice deep breath.  There is nothing like the smell of fresh spread Manure in the morning.  It gives the term “Bull Shit” new meaning.  This is very strange for a nice Jewish couple from Queens.

Anyway, we finally pulled out around 9AM, taking the back roads north until we hit I-90.  We then made a left and headed for points west.

This is farm country.  They grow lots and lots of Corn,  Cell Phone towers, Power line towers and Wind Farms.

 

You know all this traveling is hard work.  So we decided to rest our weary bones here in Mitchell for a few days.  We will stay here until Sunday and see the local sights.  One main attraction is the Corn Palace.  I will report on that in the next blog.

Last night we had some excitement.  We had an emergency alert radio that went off last night.  It said “Severe thunder storms with dangerous winds exceeding 60 mph.  Get to a shelter or to an interior room on a lower floor.”  So since we do not have any lower floor or interior room, and since the camper was rocking and rolling in the wind and rain, we took off for the shelter of the campground office.  There were a few other families there.  Not sure where the rest of the people were though.  We had a nice discussion with a couple from Sacramento.  In a few minutes it pretty much blew over and we went back to the camper for the night.

Here are a few pictures that Ann took:

That’s Me driving                                     That’s Ann’s Work Station.

Sunday we head west on I-90 for the Black Hills.

See you on the Roan road…..