Two Miles and Four Feet from Home: August 2017

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Last two days!

Day 1

We both slept great in the tent with the camper mattress. Jasper loves sleeping in the tent because he sleeps at the end of our mattress and can put his head or foot on our bed! We all got up around 6:30 AM. The plan was to pack up camp and get showers then hit the road. As stated before this place was fancy. Everything was a step above.They even gave us one trash bag for trash and another for recycling. They also said just leave it at the site and they would pick it up. Wow! The next two days would be just driving days and we were hoping to be back home by Wednesday. Anyway we hit the road about 7:30. This drive I was not looking forward to it because it would be filled with lots of traffic and congestion as we work our way around Chicago and other busy areas. We spent hours weaving in and out of traffic and finally ended up at a KOA in Ohio. It was about 6 miles off the highway but we decided to stop anyway. As we drove up it looked OK but there was virtually no one there. Anyway we did not like the vibe and had only driven about 7 hours so we decided to push on and get a few more hours knocked out which would make the next day getting home even easier. We drove a few more hours and ended up in a very desolate area. Finally we came around a corner and at the top of the hill was a Red Roof Inn. We pulled up and the people at the desk where super nice and after talking with them gave me a teacher discount that ended up making the price $98.57. While this sounded great the way my credit card points work is that I have to use at least $100 or more at the time to have them cancel out the bill. So I explained this to her and she said no one had ever asked to increase there rate. She was able to add $2 to the bill making it totally free for us. Nice another free hotel room. I am such a good negotiator ha ha! The room was nice and we decided just to eat in since we are trying to finish up food in the cooler. We went to bed around 10 PM with only about 5 hours between us and Greensboro! We are excited!!!

Day 2

We actually slept til 7. Curtains really do make a difference in sleeping in! We had breakfast at the hotel and by the time we left it was 8 AM. The plan was to make a quick stop in Mount Airy and get a Pork chop sandwich at Snappy's take a quick look around. Three day before we had gone through a lot of tolls and had used up most of our cash. Not really a problem except I had forgotten about the West Virginia Turnpike. When we hit the first toll. We found out we would have to pay three tolls total after digging through all of change we finally paid our last toll using almost all of our remaining change and Lyn's last remaining $2 bill. How appropriate! We really enjoyed the drive through West Virginia and we noticed right away how different it looked than the west. The mountains were covered with trees so completely that you could not see anything but leaves. Anyway we went through several tunnels and after about 4 hours we were entering NC and heading to Mount Airy. I had only been once and Lyn had never been. We found a place to park the camper and walked through main street heading to Snappy's. As most of you know this town has a cool touristy vibe and we decided we would need to come back and check it out more thoroughly. We walked down main street and saw the police car from the Andy Griffith show as well as many other things related to the show. Finally we came to the restaurant and saw a picnic area right across the street complete with bathrooms. I went in to get our lunch and noticed a sign that said they could not take debit or credit cards today due to their system being down. Dang it we had only about a $1 in cash. I found an ATM about a block away. We enjoyed the sandwich which was delicious and headed back to our car. At this point we were only one hour from home. Finally after 9112.6 miles we were in Greensboro! We went by my Dad's house to drop off the camper and then 10 minutes later we were home. Wow what a great trip! So thankful to be home safe and sound! After unloading the car I went to see our awesome next door neighbor Sally! She had kept an eye on our place and getting our mail everyday for almost 5 weeks. It was an entire trash bag full. Remember we have two High School seniors living with us and they are getting college flyers left and right. She also had two cases of Le Sueur Peas that my Dad had dropped off! Kind of an inside joke but lets just say I love these peas and to show my love for them I took them with me on the trip and photographed them in places along the way. You can see the pictures below! We met so many cool people along the way. Remember the Grandfather granddaughter team that were driving motorcycles with side cars to Alaska. Well they made it all the way to the Arctic circle! Every day we were amazed at how many nice, helpful people we met. We also really appreciated our friends and family at home who encouraged us, helped us and even gave us great ideas while on this trip. I am so thankful for Lyn and Jasper my travel companions. On this trip we were with each other 24/7 for almost 5 weeks and we always woke up looking forward to spending the day together! We are already looking forward to a trip next year and are thinking about slowing it down a bit and doing a North Carolina tour. Hoping Spencer can join us for that one! :) See you in the bye and bye!

Ohio

Along the way!

The Dynamic Duo that never let us down!

West Virginia

Along the way!

Erika and Opa made it!

Virginia

Awesome!

Mount Airy

Snappy's

Welcome home package!

Le Sueur Sweet Peas National Tour

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Driving Days & Big News!

Day 1

Of course we slept great and got up just in time to watch the sun coming up over the hills. Today we would be heading east towards Greensboro. We are about 26 hours away from home and believe it or not that feels very close to us. Anyway we packed up and headed out around 7:30 and took a few shots of the scenery as we left. About 10 minutes before the entrance we saw a huge Bison on the side of the road. We slowed down and let him walk right next to us. Then he looked right at us and we decided we should move on so we left the park. We did take a quick picture at the park sign before we finally hit the road. We absolutely love this park. It is not the most breathtaking and it is not the biggest but it does have that small town feel that we like and we plan to return for sure! Anyway there is not much to write about today mostly just driving. We made good time and when we hit the Minnesota state line we stopped at the visitor center. We told them we wanted to drive about another two hours and then find a campsite. The people there were super helpful and told us to go to a city named Alexandria. So we did. It turned out that most of the campgrounds where a bit far away so we decided to hit up a Best Western again. This one was right next to a Wal-mart so it was a double win. We bought some food for Jasper and we ate leftovers while watching Shark Tank on TV. Oh yeah and all of this was going on with some delightful air conditioning circulating in the background. Finally we went to bed about 10 PM. Tomorrow we are still heading towards Greensboro but are making a pit stop along the way. About three years ago we had the camper canvas completely redone by a company in Wisconsin. They did a great job but a few of my measurements must have been off and the zippered door and screen in the front where tight and after about a week into our trip the screen had started to separate from the zipper. I knew I could take pictures at home and get them to fix it but I really wanted them to see it in person. When I googled their address it would only be a 30 minute detour to stop by and see them in person. So the plan is to call them in the morning and see if my plan works for them. After that we will continue to head towards Greensboro.

Day 2

We actually slept late 7 AM. I think it has a lot to do with these things called curtains. Wow 9 hours of sleep. Now all we had to do was pack up and eat a huge hotel breakfast and hit the road. We were on our way by 8:30 AM. We stopped and filled up with gas. Just in case you are wondering the Prius pulling the camper usually gets around 34 MPG fully loaded. Awesome! We headed out and I called the camper place to see if they liked my plan. The receptionist said that it would be fine to stop by but be warned they where off highway "P" out in the middle of nowhere. OK that does sound out in the boonies. She said after turning on highway "P" go about 10 miles and take a left after crossing the "Yellow River". So let me get this straight I am traveling down highway "P" and I turn after the "yellow" river. OK got ya ha ha! So the GPS said we should be there about 1:30. We drove on major highways and finally turned on "P". It was beautiful. We were right in the middle of Amish country. It was great scenery all the way around. After we crossed the "yellow" river we took a left on highway 98 and we were there in about 5 minutes. We went inside and told them that we were there and set up the camper right in their parking lot. A very nice lady waited on us and did the measurements and decided what to do to fix the problem. She said she could fix it for $60. Totally awesome! We decided to leave the canvas with her so we could save the shipping. This would mean that we would have to use the tent for the remainder of the trip. While she was working out the details the owner came outside just to see the camper. He said he loved vintage campers and really loved it when they drove up to his front door. As it turns out his Dad started manufacturing campers in the 50's. The first pop up campers he manufactured were called an EZ Camper. In fact he said his Dad hated the makers of our camper (Tradewinds) because he felt they had copied his camper. Anyway Tradewinds campers went out of business and he ended up buying all of their supplies so I guess he won in the end. Anyway we had a great conversation and I learned a lot. We left the canvas with them and they said they would ship it back to us in about 4 weeks. We headed out and drove about three more hours towards Greensboro and ended up in a true resort KOA campground in Milton, Wisconsin. It was super nice and we wondered if they would let us camp. Some of these fancy campgrounds are RV only and we did not see any tents from the entrance. I went in and they said no problem in fact they had a site for $38 and of course it would have water and electricity. I pulled out my credit card and took it before she changed her mind ha ha. This place was super nice with lots of grass and fanciness everywhere. The store even said just call for snacks or whatever we wanted and they would deliver it. Wow! After we set up Lyn fixed dinner trying to use up as much as she could from the cooler. It was great as usual. After dinner we took Jasper for a walk and then settled in for a fire built by you know who. That woman has some mad fire skills! Anyway we hit the bed around 10 and plan to drive about half way home tomorrow so we should be rolling into Greensboro on Wednesday. Still having fun and still loving the people we are meeting!

PS. I literally just got permission to write this. Luke and Caroline are expecting Baby Miles number 2! That's right Bobaloo and Lola are going to be the proud grandparents of 2 grand kids come next January! We have known for awhile and have been excited about the news but it just makes me doubly excited to say it out loud here! Luke and Caroline have done such a great job with Spencer that Miles 2 should have no problem fitting right in!