Day 55 ... we always have a plan B

Day 55 Sunday August 25, 2013 
... 35 degrees
Badlands National Park

woke at 7 to another beautiful day and this is going to be a hot one

before we get on the road I book the KOA Badlands for the next two nights
it's already 28 degrees when we get on the road at 10 am

our first stop was to visit the Corn Palace in the town of Mitchell where we stayed last night

the Corn Palace is an American folk art icon
the first was built in 1892 in order for the early settlers to show off their crops
the one we visited on main street in Mitchell was the third one

most of the work is done by hand and there is a new theme every year
this years theme is "We Celebrate"

in June last year's display is removed and work gets started on the new display
first sketches are created on roofing paper then that is nailed to the mural panels
they grow 13 shades of coloured corn locally for the Palace
 about 275,000 cobs of corn were sawed in half, then shaped & trimmed to fit the designated spaces

we visited on the last day the of the Corn Palace Festival Week so there were lots of
food vendors and such....similar to the PNE
the Corn Palace was a little tacky but still fun to see

back on the I90 (which could take us all the way to Seattle)
its a great road to head west
lots of corn, soy and now billboards

at Chamberlain we crossed a bridge going over the Missouri River
there was a sudden change in landscape
to the 'old west' type of terrain with rolling hills and very few farms
then it changed back to farms again with the main crop being sunflowers
these fields were absolutely beautiful

further along on the I90 we entered into the Mountain Time Zone so gained another hour
now we are only one hour ahead of home
a lot of motorcycles along this stretch ... maybe because it is Sunday
and again most are not wearing helmets

we turn off I90 onto 240 and drive through the Northeast Entrance to the
Badlands National Park

the attendant tells us that it is our lucky day because the park is celebrating it's
97th birthday so the entrance is free today .....yeah!!!
{anonymous scribe thinks this might make up for some of the tolls paid to get here}


up until now the terrain looked the same as out on I90 but suddenly as we drove
closer to the Big Badlands Lookout the landscape changed dramatically

it's kind of hard to describe what it looked like other than a LITTLE similar to
the Grand Canyon in spots

we stopped at the lookout to take our first pictures and it is VERY HOT !!
we think it is around 100
at one point Missy simply laid down and refused to move so I carried her back
to the  truck and turned on the AC while dad took more pictures

then off towards our campsite which is close to the small town of Interior, SD

while driving there these incredible rock formations are all around us

 

 
booked into the Badlands KOA at around 3 pm



we took a nice shady spot but first we had COLD SHOWERS in the trailer
feels much better now

good internet connection as it is at most of the KOA sites we've visited
so dad worked on some photos and we checked out The Badlands on trip advisor
lots of good tips from others who've been here lately

we tried to eat outside the the MOZZIES and small flies were aggressive so on to plan B
.... we always have a plan B
to us it was still very hot outside so we were surprised to see other campers sitting around
an outdoor fire wearing long pants and hoodies !!!
a little tv then off to bed at 9:30
all 3 of us are very tired
cicadas chirping outside

S, G & a very hot M

Days 52 to 54 ...word is Obama is in town

Day 52 Thursday August 22, 2013 
... 30 degrees
Go Lion's Go

woke at 6:45 to another beautiful, sunny morning

on the road by 9 am and we are AMAZED at the number of semi trucks 

travelling the US freeways....one after another, after another

 

as we drive east of Buffalo there are many more farms

dad is checking the overpasses and he thinks they are all in need of an overhaul

when we drove through Buffalo there were many road closures and cops everywhere 

word is Obama is in town

tolls so far today are $12.75 and $11.50 

{anonymous scribe thinks we might have it good at home with the tolls}

we leave the state of NY and enter Pennsylvania where the main crop seems to be grapes

this is surprising to us but think where there is grapes there is Vino

then on to Ohio where the gas is the cheapest so far at $3.39 a gallon

of course, diesel is always a bit higher

we were grateful that we managed to manoeuvre through Cleavland with out much trouble

Gertrude is doing better and has been a god send but I always have two back up maps at the ready

as we pass through Toledo there are many more farms and less forests

just west of Toledo we pulled into one of the big travel rest stops along the way

we noticed spots where RVers could stay the night and since it was 5:30 

and starting to rain we decided to stay right here at the West Unity Ohio rest stop

for $20 we got a campsite with power

dinner was hamburgers in the trailer then a look at the map to plan our next few days

we've managed to catch on to the expressway toll booths and I guess the APB they 

have out on us has been cancelled since we've not been arrested yet for the $4.20 we owe

to bed at 9 without knowing how the Lion's did today

Day 53 Friday August 23, 2013 
... getting hotter at 32 degrees

woke at 6am to some cloud but the rain had stopped and it was quite muggy

a little bummed that we have not internet and can't text

on the road by 7:30 and heading towards Chicago

Gertrude and I have think we have chosen a route that will skirt Chicago

hope we are right

as we travel west out of West Unity we drove though many corn fields

some of which the entire field was dead

we reached the Indiana border at 8 am

mostly farms now and the day has turned beautiful with no clouds at all

spent $49.05 on tolls today and have noticed many motorcycle riders not wearing helmets

a good thing today is that we gained an hour passing into Illinois

and Missy is laying down in the truck today more than anytime since we left

with great help from Gertrude we managed to get through greater Chicago without any problems

and have I mentioned semis on the road !!!!!

we have travelled a lot and have not seen anything quite like this

west of Chicago the terrain is quite flat and the main crop seems to be corn

stopped in Peru, Illinois at the Walmart to get supplies

as we continue to travel west we pass into Iowa at 2pm

at Davenport we pass over the might Mississippi River and again, nothing but corn

at about 4:30 we scout out a KOA and get settled for the night in Newton, Iowa

we were able to get on-line briefly to find out that the Lions lost in the last few seconds of the game

last night we had frogs serenading us and tonight it is cicadas

there are thousands of them in the trees above us

spent most of the evening in the air conditioned trailer because it is so hot

dad still trying to send some journal pages to his ghost writer {aka anonymous scribe}

but did not have much luck

I think this is only the second time during our trip that we have had cable at a campsite

so we catch up with CNN then off to bed

Day 54 Saturday August 24, 2013 
... Mt. Rushmore

woke at 7am to a beautiful, sunny day

quick breaky then on the road

set Gertrude for Rapid city South Dakota which is near the Mt. Rushmore Memorial site

having trouble with Gertrude again....she has lost her route info that dad relies on while driving

she will need a re-boot later

along the way we pass the birthplace of John Wayne at De Soto, Iowa

as well we passed through the county of Madison which was the inspiration 

for the Bridges of Madison County novel

interstate 80 is very noisy and bumpy at first with many fields of corn and soy beans

when the wind hits the soy fields it looks like velvet shimmering in the wind

many windmills along the way

once we turn onto highways 680 & 29 there is FAR LESS traffic and very few semis

we cross over into South Dakota at 3pm

there are still a lot of corn fields but also a lot of cattle 

 arrived at our KOA campsite at Mitchell, SD at 5pm and it is a scortcher

we ate dinner and spent the evening in the trailer

again cicadas in the trees all around us

Sharon I know you are reading this so be sure to ZOOM in for a better look

dad sent journal pages to his ghostwriter

eventhough the AC was on when we went to bed it was still very hot and hard to sleep

dad woke in the middle of the night to realize we only had the AC set to fan and not cool

we will try not to do that again

S,G & a very hot and tired M

Days 50 & 51 .. 'NO TICKET VIOLATION'

Day 50 Tuesday August 20th, 2013 
... 29 degrees
USA here we come

up on the road by 9 am

hwy 114 is quite bumpy as we make our way to the Trans Can. Hwy

a few rain showers on our drive into St. John

rolling hills & farmland most of the way

we found a Telus store in St. John to get a phone plan for the US,

left St. John at 1 pm

the TCH very good west of St. John

reminded us of some of the fatter areas of the Coquihalla

no houses and very forested

drove straight through the border to Maine with out any wait at all

the border guard must have been hungry because he did relieve us of 

our oranges, tomatoes and red peppers

once across we gain an hour back

again the terrain for the most part is very wooded

 we scouted out a KOA campsite in Freeport and arrived about 6:30

dinner was a couple of chicken pot pies we had bough in St. John

tried to get on line to check out what route we should take but it was not happening

so we have to use the old fashion method.....a map

I don't have any detailed ones of the area but there will be info centres along the way

to bed early as we are very tired tonight

Day 51 Wednesday August 21th, 2013 
... 21 - 31 degrees

up at 6:15 to find out the trailer doesn't have power or water

dad figures it is the entire site....not just us

makes it an easy morning as we just get on the road

we pass some beautiful homes on the side roads leaving out of our campground

at 7:45 it is already 21 degrees so looks like it will be a hot one

our route of choice is interstate 90 which is a toll road that looks like it can get us 

quite far west and skirt most of the big cities as this is not a big city trip for us

the eastern states are so close together that we travel through Maine, 

New Hampshire, Massachusetts and into New York state

the tolls work differently depending on the state you are in

at the first one we paid $1.50 cash to an attendant 

then the next toll you to take a ticket like you were parking 

but we mistakenly drove right through the express lane and didn't get a ticket

when we got off the attendant asked for our ticket "sorry but we don't have a ticket!!"

she replied "no ticket ??" to which we said "no, no ticket!!"

so we were issued a 'NO TICKET VIOLATION' of $4.20

 she also took our licence plate number so we might have a nice 

letter in the mail when we get home

we notice way more police on the freeways so far than our entire trip in Canada

the expressways are very good with lots of service areas and great signage

we of course come across a lot of construction and end up in quite a few traffic jams

the country side and houses were very pretty especially between Utica & Syracuse N.Y.

again the lawns are cut to perfection and are very green

Missy got very tired towards the end of the day and we are grateful to have AC in the truck & trailer

as we were gassing up on our way to the campsite dad started chatting to a tow truck driver

the nice man got out a map and gave us directions to the KOA

{Gertrude the GPS is overheating and not happy with us}

our last toll charge was $43.50

after a quick check in and dinner we called Cheryl {aka the anonymous scribe} 

to let her know where we were and all was OK

cell service is not as good so we can't contact them as often

 and having trouble sending text messages

S, G and a very tired M

Day 49 ... last dinner in Canada for a while

Day 49 Monday August 19th, 2013 
... Bay of Fundy

another beautiful, bright sunny day...we could get used to this

a quick breakfast and on the road by 9:30

Hwy 102 north is a good road then on to toll road 104 through Cobequid Pass

again no houses, very wooded until Amherst when there are a few more farms

once we enter New Brunswick the signs are bilingual again

the gas is also cheaper at $1.29 ltr

we pass a couple of chocolate coloured rivers

{anonymous scribe even found an Inn named after these rivers}

we  reach our campsite at 2:30 and it is a very nice spot 

right between 2 small lakes in a very small town called Hopewell Cape

the plan today is to scout out some lobster for dinner

I had noticed a sign for lobsters for sale a few km away in a town called Alma

off we go and choose 2 very good sized cooked whale lobsters so all you have to do is heat them

now on to Hopewell Rocks to see the Bay of Fundy at low tide

lots of people there and very interesting to see

 the tide was almost completely out when we got there

one of the guides told us that by 11:30 tonight it would rise to 43 feet where we are standing

what the tieds have done to the rocks over the centuries is very interesting to see

 

back to camp to enjoy our last dinner in Canada for a while
YUMMY lobster !!!

a little sit out around one of the few campfires we have had in order to use up the wood we brought

I had read that you weren't able to take wood into Maine so we gave what was left away

had a nice chat with a couple of teenagers who were traveling with their folks from Germany

we asked what they noticed most that was different between the two countries

they both said Canadians are far more friendly that Germans

off to bed and on the the USA tomorrow

Tootles
 S, G & M

Days 48 .....I must be one in a million

Day 48 Sunday August 18th, 2013 
... Halifax

awoke to another beautiful, bright sunny day to find out from dad that the Lion's
won last night and it was a very exciting game in the last few minutes


had the big meal deal for breaky then showers and off to explore Halifax at 10:30
must mention that dad's bites are fading away....not as many little beasts in Dartmouth
also Missy needs help to get up the steps into the trailer

there is a ferry system simlar to the Seabus to get across the harbour and it works very well
once across we scouted out a city tour to take and opted for the Harbour Hopper Tour

where the same vehicle takes you around on land and in the water, it was a great tour

after the tour we strolled along the seawall and spotted a tourist information centre
the young lady put us on the right track to see the Bay of Fundy tomorrow
she also had great info about crossing over into the US

while at the info centre I manage to get my photo taken with Anne Murray

anonymous scribes picture

actual picture

{anonymous scribe is GREATFUL she had batteries in her camera}
 after the EXCITEMENT of Ann Murray we continue along the harbour walk on our way to Pier 21

upon entering they ask if you are there to find out about anyone in particular and I said it was me
they gave me a gold alumni sticker to wear

 click on the small pictures to see them bigger

 
we took a very interesting guided tour which included a half hour video presentation
we took another tour around the exhibits and found the Scythia listed as one of the many
ships that brought the one million plus immigrants to Canada between 1928 & 1971

so there you go.....I must be one in a million

 we then went in to a room where the staff help with research

because I knew the year, date & name of the ship we came on, the young man
found the 4 of us (Emma, with kids June, Sheila and Eddie Bulpitt) in no time flat

Sheila, Eddie, June & Emma

the funny thing was that Eddie was listed as 'James Bulpitt'
so I guess Edgar Bulpitt still lives in England
for a fee we were able to get a copy of the passenger list

the visit was very special for me to have gone back to where we first set foot on
Canadian soil almost 63 yeas ago

another bucket list item to tick off!!!
{anonymous scribe thinks that could be two items to tick off with meeting Anne Murray}

after an exciting day it was time to head back and let the little girl out of the trailer 
 before supper I scout out a campsite at Hopewell Cape where the gal at the
info centre said was a good spot for the Bay of Fundy tides

dinner then off to bed
S, G and M