Time Off

Last week we made better time than originally planned, so our 1 day off just became 2 days off.  Besides, this Corps of Engineer facility is very quiet, not crowded, and inexpensive.  Plus, it never hurts that we have many TV stations and good Internet access.

Yesterday we walked to the information center where we saw a movie about Lewis and Clark’s travels through this area and signed up for a tour of the hydro-electric power plant.  It has 5 generators with a total capacity of 185MW for those who are interested.  In the afternoon, we went back to see a movie of the construction of this dam which is the largest hydraulically-filled dam in the world.  The Missouri River backs up into a lake over 130 miles long, with more than 1,500 miles of shoreline.  It is quite impressive

Today is another day for quiet relaxation and reading.  Tomorrow we will continue west-bound, almost to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  We have been in contact with the camp where we’re going to be working and they are expecting us to arrive on Thursday.  We will have a meeting with the camp staff on Friday and have some time to investigate the area also.  The rest of our team will pull in on Saturday so we will have time to get to know one another before we start our work on Monday.

 

Now in the West

Saturday we crossed most of North Dakota and watched the scenery change from Prairie to Plains.  We stopped in Minot at the edge of their “oil patch”.  Today we saw even more of the Plains.  Now that we have also crossed into Montana and the Mountain Time Zone, we can officially say that we are in the West.  Most of our clocks have been reset, with just a couple left to do (of course, Paige always stays in Central Time!).

Something else we saw were the ND “man camps” – lots of RVs, mobile homes, modular housing, etc., packing available space near truck depots and oil well sites.  The western end of ND is filled with them, and they are filled with guys.  Because of the oil drilling, grain harvest, and major road construction, there is almost no unemployment.

After 3 straight driving days, we are staying put right here tomorrow.  We are at a very quiet Corps of Engineers facility at a dam on the Missouri River; Lewis and Clark country.  Seniors like us get a 50Amp site for $9/night.  We will tour the power plant and do some surfing on the Internet, after sleeping in a little more than normal.

Paige is also taking this time to create a treat for us.  We bought some huge Colorado peaches while getting the tires fixed in Virginia, MN.  It was a fundraising sale.  These peaches are delicious but huge – one peach is enough to split for both of us for breakfast.  In order to use the peaches before they spoil, Paige found a recipe for Peach Crisp today.  It’s in the convection oven now and smelling good in here!  Yum!

Back on the Road

Once again we are “Ramblin’”, having closed up the cabin and hit the road.  It’s always a bit sad to leave our MN friends and family.  Seems like we have two great lives; MN in the summer where we get to see friends and family and the rest of the year when we travel and see new places and meet new people.   

Our departure was delayed a little bit this morning when we found we had to add air to the same 2 tires that were low a week ago.  Rather than repeat this exercise at every stop, we found a truck tire shop in Virginia MN, just a little off of our planned route.  The staff at Taconite Tire (look for Goodyear sign) did a great job for us and got us on the road again with minimal delay. 

 

About halfway across the state, we stopped at a wayside to take a short walk.  While there we took a new photo to be used as our header for this blog.  The Saturn Vue was a good “tow’d” for many years but it was accumulating high miles and was a little cramped for tool space.  We found the 2010 GMC Canyon in Minneapolis back in May and got the baseplate and braking systems added in June.  Now we have lots of room for NOMADS tools and materials.  The back sure came in handy when hauling building materials to and from the cabin this summer.

We crossed Minnesota all day (from the Iron Range, through the lakes and forests, to the western prairies) and at about 5:30 we pulled into a campground on the MN/ND border, within sight of the Red River.  This place used to be a residential neighborhood, but it flooded during too many spring thaws so the houses have been removed and it is now used as a campground.

Status check

Last week was our final busy-time in the Minneapolis area (final motorhome maintenance, shopping, doctors, family and friends, etc).  We were able to spend time with Brett, Jen and kids, Dave and LeJoy, our grand-niece Leah, Pam and Ron, and Aunt Lu and her family. Paige’s Mom came with us and we kept her busy!  We got back to the northwoods before the peak holiday weekend traffic and had time for a quiet Friday night fish-fry at a nearby town on the Iron Range.  We also got to the local “happy hour” here on the Whiteface Point for a last get-together with our summer neighbors before we hit the road again in a few days. 

David and Valentina came Friday night and returned to Minneapolis on Sunday morning.  She was driving on her learners’ permit as they left.  Grandkids grow up so quickly!  Grandma Joyce came up for the day on Saturday so we got a 4 generation picture thanks to Bob!
 

For a holiday weekend, there is not much activity around here, but the weather might be the cause of that.  The heat of August ended rather suddenly, to the point where we are wearing long pants and sleeves once again as it is only 60 today. 

We’ll be enjoying a few more days here and in Duluth before we head to Montana later this week.  It’s been a great summer!  We promise to publish blogs in a more timely manner now as we will have more to communicate during our travels.

How Time Flys

It is hard to believe just how quickly the days and weeks fly by when it seems like we aren’t doing much of anything.  It has been a little over 3 weeks since our last posting? – WOW!  We have finished our outhouse remodeling project.  It has the same structure but the door, inside décor, and outside have all been updated.

 

We taken the opportunity to get to know more of our “summer neighbors”, having coffee time, dinners, and “happy hours” with many of them.

Earlier this week, we went to Duluth and had no reason to go to any home improvement stores – how unusual!!  It seems like every past trip to either Duluth or Virginia has meant stopping for either tools or materials, or both.

We are about to get 3 granddaughters for another visit, this time for an extended weekend.  With Labor Day coming up they are looking forward to some back-to-school shopping with Grandma (she is looking forward to it as well).  After the long weekend with company, we will have about a week of quiet time here, before spending one last week in the Twin Cities area.  Then we will come back here for Labor Day weekend and begin the process of closing up the cabin for the year.

Busy Days

It has NOT been a quiet week (or 2) here at Lake Woebegone (Whiteface Resv).  We have been busy: with visitors, with work, and with boating.  We had 3 more granddaughters with us for a week, taking them swimming, and boating, and picnicing on a nearby island.  We were able to take Grandma Joyce out to lunch on her 84^th birthday. What a lot of energy those girls have!
 

We started stripping the siding off of our outhouse the day before Brett came.  After he arrived on Tuesday, we found some insect damage in the rear framing that needed to be repaired, and the bottom framework was replaced while we had the chance.  Then we replaced the door and rebuilt its frame.  While we were doing this, we had to put up with the hottest and most humid days of the entire summer.  Naturally, the mosquitoes were also at their worst so working outdoors was a challenge.  Over the next few weeks we will hang new vinyl siding, left over from the cabin re-siding job of last year.

After Brett and the girls left for home, we had a little wind storm that didn’t seem to be too bad, but it was just enough to bring a small tree into a nearby power line.  The entire Whiteface Point was without electric power for about 12 hours.  We ran the motorhome’s generator to provide power for the cabin’s freezer for a few hours.  Our friends, KJ and Rob, came that morning for a 3-day weekend.  We played a lot of cards while they were here.

This week, Paige’s cousin Tim and his son Nick have been with us for a couple of days.  On Wednesday Bob took them to the Soudan Underground Mine State Park for a history/mining tour below sea level.  On Thursday they went to the Duluth harbor to see the Tall Ships come in.  The older-style sailing ships are traveling all around the Great Lakes, drawing tourists wherever they stop.  While they were gone, some neighbors took us for a 2 hour boat ride on their pontoon.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride!
 

We have no company coming in the foreseeable future (other than Paige’s mother), so we’ll be working on the outhouse and other small projects around here.  Neighbors on both sides of us will be here for the next week so we’ll have the opportunity to visit with all of them. 

Still Here

We are way overdue to update this blog.  If we have any regular readers left, you may think we’ve disappeared somewhere.   

Our oldest granddaughter, Valentina, and her dog spent the week of the 4^th with us, and David joined us for the 5^th and 6^th.  David and LeJoy (his friend) joined us the weekend before the Fourth to introduce LeJoy to the “cabin” life.  We had a great week with all of them!

Since then, we’ve had a couple of quiet, relaxing days up here at the lake, with the exception of the mosquitoes.  They have been really nasty this year.  Maybe the late spring warm-up and the frequent rains have made them vicious.  We have given up taking walks around the 2-mile circle since they are so thick.

Paige’s mother brought some friends up here for lunch and a little time at the water’s edge, but they have just left as we write this.  Our quiet time ends tomorrow, however, when the 3 remaining granddaughters come for a week.  Their Mom has to attend a seminar in Chicago, and Brett is back on 24 hr shifts at St Paul’s Fire Dept.  He will come up to join us next Tuesday.  We’ll be re-siding the outhouse.  Since completing our last small remodeling project we have just been taking things easy and doing quite a lot of reading.

Future plans have come together, somewhat.  We will go back to the Twin Cities for a couple of days in late August, then come back to the cabin for the Labor Day weekend.  Shortly after that we will be packing up and heading for the Pacific NW, stopping for a 3-week Nomads project at a church camp in Montana for late September/early October.  After that we plan to do a lot of sightseeing and meeting up with friends as the fall winds down.