June 30th – July 4th

Hi all, this is our update for the last 4 days. We spent Saturday morning June 30th packing up last minute stuff, filling the camper with water and finally left our house around noon. We rushed to get to the Cenex to get our propane filled then on into Hastings for some lunch before heading out. Once on the road north we figured out that the vent was blowing only very hot air and the AC was not working!! Too hot for me, we drove with the windows open and just let the wind dry off the sweat! At supper we went to turn on the generator to run the microwave and the battery wasn’t strong enough to let the generator start. So…………………,we went on to Brookings, SD, found the Walmart and bought a new coach battery. Finally got to our destination for the evening, Watertown, Walmart parking lot. Read a bit and went to bed in the heat.

Next day, July 1st, we headed up to North Dakota, then on to Minnesota. Arrived at Sandy’s, my sister, lake house right around noon. Beautiful place to relax. Lots of trees, shade, and company. While there Grant and Chad figured out that the AC was fine, the heater was locked on and wouldn’t shut down. So they jury rigged a redneck fix (vice grips, shims and tie strips) and we at least now have AC. Soooo much better. We called several places in the state of ND and no one would look at it until next week or the week after. So, we have a tentative appointment in Montana on Friday to see if they can figure out the problem.

After leaving Sandy’s on Monday, July 2nd, we headed for Grand Forks to visit with Terri before she left for a campout with her boyfriend. While there Dale made several calls to see if anyone would look at the heater but he had no luck. Around three o’clock we left for Hallock, MN where my nephew, Nathan and his family lives. Were very late getting there as we had left my notebook with his phone, and address at Terri’s. Oh boy, we actually found his place by hit and miss after calling my sister for his phone number. Later on that evening I found that I had his number and address in another notebook. Not very well organized was I?? After supper with them we got to our campground at Icelandic State park in NE North Dakota just a bit after nine o’clock. Dale went for a walk. It was a real nice campground and had a lake with a swimming area. Dawne’s sister Kirsten recommended it and it was a nice place.

Tuesday, July 3rd we headed for the farm

via the backroads and picked up several of the Northern tier of counties for Dale. Arrived at the farm where Dawne’s mother lives about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We had a good visit with Anita (Dawne’s sister-in-law), her daughter Jessica, and her son Clayton, who is not quite 2. Jessica and Clayton live in Costa Rica and were home for a visit, so we were lucky to catch them. They are making the rounds to try and see everyone. They left this morning, July 4th, for Grand Forks stopping at a campground to catch up with my sister Kirsten and some of her family. This morning we worked in Mom’s yard and cleaned up some branches, thistles, etc. We leave early tomorrow morning for western ND and on into Montana. Almost 1,300 miles so far.