Update

It has been a very eventful 1 1/2 weeks. We went to the dealer Monday last week under the assumption to be moving into our new rig that afternoon or the next morning. Well, people that have done this will know that things are never as easy as you hope for. We got there around 11 am and they were still cleaning the rig. By early afternoon it was moved to the spot next to us. We hooked up our Direct TV box to their satellite system and could not get it to work, since there satellite looked for a channel that our box does not receive on. The afternoon passed and the issue was not resolved. We decided that we would not move in until everything was in correct working order.

The next morning came around and after a few phone calls they fixed that problem. We did our walk through for about two hours and figured that we would start moving in after lunch. Well, that did not happen since the awning had arrived and the dealer wanted to install it that afternoon, since he was booked up the following day. We started moving in at 3 pm and did not finish until 6 hours later (and we had not started the basement yet). I have never felt so sore in my whole life. We finished moving the basement on Wednesday and were on our way to Sheboygan Thursday morning.

It was an interesting trip with some minor problems, but nothing that we could not handle. We arrived at the campground near Sheboygan on Friday to find out that they did not have a spot big enough for us. We found out really quick that there is a lot of campgrounds that can't accommodate a 40' rig and by 5 pm we were getting a little bit frustrated. My sister-in-law had found a campground that told her that there was no problem. Well, when we finally got there they told us that they accommodate rigs up to 32 foot. After about 30 minutes and some creative thinking, we got our rig parked (by using some of my in-law's spot) and parked the truck in their overflow lot.

We had a great weekend with Doug's brother and wife and their son's family. By Monday I was even more exhausted and we decided to move on further north towards the upper peninsula of Michigan. Everybody warned us that we probably will not have Internet and they were pretty much correct. We are in a casino campground northwest of Green Bay, which is really nice, but the Internet is so slow that I have problems looking at my e-mails. Therefore there will not be any new pictures of the rig until we get somewhere with better Internet. So, we are doing well, just hanging here, relaxing and enjoying our new rig. I have done four loads of laundry already and loving every minute of it.

Our New Rig

Well, we bought a new rig!!!! I took some pictures when we first looked at it, so here we go.

The TV is in the console in the rear of the rig and just moves out when you want to watch TV. I will take pictures of it when we are moved in. We now have a real refrigerator and the kitchen is not so bad either.


I have lost my enclosed bathroom, but after traveling for a year it is more important that Doug can stand up straight in every part of the rig then me having that enclosed bathroom.


And, I happily trade my enclosed bathroom for a washer and dryer. No more going to the laundromat!!!! I will take the quarters that I have left and spend them in the casino :-) Pictures of the bedroom are to follow, since I did not take good ones last time.

Also I will have to update the blog pictures once we leave the dealer. We hooked the truck up to the rig on Thursday and it looks like a freight train to me now, since we are now 5 feet longer. I know there is longer rigs out there, but it will take me a little bit of time to adjust and we will have to me a little more careful with the campgrounds that we will stay in from now on.

Still in Minnesota

It has been one heck of a week!!! We decided on Monday to go back to Clara City to take another look at the Teton Homes Aspen rig. There was a lot of things that we really liked and would make our life on the road more comfortable. Well, after spending another hour in the rig on Monday and some price discussions on Tuesday, we signed the contract and bought a new rig. Financing was no problem and we were approved within 4 hours. I guess our traveling has not hurt our credit rating.

We spend Wednesday in the campground and had the most impressive weather I have ever seen. We had three storms within two hours, each producing pea size hail. The casino, whose campground we are staying in, had their annual employee picnic, which kept going throughout all this bad weather.


Thursday we went back to the dealer to pick up the title to get titling and registration done in Sioux Falls. We also had to pick up the two extra chairs from the storage lot. I am glad we took another look at the rig, since we found a rip in the awning. It was upsetting to us, but the dealer just calmly said, we just order a new one from the dealer and it should be here by Tuesday. So much for us meeting up with Doug's brother and sister-in-law in Sheboygan beginning of next week. On the other side I am glad that we found it now and not next Monday when we move in.

Friday we went to Sioux Falls to pay sales tax on the rig and get the plates moved over. We almost had a glitch when we were told that they don't accept our check, since our address is not a physical address. Luckily we have a good bank and the treasurer accepted our debit card. Otherwise, things in Sioux Falls went smooth.

So Saturday came around and we decided that we needed a break. So we went to Darwin to see the largest ball of Twine made by only one person (it was on Doug's "to-do" list). I have to admit that it was more interesting than I thought and the museum was pretty cool too.





It was difficult to take a picture of the whole ball because of the sun glare, but then we realized that you actually could go inside the little building and get a closeup. The house pictures is a miniature of their old school house and the other one is a farmers elevator, that burned down a few years ago. Minnesota must be known for all its corn, soybeans and sugar beets, since that it all we have seen here while driving around.

Well, it is Sunday now and I am a little bit anxious at this point. I am sure everything will be fine with moving all our stuff from one rig to another, but it definitely will be interesting trying to find a spot for everything we have in here. It is a bigger rig, but the cupboards in the kitchen are differently shaped. We will not have Internet or phone service while at the dealer, so I will update the blog once we are back on the road.

Weekly Update

It has been a quite week for us. Monday we moved on from Sioux Falls to Prior Lake, which is a little bit south of Minneapolis, but close enough to the Mall of America. I like the short driving days, since it was only 250 miles and we got in at a decent time to set up for the week.

We have been talking a lot lately about the pros and cons of our rig and decided on Tuesday to take a drive to a RV dealer and look at a Teton Homes. It is a beautiful rig, has everything we want in it, but is a little bit pricey for us. It will be a subject to be discussed again.

Wednesday we went to the Mall of America. OMG!!! I should have taken the camera with us. This mall is huge and the amusement park in the center has a lot more rides, like roller coasters, log flume, etc. then I expected. We walked around for a couple of hours, got Doug some new sneakers, and left when my feet said "enough".

The rest of the week has been more hanging out in the park, still rearranging some of the stuff we took out of the storage lot and just relaxing a little bit before we will meet up with Doug's brother and sister-in-law some time next week or the following week.

Home Sweet Home!!

It felt really good to come back to Sioux Falls, since I actually remembered the landmarks and had a pretty easy time finding my way around. I can't believe it has been almost a year since we first came here to establish residency and took care of insurances. We took our first step toward fulltiming Labor Day week last year. We have seen and experienced so many things since then, it feels like such a long time ago.

It has been a busy week. We got our voter registration problem taken care of thanks to Alternative Resources and our truck got a treat. A new right front tire hub cap was ordered (don't ask what happened there) and the truck got a well deserved oil change. We have known for a while that the front tires were wearing to fast and we finally were in a big enough town and had enough time to get the issue resolved. The two new steer tires were not cheap, but definitely needed. We also got an alignment for the truck and found out that the three major points (camber, caster and toe) were all off. Well, Doug should have an easier time now keeping the truck and trailer on the road and I put the expense under house upkeep. If we would be in a house, there would be expenses too.

In the meantime, I have been rearranging the pantry, the bedroom closet and the dish cabinets, since I was getting a little bit annoyed with having to move to much stuff around to get to the things I need. It has been a learning experience, but things are getting easier as time passes.

By Friday we were ready for some fun and went to see a baseball game at the local baseball park. I learned that you really should pay attention to the game and not watch the people around you, since the ball could come at you at any time. :-) I also got to experience a 4 strike out inning, which is supposed to be a rare occurrence. The fireworks afterwards were pretty cool too, except for the debris that bombarded us, since they shot it of a little bit close to the people. Tomorrow we will move on east, since I have always wanted to see the Mall of America and apparently, it is not so far from here.