We Have To Dump Today

September 30, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

One of the everyday ordinary mundane activities of living life in an RV motorhome is that you must dump the tanks, which means driving to an RV dump station.

There are two separate tanks. The gray water tank consists of the drains from the sinks in the kitchen and bathroom and the shower drain.

The black water is the toilet only.

When we park in our daughter’s driveway or yard, we have water and electricity but no sewer line. This requires us to close up the motorhome and pull out about every two weeks to drive somewhere and go dump the tanks.

I bought a book titled RV Dump Stations last year that lists places where you can dump either for free or for a small fee all across America.

That’s how I discovered that our local fairground allows travelers to pull in and dump for free. It is only about six miles away.

One time we pulled into the fairground and there was a sign on the station that said, “The dump is full. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Now what?

There are two local campgrounds in our area so I called them to ask if they would allow us to dump. Only one of them had a station for dumping and said they charged $5. That’s not bad at all.

The other campground was smaller and only had sewer hookups in each individual campsite, so their answer was no.

Our current RV is nice but it is twenty years old now and we have been having a lot of problems with it recently, such as mechanical issues like the throttle body, serpentine belt, exhaust manifold, etc. Expensive issues.

I think we are both concerned about leaving home and heading south for the winter, but we can’t wait too long.

Rich works hard to keep the RV running right. Today will be a beneficial drive to make sure it sounds ok and everything is working fine before embarking on another season of traveling.

My knee is about as healed as it is going to get. It still hurts when I walk, but at least I can walk now. I will always have this limp and need to wear a knee support brace, but I am tired of sitting at home.

PS — it stinks when we dump. I am so glad Rich doesn’t make me do it. I would probably gag. 🤮

Thanks for reading my dumb story…I mean my dump story. 😃

No Makeup in the RV

September 20, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

(Photo by Nick Noel on Unsplash)

I completely stopped wearing makeup when we moved into the RV full-time. I didn’t wear a lot of makeup anyway, but I wouldn’t be caught dead without eyeliner on.

I worked in an office and rarely had to go out front to work with the customers. I wore the minimum to work — eyeliner and maybe some lip gloss.

Of course, I did go through the years when I wore makeup regularly, but I am 59 now and don’t really remember much about those years.

In recent years, eyeliner was always my one required item. I think because my hair is light which makes my eyebrows and eyelashes light. I haven’t worn much mascara for several years because I always wore contact lenses, and it bothered my eyes. But eyeliner made my eyes pop out. It is my favorite piece of makeup.

I never wore much makeup in high school either. I was never into makeup that much.

Living in an RV and camping a lot gives me no reason to wear makeup daily. Rich has always said I look fine without it. My makeup is put away in a shoebox tub in my closet and I only pulled it out when Rich’s mom died in April. I wore makeup for the funeral. But just eyeliner and lip gloss.

I bet every bit of the makeup I have in that tub is expired. But what would be the purpose of buying new makeup? It would just expire too.

The Accidental Friends We Make Along Way

September 19, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

The best part of RVing is the people you meet along the way.

One of the things Rich and I love most about traveling around to different campgrounds is meeting new people and making new friends.

Rich is always walking around the campgrounds and talking to everyone. He finds out where they are from, what they do for a living, and where they are going.

I am usually the quiet one, just listening.

But there was one time when I made a friend. We were in the state of Washington at a state park campground. Neighbors pulled into the site right beside us. The dogs didn’t seem to like each other and were barking the entire time these people were trying to set up.

Eventually, when the dogs calmed down, the man came over and introduced himself and it was as if we had always known him. Soon his wife came over and she and I hit it off immediately. We talked for hours.

We spent a couple of days getting to know each other and spending time together. I believe when you feel an instant connection with someone you need to listen to that feeling and embrace the connection.

Rich and I still stay in touch with this couple we met in Washington and hope to get back out there to see them.

Before we left the state, they invited us to their home and fed us steak and crab legs. We had a wonderful visit with them, and they will always be important to us.

I can’t wait to head south in a couple of weeks and see what new friends we will meet this year.

America the Beautiful National Park Pass

September 17, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

America is beautiful!

Rich and I have always loved traveling and seeing the country. We love the outdoors and nature. We crave the simple peacefulness of nature and have spent our lives together taking every chance we can to travel and see the beauty around us.

We spent many years hiking and taking day trips to nearby parks and places. We spent some time tent camping at State Parks. As of April 2022, we sold our sticks and bricks home, sold nearly everything we own, and bought an RV. We have both officially retired from our day jobs and are full-time travelers now in our RV.

In preparing to spend the rest of our lives exploring as much as we can of this beautiful country, we found out that it would greatly benefit us to purchase an America the Beautiful Pass. Discovering that most national sites and parks charge a hefty entrance fee, it was financially smart to purchase this pass for $80 for one year.

Each pass admits the pass owner and all people in the vehicle to all national sites and federal recreation lands.

Rich turned 62 in December of 2022, so we purchased a lifetime pass for him. With this, we get to visit any national park or monument without paying any entrance fee for the rest of his life.

I highly recommend considering this purchase if you expect to visit very many national park sites this year.

Thanks for coming along with us on all our traveling adventures.

Preparing for the Migration South

September 5, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

(Photo by Julia Craice on Unsplash)

Winters in Ohio are just too cold.

We moved into an RV in April 2022 and have been traveling around America full-time ever since. We come home to our daughters’ house in Ohio to see family when the weather is nice. We don’t like the bitter cold of Ohio winters, and it isn’t feasible to live here in the RV during the cold months. So usually, by the end of October, we are heading south somewhere warm.

Once my torn meniscus is fixed on September 13th, the surgeon said I should be able to walk within 7 to 10 days without pain. I sure hope so, because we are itching to leave and go places. For Rich and I, it is definitely the sense of excitement, possibility, and adventure that drives us to migrate. For our daughter and her family, they are sad when we leave and miss us terribly.

I always send the kids postcards from the places we visit and they love getting them in the mail. We video call a lot so we get to see the ones we miss regularly. Is it bad that Rich and I would rather be traveling and exploring and don’t miss them as much as they miss us?

From Ohio, the plan is to head to Alabama this year. We are scheduled to be in northern Alabama for the month of November, and southern Alabama for December. October will be exploring on the way down.

January, February, March, and April are still a mystery so be sure to follow along with us as we explore America.

Thanks for reading.

The Jolly Green Giant Statue

August 22, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

Blue Earth, Minnesota

The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was an industrial vegetable cannery in Le Sueur, Minnesota that was founded in 1903. In 1928 they introduced the green giant mascot for their larger green vegetables.

We were in Minnesota earlier this summer driving down I-90 when the “Jolly Green Giant Sculpture” popped up on my Google Map in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

Well anyone who knows me, knows that I am going to make Rich turn off the Interstate and pull into something like this.

The Jolly Green Giant Statue Park gives plenty of room for a 38′ RV towing a car to pull in and park and turn around. It was a nice place to stop and take a short break.

According to an article posted at Roadside America, the statue stands 55.5 feet high. He was built in 1978 and officially bolted to his permanent base next to the county fairgrounds on July 6, 1979. He is made of fiberglass, wears a size 78 shoe, and weighs 8,000 pounds.

There is a museum on the grounds but it was not open at the time we were there.

If you ever find yourself traveling down I-90 in Minnesota, be sure to pull off and see the Jolly Green Giant Statue. It was fun to see.

Thanks for reading and coming along with us on our adventures.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

August 20, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

We had already driven north to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park north unit entrance in North Dakota, and were only 60 miles away from this national historic site, so we made the trip on up to Williston.

What a neat experience it is to drive through the vast open prairie and see an old fur trading post appear.

According to NPS.gov, Fort Union was one of the most important and profitable fur trading posts on the Upper Missouri River between 1828 and 1867.

Several local Indian tribes exchanged large buffalo hides and smaller furs like beaver and rabbit, for a mixture of goods from all over the world.

Fort Union was not a military fort. It was built by John Jacob Astor, founder of The American Fur Company as a privately owned commercial establishment to engage in business with the Northern Plains Tribes.

As settlers moved west and migrated into the Dakota territory, the United States Army built Fort Buford in 1866, just three miles east of the trading post, to protect the Missouri River transportation route from scavengers. We did not have time to visit Fort Buford.

One year later, in 1867, the Army purchased Fort Union from its last private owner and tore it down.

It wasn’t until 1966 that the National Park Service acquired the property and began reconstruction efforts to restore the fort to its former glory.

Archeologists recovered many artifacts during the restoration process and these items are on display today.

Today’s Fort Union is a reconstruction based in part on the archaeological evidence recovered during those and later excavations completed between 1986 and 1988. Rebuilt to its appearance in 1851, at the height of the buffalo robe trade at Fort Union, the fort offers a place that helps illuminate the post’s role in shaping the land and culture of the Upper Missouri region and the Northern Great Plains. -NPS.gov

Another National Site marked off my bucket list.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my article about another great site in North America.

The Enchanted Highway

Come along with me on a photo story of an enchanted place in North Dakota.

August 17, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

Did you know there is an enchanted highway in North Dakota full of some of the world’s largest scrap metal sculptures in the world? It starts at exit 72 on I-94 for Gladstone and continues for 32 miles south to the town of Regent. The road has no actual highway number. It is just called the Enchanted Highway. You can’t miss the exit off of I-94 because there is a huge scrap metal sculpture marking the way.

Geese in Flight

The first sculpture at the exit is titled “Geese in Flight.” This sculpture is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest scrap metal sculpture. It stands 110 feet tall and 154 feet wide. It was completed in 2001. Just look at how small Rich looks standing in front of it in the photo below. Can you even see him?

Each area has a nice parking area for vehicles to stop so you can get out and take photos. Some have picnic tables and a kiosk, but there are no restroom facilities or porta-potties available anywhere.

Deer Crossing

The second sculpture along the road is about twelve miles further down the highway and is titled “Deer Crossing.” You can’t miss it as it appears over the small hill. This sculpture includes a 75-foot tall leaping buck and a 50-foot tall doe standing on the ground. The sculptures were all the vision of local Regent artist Gary Greff to increase tourism traffic to the dying town of Regent. “Deer Crossing” was completed in 2002, one year after the “Geese in Flight.”

In addition to the famous sculptures, driving this road is a great way to see tons of sunflower fields. North Dakota is one of the largest producers of sunflowers and they are all blooming and reaching their peak in August.

Grasshoppers in the Field

The next sculpture along the road is titled “Grasshoppers in the Field,” which was completed in 1999.

This display includes one 60-foot-long huge grasshopper with smaller grasshoppers surrounding it. This display is located near the small town of Lefor about halfway between Gladstone and Regent. In Lefor you can see the remnants of the Lefor State Bank that was in use from 1913 to 1934.

Fisherman’s Dream

Continuing on down the Enchanted Highway you will see the “Fisherman’s Dream” sculpture next that was completed in 2006. The rest of the sculptures are each only about 4 or 5 miles apart from here to the town of Regent.

Closer to the town of Regent, this sculpture is magnificent to see in person. It is so much bigger than it looks in the photo above. The 70-foot tall trout is jumping out of the water and there are several other fish to see swimming around and jumping. I’d say the small fisherman in the tiny boat on top has his hands full.

Pheasants on the Prairie

The fifth sculpture in the series is the “Pheasants on the Prairie.” The male pheasant is 40 feet tall. He is best viewed from the side to get a true sense of his magnificent tail. The hen stands 35 feet tall and the family is complete with two chicks to the side. This sculpture was completed in 1996.

Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again

Just a few miles down the road is the sixth sculpture titled, “Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again.” This is a fun one for the kids because the stage coach is able to be entered and used as a photo opportunity.

Theodore Roosevelt himself rides a bucking horse and waves his arm.

This enchanted highway passes through some beautiful scenic countryside dotted with buttes like the Black Butte with an elevation of 3,112 feet according to the posted sign. A butte is simply a large mesa. There are several hiking trails to the top.

They say when viewed at sunset the butte appears to be completely black.

Tin Family

Reaching the seventh sculpture along the highway brings you to the first sculpture Greff completed. The World’s Largest Tin Family is just two miles away from the town of Regent.

The dad stands 45 feet tall while the mom is 44 feet tall. The young boy stands a mere 23 feet tall. Greff began this sculpture in 1989 and completed it in 1990.

Reaching the town of Regent you will first see the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop with a sculpture of whirlygigs beside it.

Enchanted Castle, Knight, and Dragon

And clear down at the end of the road is an enchanted castle complete with a knight fighting off a huge dragon with his sword. Greff turned the abandoned school into a fancy hotel and restaurant where weary travelers could eat and possibly stay in town for a night or two.

The restaurant was not open when we arrived early in the day so instead we grabbed a sandwich across the street from the gift shop.

I hear the artist is working on some more sculptures, one of them being spider webs and spiders. It will be interesting to see what they are.

I highly recommend driving this road from beginning to end if you are ever in the area. It is places and scenic drives like this that make traveling across America fun. I will always stop and see anything that holds the title of “World’s Largest.”

I hope you enjoyed this drive down the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota. Thanks for reading.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Day 2

North Unit

August 10, 2023

An unusual fact about “Theodore Roosevelt National Park” is that the South Unit is in Mountain Time Zone, and when we traveled to the North Unit we noticed that we entered Central Time Zone and lost an hour. We visited this part of the park on Thursday, August 10.

It was sprinkling and cloudy as we traveled north from the campgrounds but the countryside is beautiful and breathtaking whether it is cloudy and raining or not.

The North Unit Entrance and Visitor Center is located on Highway 85. The small visitor center doesn’t contain much but you can get your National Park book stamped here and purchase stickers or small souvenirs. They also show the same 17-minute video that we already watched at the south unit.

The rugged solitude of this wilderness is not to be missed or underestimated. This section is much less visited than the south unit, probably because it is more than 50 miles north of the interstate. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it isn’t worth the trip. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The scenic drive here is 14 miles long one way to the end at the Oxbow Overlook and then you have to turn around and come back the same way. The first half of the drive stays low in the badlands and the first sight to stop and see is the Cannonball Concretions.

These large round rocks littering the ground and protruding from the side of the cliff are mysterious and bizarre. It seems they simply formed this way from the sediment, and erosion is slowly exposing them within the walls of the mountains. Eventually, they fall out and land on the ground.

The rain and clouds cleared away and a blue sky appeared. I just love the look of the photos when the sky is this blue.

As we continued down the path, we did see one buffalo lying by the side of the road and one deer up on a hill. We were told that the deer in the park were mule deer. I can never tell the difference from a distance.

The middle area of the park is filled with grasslands and prairie. It’s almost like leaving one world behind and entering another totally different landscape. Sometimes the change is as quickly as you can drive around the bend in the road.

Here we saw some more prairie dogs, which some countries, I think, call ground squirrels, and even caught a glimpse of a few wild turkeys in the distance.

We were told to keep our eyes out for bighorn sheep on the steep cliff ledges, but it just wasn’t our day to see any, even though they say driving is the best way to view wildlife.

Most of the road through the park is paved, with a few small exceptions where it must have been washed out and temporarily fixed.

The Little Missouri River winds through the countryside and there is a short 0.7-mile easy nature trail that explores the river valley, or you can hike the longer 1.4-mile moderately difficult long loop trail.

Other trails include the 4.2-mile Caprock Coulee Trail loop which contains some of the most scenic views in the park. The River Bend Overlook has a wheelchair-accessible viewing deck or an overlook shelter down a short trail. And at the Oxbow Overlook, there is a 2-mile round trip trail up to Sperati Point by way of the Achenbach Trail. You can also take a short stroll up a sidewalk to the rim of the badlands.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit is remote and rugged. The landscape is beautiful and I want to see as much of this country as I can while I can.

Thanks for coming along with us on our travels and journeys. I appreciate the time you spend reading my articles and stories.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

August 7, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

We woke up from sleeping overnight in the Walmart parking lot and traveled about 155 miles to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in Stanton, ND, knocking another place off the list in my National Parks Book.

This site was established in 1974, to preserve the historic and archeological remnants of the Northern Plains Indians called the Hidatsas, of North Dakota. This area was a major trading area for these peoples. There are three distinct villages known to have inhabited the area. They are the Big Hidatsa Village, the Lower Hidatsa Village, and the Awatixa Village.

Just behind the visitor center is a replica of one of the large earthmound dwellings. It was much larger than I expected it would be. It smelled as soon as you entered and pulled back the heavy buffalo hide hung across the opening. I’m not sure what the smell was…dirt or hot air. It would take some getting used to.

If you walk the trails to the village sites, you will see large circle indentations in the ground where the mound dwellings were. Established earthlodge settlements along the Knife River date to circa-1525 CE. They thrived until 1837, when smallpox greatly reduced the population of Indians living here.

The Awatixa Village was the village where Sakakawea (also known as Sakagawea) lived. This is where Lewis & Clark first met her. The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail is also here and you can drive the trail and follow the signs.

We left here and headed to our home for the next week near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Thanks for joining us on this traveling journey.