Wisconsin Dells

Well we got away at 6:00 am as planned.  So, off we went.  It was cold and dark and who wants to be on the road at that time, except those that have to go to work.  There was not much traffic anywhere on the roads.  The boarder crossing was no problem and very quick. 

Usually the thing we are looking for as we head out on our winter vacation is "Brown Grass", which means no more snow.  Today we acheived that as soon as the sun came up.  I'm sure the feilds were clear in Manitoba as well, but it was still dark when we went through there. 

All in all it was a great day to travel.  The sun was shinning, the roads were dry, and not too much traffic.  We made our way all the way thru the Wisconsin Dells and will loop past Chicago tomorrow morning. 

We Are Ready

It doesn't look like there will be any impediment to tomorrows journey.  The truck is packed, my puppy is healthy and happy again and the weather looks good.  Just a system much further east that should be moved on by the time we get there.  So, it's to bed early and on the road by 6:00 am (we hope).  Will report from our next stop, somewhere in Wisconsin.  Till then.

Back To Blogging Our Travels

It's December and as usual I'm not really hyped about Christmas, but instead, I am making my lists and checking them twice for our journey south.  And on that list is "Re-activate my Blog".  I don't know why I don't keep it active all year.  I could easily do a once a week post, during the summer, but I usually see most of my friends regularly in the summer and there is Facebook, so it seems unnecessary.

Maybe now that we have a more permanent home in Texas, we will make some Winter Texas friends that we can keep in touch with all summer.  I will not be posting regularly until we are travelling.  We are heading out December 27th, heading first to Youngstown Ohio, to visit our Nieces and Nephew, for a couple of days, then it's off to Texas.

If you read this, be sure to leave comments from time to time, so I know I'm not just talking to myself.  lol

We Are Home.

A Storm in Northern South Dakota

We had heard about a storm in South Dakota, but weren't really all that concerned about it.  It's not as if we haven't seen snow before.  And we hadn't seen any yet thus far.  We finally saw the solid white stuff around mile 143 just north of Brooking.  And you could tell that they had had quite a dump. 

But it had stopped snowing. 

It wasn't until a little further on, around mile 150 when all that snow started blowing across the highway that it got a little hairy.  We drove about a 100 mile stretch in near white out conditions.  A couple of times down to 20 mph following semis that were hogging the center of the road and wouldn't move over to let us pass.  It took us a couple of hours to get through that blowing snow and washboard roads.




 Then just as we crossed into North Dakota the winds died off and the sun came out and we had the usual crisp Sunny day you always get after a snow storm.  We coasted on into Fargo and Dan could hardly turn the wheels to make the turn at the end of the off ramp because of so much ice and snow packed in around his front wheels.  We certainly needed a drink and a rest after that afternoon.  " Thank You Dan"  for putting those Ice Radials on the truck before we left. 

2nd Night We Stopped in St. Joseph MO

Our second night we stopped in St.Joseph MO.  Another good 500 plus miles today.  I am already fed up with motels and restaurants.  That's why we bought a trailer so we didn't have to do this.  Tomorrow we should make Fargo no problem.  We could go on home, but we want to arrive home early to unload not late at night.  So we will stay there and move on in the morning.   And Sea-enna is definitely fed up with traveling in the truck all day everyday. 

Hearding North From Texas

As we were heading north out of Texas, I tried my best to get a picture of these beautiful Cacti that were in bloom everywhere





. 

They have gorgeous White Blooms sticking out of the top of them.  We managed to make it to Denton our first night out.  That was over 500 miles.  That made it a long day as we were up and packing and securing the trailer very early and didn't hit the road until 9:30 am , but we make good time.