Our Mother's Day Weekend Travel Venture

It's been awhile since my last post. The last few days have been quite busy. Last Thursday through yesterday (Sunday) Russ and I have been busy getting Russ set up to work in the Duluth area. He will be working at Black Bear Casino and Hotel in Carlton until further notice. We were told it would be a couple months, but nothing is definate in the construction trade. Thus, I don't expect it to be only a couple months.

Some of the action that took place was preparing a place for Russ to stay while working up there. We found a place in Moose Lake called Red Fox Campground and RV Park. Russ will stay in our camper trailer that we purchased while he was working in Miami, OK. We had the trailer in storage at Joplin, MO. Thus, we made a trip down there with our "new" pickup and pulled it to Moose Lake. This venture started on Thursday afternoon when we left home and arrived at Ames, IA in the evening to stay overnight.

Then we left Ames, IA in the morning and arrived at H-H RV & Storage in Joplin, MO in the late afternoon. Russ chose to look over the trailer and make sure it was travel ready before we headed to the Ramada Inn. We had some trouble with that task. Russ & I checked the turn signals, break lights, etc to make sure they were working. But, we couldn't get any of them to light up. After much trouble shooting with no luck, we decided that the only difference between the hookups on the trailer and all other trailers we were familiar with was the RV battery that runs the hoist-jack. That battery was dead. Thus, with no other ideas of how to fix the light problem, we went to Walmart and got a new battery. Va La, the lights now worked, (and so did the hoist, of course). The tinkering with the lights took quite a long time. So long, that when we were done we chose not to do any site seeing and went to the hotel, got a meal at the hotel and went to bed. We had planned to go to the High Winds Casino in Miami, OK (Russ's former construction job). But since the tinkering took so long and we wanted to be on the road at daylight, we passed on that venture.

So, on Saturday morning we got up about 4:30, went over to McDonald's near the hotel, then headed to H-H RV. From here, we hooked up the trailer, double checked the lights, etc and were on the road by 6:30 a.m. With many miles between Joplin, MO and Moose Lake, MN we took brief stops for gas and bathroom breaks.

Russ drove the whole way. I told him I'd offer to drive to give him a break but the mirrors were set for him. And knowing how long it took to set them just so, we concurred that we didn't want to mess with them. So, I took lots of pictures of road signs and country side. Since the pictures are digital, they are time stamped. Thus, I'd take pictures that would indicate that were in specific areas like Kansas City, the Iowa State Line, Des Moines, etc. Then I could look back at the pictures and look back on when we arrived in these locations. For instance, we arrived in Iowa between 11 and 11:30 a.m. - more accuratly, at 11:21 a.m.

Thus, after reviewing the pictures, I found that we arrived at Moose Lake about 7 p.m. After arrival , we talked to Peggy, the park manager, and discussed where the trailer should be parked and other pertinant campground information.

After that, we unhooked the trailer and went back to the AmericInn which is located at the turn off to the campground (couldn't have been more convenient). Then we cleaned up and headed up to the Black Bear Casino for Supper and so Russ could scout out a couple things for his upcoming construction job.

Then we headed back to the hotel, where we met up with David and Adrienne. They had been in St. Paul most of the day. So they stopped at the hotel on their way back home. We talked awhile with them. Then they went home and we settled in for a much needed "8 hr nap".

Then, on Sunday, Mother's Day, we set up the trailer, leveling it, hooking up the water and electricity and checking things over to be sure it was ready for Russ to live in. Then we did a little grocery shopping so Russ wouldn't have to do that on Monday and we checked out where some things were located in Moose Lake so Russ would have an idea where he could pick up supplies when needed. After this, we headed home. This time I drove. Russ tried to rest. (Rough roads made this difficult.) We got home around 3:30 p.m. The next step was getting Russ' clothes and a few other supplies packed.

So, that's what we've been busy doing for the past 3, 4 days.

This morning Russ put the packed-up supplies into the pickup and left around 8 a.m. He called me this evening, letting me know he arrived alright and fixed the leaky plumbing. This task took long enough that Russ wasn't able to make it to work today. (The foreman over him had told him that it'd be o.k. to show up on Tuesday for his first day, so there was no need to stress out about not arriving today.) So, a new adventure for Russ begins. He was really sick of the same old, same old at Kraft and 3M. So, this is a welcome venture.