Joan on the Road

Another cloudy/sunny day here at Hart Ranch in the SD Black Hills...what to do? Jim spent time in his "cave" surfing the net and I finished up my latest novel, a light but interesting western romance :) I love reading variety. Late in the morning our first thunderstorm came up with a pounding downpour that turned to dime size hail. No damage.

After a smoothie lunch we had a bit of cabin fever so since the sky was blue overhead we walked to the other side of the park to look at an onsite RV show. There are maybe 6 motorhomes and lots of 5ers and trailers. It was interesting to see some new models like the Winnebago Destination which is a rear engine diesel or gas pusher. But none of the MHs had anything startlingly new. As usual we came home very satisfied with our little 32' Rexhall that has lots of carrying capacity, a great kitchen, large waste tanks and is so customized we could not afford to get rid of it :)

Later on Jim biked over to the club house to pick up our mail. We are "home" here so we get mail everyday. Good thing he had bungees with him!

This park is large, maybe 3 or 4 blocks on each side. So getting around is easier with a bike. All we need to do is find enough sunshine time to ride ;)

As I'm writing we are having our second storm of the day...a severe storm warning with quarter size hail and 60 mile winds is forecast. Yeah right! Someone will get that storm. Hope it's not us!

Posted by Joan at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Big Guy wanted Crab Louis Salad for his birthday dinner so we drove the 15 miles to the city hoping crab was still on sale. Got four big crab legs, one pound, for 10 bucks. I make the dressing and Jim cracks the crab and digs out the meat. The dressing is a version of Green Goddess and the salad is lettuce, cuke, tomato and optionally, black olives and hard boiled egg. It's a real feast! Then phone calls, text messages, emails and gifts from family made it a real nice day for Jim.

We had two more days socked in with rain then yesterday the sun really broke through. Still we had 2 booming thunderstorms with hail that came and went quickly. The next week looks to be nice days with lots of sun and the usual forecast of an afternoon thundershower. Typical mountain weather. You might not think of the Black Hills as mountains but they sure generate wild weather. Folklore says that Paul Bunyan buried his ox, Babe, here and that formed the hills. Actually, I think they are just worn down, upthrusts of earth.

We've managed to squeeze in a few bike rides when the wind and rain died down. Hart Ranch is a great place for riding. From here we could go on a pretty long ride but I don't know if I'm ready for that. Riding all around the park takes about 30 mintues and gives me a good workout.

I have taken advantage of the rainy weather by scanning the old slides. Currently I'm working on pix from 1989 when Jim and I took a 30th Anniversary trip to several National Parks. Yesterday the slides were of the drive from Banff to Jasper Parks in Canada, a truly beautiful drive. We have really seen some spectacular scenery over the years and had wonderful times in our travels.

Now...time for the last cup of coffee and...What will we do today?

Posted by Joan at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been here 10 days and have only seen the sun shine on 2 days. So this visiting bird sure brightened my day. He seemed to think he should be inside the MH because he banged on my window for half an hour or sat in the tree cocking his head and looking in at me.

I think this is a Western Tanager. Beautiful colors! I'm not a birding person, purposefully seking out bird locales, but I do have a National Geographic Bird Identification book that helps me ID birds in my environment.

Memorial Day Monday was a nasty, rainy, cold day. We went nowhere. About 10 AM I mentioned to Jim that we could watch a Law and Order marathon on TNT. "Bring it on!" he says. So, very unlike us, we watched TV all day! About 6 PM we switched to a Star Trek Enterprise marathon and I think Jim watched that until the wee hours of the morning. Yesterday we were happy to not turn on the TV :)

Today is the Big Guy's birthday. I asked him what he'd lke to do and still don't have an answer. He's happy searching the Internet and drinking coffee :) We'll see what develops today.

Posted by Joan at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Our flag still stands for freedom...

and I'm proud to be an American!"

(Thanks to Jim Weise for the pix and Lee Greenwood for the words.)

Posted by Joan at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After several stormy days I woke up this morning with a major case of cabin fever. I was grumpy, snappy and bitchy. Jim, with his unerring sense of who I am, said, "Wanna go for a drive?" "yes! Just get me out in the fresh air!"

The sky was half clear, half cloudy. So we headed for the clear side :) South on Hwy 79 to Hot Springs then North to Custer and back East through Custer State Park. It was a lovely 2 hour tour on roads we'd not yet seen. I didn't expect to see wildlife but we came on a herd of buffalo near a "mineral lick". This group looked like mostly bulls and the guy in the photo looks a little battered.

He's stopped at what looks like a watering hole but the info sign says it's a spot where the buffalo have uncovered minerals vital to their survival. I think he's scaggly looking because he lost the battle to command the herd. The losers get to go fend for themselves and be lonely. This is not too great a shot because there's no reference point to show how HUGE these beasts are. Would not want to be up close and personal :)

I felt refreshed but hungry when we got home. I wasn't in the mood to stop at any of the local eateries in Custer but my tummy needed something so I popped a pan of corn. Daughter Laura reminded me of how we used to do popcorn before microwaves :) Oil and corn in a pot. I used coconut oil and Orvilles corn but put too much in the pan and it overflowed. Well, lesson learned. But it was very tasty, especially with a generous sprinkling of sea salt. Much, much better than a packet of popcorn from the microwave.

Tonight will be BBQ ribs and sweet corn while watching Angel's Baseball. Sure miss having my MLB package but I'm just not willing to pay that price.

Posted by Joan at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday and Friday were dreary, cooped up days. I think it rained 24/7. Rain pattering on the roof is one thing but rain hammering on the roof so loud you can't hear each other is another thing :)

Here's what we saw all day yesterday....

This morning we awoke to sunshine and wind. Now the clouds are streaming in again and we're in for another stormy afternoon. I'm sending Jim to the grocery store and I'm going to indulge in an Angel's ballgame...Yeah!

We picked up several movies on Wednesday, using our Borders coupons. Later we found we could have done just as well on Amazon. However, we found a boxed set of film noir flicks including one of our favorites, True Confessions and another classic, Night of the Hunter. One of the set wound up in the trash! Kiss Me Deadly, a Mickey Spillane story. Pure junk movie to us.

So we made the most of our rainy days. Listened to talk radio, watched movies, made soup, ate popcorn,scanned old slides and read books. Right now we've got the door open letting in the cool, fresh breeze. I'm hopeful that Sunday and Monday will be conducive to visiting the Fab Four at Mt. Rushmore. The evening lighting ceremony should be memorable on Memorial Day.

Posted by Joan at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jim is a happy camper today!

He has been stewing about getting his driver's license renewed for several months. Today was "D" day. He filled out the form, paid the 8 bucks and then had to take the vision test. SD uses a little viewer that you put your head against to read the letters. We were not quite clear on how they tested....one eye, both eyes?

Turns out there are 3 sections to the viewer: left eye, both eyes, right eye. So he could not read the right eye section very well. Yikes! The girl asked if he had a problem with his right eye and he said, "Yes, the right one is weaker than the left." No need to explain the whole medical issue:) "Well," she said, "we just put a restriction on your license. You'll need to have an outside right mirror." Well OK! Easy, breezy!

So that stressful monkey is off his back! We are good to go for 5 more years :)

Posted by Joan at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A lesson learned. By driving about 5 mph slower we saved 10% in gas! Wow!

This year, before Montana we had traveled about 2000 miles and averaged 8.1 miles per gallon, driving 60-65 mph. We decided to slow down and see what happened. So on the 800 miles from Missoula to Rapid we hovered around 55-60. Now this is a drive with lots of ups and downs. Our average mileage for this trip was 8.9 mpg! About 10% saved in gas and dollars. Of course it adds a little to the drive time but we have lots of time.

We had a nice visit with our next door neighbors who actually live in Rapid. They said that last week there was a blizzard here and about 6 inches of snow on the ground. Of course it melted quickly and the result is lovely green grass. We've never seen such lovely greenery here.

The temps today are mid 70's and the wind is calm right now. My guess is that it will pick up about 3 pm. We are facing west so the big patio awning is on the north side. Chances are we won't put that one down because the wind is so unpredicatble here. Luckily on the north side we have enought shade for our chairs.

And now...time for a glass of sun tea that has been 'cooking" on the table outside:)

Posted by Joan at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to Rapid City where the wind never stops blowing! The trip today was pleasant and uneventful until the wind picked up in eastern Wyoming. By the time we hit Rapid it was blowing 30-40 mph with gusts. Fortunately it was mostly a tail wind. Can't wait til Jim figures the gas mileage for today :)

We are at our "home" in South Dakota, Hart Ranch. Parked on a concrete pad with a nice patio and facing the hills. We're here for 21 days so there's plenty of time to explore some more. Our main purpose is for Jim to get his driver's license renewed. Once that is done we are home free.

Of course we'll have to go visit the fab four at Mt. Rushmore and I would not mind touring Custer State Park again. Hopefully I'll have some nice pictures to post. There are also activities here at the Ranch and maybe we'll partake this year. Generally we don't get too involved but you never know :)

Tonight we're having a steak dinner and watching another episode of The Sopranos. We're nearing the end of the series that we've been seeing on Netflix DVD's. It's been watching this way....makes it an event when the disc arrives and we spend the whole evening with Tony and the family!

Although the trip was just fine getting here we're happy to stop for a few weeks and sleep in. Right now we need to "batten down the hatches" and wait for the wind to die down.

Posted by Joan at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night this guy came wandering through the shrubs in front of the motorhome, looked up at us and wondered?

Today we drove 300 miles to Buffalo, WY where we're staying at Deer Park Campground. We've been here several times for overnights on the way acros country on I-90. It is a lovely park and worthy of a longer stay. As we drove in there were several mule deer grazing on the lawn. At first I thought they were statues :) By the time we got parked and set up they had moved on so no pix of them yet. This is the same park where we saw the wild turkeys last year.

We are in the midst of changing weather, going from cool to hot. So we're getting lots of wind. We drove a little slower though so it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow we head for Rapid City where winds are going to be 25-35 mph. Yikes! Hold on to your hats :)

Posted by Joan at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK...I can't resist. It's taken 5 days and most of my lily blooms are now open. 3 colors. I'm having such fun watching these babies open :)

The only problem with lilies is the pollen dust is messy. I put the flowers in the shower for the ride today and in the process they brushed against my shirt....oops! Bad pollen stains. But the beauty and excitement of the opening blooms is worth it. I just wish there were another occasion coming up so Jim could send me the iris bloom bouquet.

Today was a short drive from Missoula to Bozeman; 216 miles. It was uneventful, the kind of trip we like. The most excitement was driving the 6% four mile grade. Well, that's the down part. The upgrade was a chugger. Got down to 40 mph in third gear. The downgrade speed limit was 25 mph for trucks. I think we did 35 and we were just fine.

We're stopped overnight at Bear Canyon Campground just east of Bozeman. The view out the front window is panoramic mountains. I like this spot (#25) because no one is in front of us and the view is so lovely. If we were to explore this area I'd stay here for a week.

Jim just finished cleaning the windows and front of the MH so it's tea time. Makes for a relaxing end to the day.

Posted by Joan at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Change of plans and a day off....that's what happens when you wake up hearing rain on the roof, it's chlly and you have no schedule. So we looked at each other and said, "Should we go today? Nah!" Roll over and snuggle up :)

I'd made some reservations for the trip to Rapid City so after a few phone calls everything was delayed a day, we poured another cup of coffee and relaxed. We really thought we'd leave today and had hooked up the car last night but we just weren't up for a day of rainy driving. Tomorrow through the weekend looks like great weather going east on I-90. But I'll be there will be wind :)

We've been out visiting and shopping every day we've been here so kicking back feels real good.

Posted by Joan at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Laura and I took time for a "girls day" at the mall. We had a lunch of sandwiches and salad at Cafe Dolce. Then we set out to return stuff, buy stuff and then recuperate. Laura was nonstoppable! I think she ended up with 10 new outfits. Guess she likes to have her Mom along to tell her how beautiful she looks :) Coldwater Creek was the beneficiary of her spending spree. Next time we're here I'm going to take her along to help me pick an outfit.

Today it's laundry, grocery shopping and packing up for the trip to Rapid City. We leave tomorrow. I'm trying to figure where to put my lovely bouquet. Today there are 9 flowers open. I think the vase will be safe in the shower.

Posted by Joan at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's an update on the lily bouquet.

Four flowers are fully opened, three more will open today and the rest are still developing. It's like having my own little garden watching the flowers bloom.

Posted by Joan at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was watching the Angels/Rays game last night on the computer with MLB.TV and in the 7th inning the video stream stopped.So I tried a few times to restart but no dice. Jim's computer access slowed to a painful crawl as did mine. Finally, after trying all the fixes we knew, we gave up and watched a movie.

Still the same this morning. And then as Jim checked all the DataStorm data and checked in at the DataStorm users group he found we had been fapped. Shame on us! Seems we only have available to us 375 MB of download in a 24 hour period. If we exceed that our access speed is chopped to little over dial up :( It's called Fair Access Policy...FAP. The ball game was in HiDef and took up more bits (421) than the other games I've watched.

So the DataStorm User Group has a software download called FAP Monitor to help manage the downloads so one doesn't get into trouble. Jim says he'll download that and then we can try estimating if we can safely watch a game. Hope it works because having our download speed throttled is unacceptable. I'd have to give up the games :(

On another note...we had a lovely, delicious brunch cooked up by daughter Laura and Steve. On the menu--Eggs Benedict with Spinach smothered in Laura's delicious Hollandaise Sauce and French Press Coffee. Steve served as her assistant and he actually cooked up the sauce.

We let the brunch settle in then took a short walk with the doggies, Charlie and Jack. It was just warm enough to sit outside in the sun for awhile and do nothing...just enjoy Mother's Day!

Posted by Joan at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jim walked down to the office to deposit the garbage and walked back carrying a box. I thought..what's he bringing back from the garbage. I found this in the office for you, he says. A box of flowers from ProFlowers.com.:)

Here's the first shot. I'm going to love watching these guys open!

You can see that some of the buds are quite lalrge and starting to open. I think I could just sit here and watch it happen, actually see the petals move. They don't look like too much now but tomorrow morning will be different.

We are enjoying our days here in Missoula even though it's a bit cool. Last night I got up to use the bathroom and found we had no water. Oops...the water line froze outside. But by breakfast it was thawed.

Daughter Laura and her Dr. Stevo live in Stevensville, about 35 miles from here so we've had a couple of visits with them already. It's great to get more family hugs and of course Dr. Steve is our wonderful chiropracter, nutritionist, healer.

Today is shopping day to replenish the fridge and maybe a stop at Staples to look at new computers. My computer has gremlins at work even though we do all kinds of protection. It's 5 years old and my technical advisors say....buy a new comptuer! It is sooooo slow. But I'm really not looking forward to the reflective screen that the new ones have and the process of moving everything over. Oh well...the stuff I do on the computer is my hobby and creative outlet so I'll probably bite the bullet soon. Better to do it here or in SD where there is no sales tax :)

Posted by Joan at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was a cold and rainy day but our tough Mr. Blue powered by Mr. Banks made it up the mountains and through the rain to Missoula, MT. It was overall a pretty uneventful, pleasant trip. 1200 miles in 4 days. 7.7 miles per gallon at an average of $3.58 per gallon. Them's the facts :)

The alarm did not go off this morning so we got up an hour late but still hit the road by 9 AM. It rained almost all day but never very hard. Today was the prettiest scenery and even in the rain it was impressive. Lighting is everything in photography so even though I've shot these scenes before...couldn't resist doing it again. Here are a few shots on I-15 and I-90 from northern Idaho to Missoula.

Still a lot of snow on the ground at 6000 plus feet.

Now how do we get through here?

It wasn't really as ominous as it looks!

After 7.5 hours of scenic vistas like this we arrived at Jim and Mary's RV Park north of Missoula.

Tomorrow we sleep in and then we'll enjoy visiting Laura and Steve. I'm sure Laura will create some marvelous dinner for us.

Posted by Joan at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's trip was 315 miles north on I-15 through wonderful Salt Lake City where they never stop road construction. It's a tremendously busy metropolis area from Provo north to Odgen. There were a couple of major road works but we actually had no trouble. Just lots of up close and personal cars and trucks! The worst thing is that there are no rest areas so be advised...if you have to pee....do it before you hit Provo:)

We're enjoying our dash radio and speakers. We picked up lots of strong stations and listened to talk shows, local news and some music. Then we plugged in our Zen player and heard our own playlists through the radio/new speakers. Much better than listening to the Bose system while traveling because those speakers are behind us and face back.

The new TV antenna is working great so we can watch local news and weather. It's kind of fun to see the local stories and even helpful to see local weather. We've done a pretty good job with our internet weather news but this ads a nice dimension. And the local news people are so "homey"....today I think we saw Mom and Pop TV :)

And tonight I signed up for MLB.TV so I can see the Angels baseball games on my computer! My entertainment world is complete. In CA I could see all the games on local stations. Once we hit the road I had Angels withdrawal. So we solved that problem and now I am one happy camper :)

Posted by Joan at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's our spot at Filmore KOA in Utah. We've been here often enough that they know us and save our satellite friendly site for us.

We had a good, shorter travel day, only 180 miles. I drove about 50 of them. Got to keep my driving skills updated :) We pulled in about 3:30 so lots of time to relax, cook, eat and surf the net. This KOA has a nice selection of hats and t-shirts in the office. Jim always tries them on and finally found one that fit. Here's Cowboy Jim Ed :)

I forgot to mention gas prices as we've traveled north. $4.07 in Baker, CA..Yikes! $3.83 in Mesquite, AZ and $3.75 here in Filmore. We did see $3.50 for Sunshine gas...yes that would make you smile.

So time to get the One-Pot cooking. This is one of Jim's fave suppers. It's really a hamburger veggie soup doctored up with Worcestershire and garlic. And the leftovers are great.

Another good day on the road to Montana....but maybe rain tomorrow. We'll see.

Posted by Joan at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We chose to leave on Sunday, heading for Montana, because my experience is that Sunday is a good day to get through Las Vegas. I think there are fewer truckers on Sundays and the major traffic was headed west. We made a good choice! We had an uneventful 340 miles from Hemet to Mesquite AZ, right on the AZ/NV border.

We are at Desert Skies RV overnight. It's a pricey stay but worth it to us not to stay in Vegas. Now the trip is a snap. The only downer today was that the wind picked up as we left Vegas and we had gusting that pushed us over a few feet. But my expert driver met with all challenges and we got here safely.

We tried driving slower, around 55 but finaly upped it to 60 so we'd get here before dark. It took us 8 hours for the trip. Temps are a pleasant 85 and will be even cooler as we head north.

I made chicken tenders sauteed in butter with lemon and capers over rice. Veggie was broccoli. We are stocked up for 5 days of no shopping so I have to stick to the menu. Jim said it was delicious. He wants to advise the grandsons to find a girl like me to marry :) One who cooks like I do is what he means.

Posted by Joan at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After Zach's high school play last weekend we met outside to give him high 5's! Some of us were a little bit out of sorts by this time :) Many thanks to Jim's friend, Elaine for this great shot!

That's little Evan being held up by his Uncle Bryan. Next is Zachary, still hamming it up, then Hilary. Evan's Mom, Naomi, is in front next to Ryan.

Posted by Joan at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)