The Fun Continues

As I'm sure you are all aware, Peggy and I did make it home - safe and sound - last Monday. We left Elkhart last Wednesday driving east on I-80 and then transitioning to I-90 heading northeast along Lake Erie to near the Ohio/PA border. On Thursday we continued on ... making it to our spot along the Mohawk River in Glenville, NY. 

This was the only RV Park we stayed at on both the westward and eastward legs of our trip. We took a day of rest on Friday and then continued our trip home on Saturday. Although we could have made it all the way home from NY, we decided to take a little side trip into New Hampshire on Sunday and stayed near Loudon, NH where I just had to go checkout a potential new motorcycle restoration project (more on that later). We finished up our trip on Monday with a short 100 mile drive to home.

We had a great trip! The weather was pretty nice all the way, Winne The Two ran great, we had fun visits wherever we went, and even the highway construction areas were few and easily manageable. We got to visit with lots of relatives and friends along the way and I especially enjoyed my time seeing my classmates from the great class of McCloud High School - circa 1968!

All-in-all we drove 7,871 miles on this trip through parts of 23 different states and stayed overnight in 35 locations (only 1 location twice!).

Along the way we managed to burn 866 gallons of diesel fuel. The good news is that our old gas powered Winne would have needed about 1100 gallons of gas for this same distance. For those of you who like comparisons -- We made a similar trip in 2015 in the old Winne at a cost of 39 cents per mile for fuel where this trip was about 36 cents per mile. If you do the math -- that's a savings of about $240. I like to compare to the cost for the same trip in 2008 ... at around 53 cents per mile!

On this trip we filled up Winne 22 times at an average cost of $3.26 per gallon. Our highest cost was in Quincy, California (of course it was in California!) at $3.899 per gallon and our least expensive cost was in Warrenton, MO at $2.859 per gallon. That's over a $1.00 per gallon folks!

As mentioned before -- along the way we stayed at 34 different parking spots. 22 of those spots were in locations where we hadn't stayed in the past. Over the last 15 or so years of RVing we have stayed in 335 different locations. Yes ... I am one of THOSE people who count such things! Did you know that we have slept in our RVs for the equivalent of 4.3 years?! And we're not even Fulltimers!

I have plenty more silly statistics - but those will have to do for now.

Since we have been home we have been been catching up with Maine friends and family and I have spent some time getting caught up on routine doctor appointments. Well ... one was a routine annual checkup -- and yesterday's was of the every 5 year routine variety where you have to drink way too much stuff that keeps you way too close to the bathroom all day. Glad to have that "behind" me!

So ... about that potential new motorcycle project. I am now the proud owner of yet another "vintage" Yamaha. This one is a 1967ish Yamaha YCS1 "Bonanza." The YCS1 was produced from 1967 through about 1969 and is a 180cc twin cylinder 2 stroke street bike. This purchase actually included a second identical "parts" bike that was in pretty bad shape but some parts may come in handy as I go through the restoration process. 

The "good" Bonanza is in pretty nice condition for its age but does have a problem with one cylinder of the engine which will require replacement of the piston and rings. I have already sourced the new parts and should be able to have it running in a week or so.

For those of you wondering where I am going to find room for two new bikes when I barely have room for the three that I already have ... you are right .. that is a real problem. I have already solved half of the problem by completely disassembling the parts bike. It now takes up very little floorspace in the basement! The remaining "good" bike is temporarily in the shed after doing some shuffling of the other bikes. Once the rest of my fleet gets into their winter storage locations I should be able to find a spot to work on the new project!

Although Fall has definitely arrived in New England and it is time to start thinking about getting "stuff" ready for winter - we do have one more short trip planned later this week. We plan on heading up to northern Vermont to visit grandson Bailey at Norwich University during 'family weekend."

The fun continues! ... at least for a few more days!

Only Another 1,000 Miles To Go!

Well -- here it is September 11th , 2018 and I am way behind in updating this blog. I know -- it's an old story that keeps on a happening way too often!

When we last left you we were back in Montana heading east. Well it has been pretty much the same old story - different days - different states.

We finished off Montana, a small section of Wyoming, ALL of South Dakota (west to east along I-90 anyway), a good deal of southern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, Illinois along I-80, and into Indiana along more of I-80 to here in the RV Capitol of the World - Elkhart, Indiana! We have enjoyed mostly clear sunny weather along the west to east leg of our trip with temps mostly in the 70s to low 80s for highs.

We saw some of this ...

and some of this ...

and definitely a lot of this ...

and we sure did do a lot of this ...

We have generally been traveling for two days and resting for one along the way and only making about 200 to 250 miles a day on travel days. Since we have seen most of the sights along the way in the past we haven't been playing tourist too much 

so we passed up Wall Drug, although the Wiz was very disappointed ...

- although we did take a day back in South Dakota to visit the Minuteman Missile National Monument 

and to walkabout the "1880s" town near Murdo, South Dakota. 

And of course we had to re-visit Buddy Holly's crash site near Clear Lake, IA!

Somewhere along the way these last few days I managed to pick up some sort of cold virus so that has made me sorta miserable -- and miserable to live with I'm sure! But I'll survive ... just keep the Puffs Plus nearby and I'll be fine!

So here we sit with just about 1,000 miles to go, I figure it will take about 5 more travel days and 1 more rest day before we roll into Maine ... and I may have to go look at a new potential motorcycle project along the way.

But we will make it home ... just in time to get busy on all those fall chores that await!

Heading East

Peggy, I, and our house-guests left Hornbrook last Friday and drove east a bit and then north along US 97 into central Oregon - through Klamath Falls, Bend, and into Redmond where we spent two nights. The wildfire smoke was noticeable but not too bad during our travels. We visited some friends of Jamie and Ernie's during our stay and did a bit of genealogical touristing. Jamie and my dad was born in Bend and our Great Grandparents and a couple of Great Uncles are buried at the Pilot Butte Cemetery in Bend.

We all continued our trip north on Sunday and Monday - through Oregon, through parts of Washington and Idaho, and into Montana - arriving in Libby, Montana. Our purpose for visiting Libby was to visit more with my other sister Marcie and her husband Don - and Marcie/Don's daughter Mindy and husband Kyle -- but mostly to visit/play with their daughter Kalista - a rambunctious 21 month old who we had not had the pleasure of meeting yet! 

Of course, if you are in Libby you can't go without a few visits to the best Mexican Food in the northwest at Rosita's Mexican Restaurant (which happens to be owned/operated by Mindy and Kyle)!

While in Libby we also took the opportunity to visit the Libby Dam, Lake Koocanusa, and the Kootenai River. Beautiful country and stunning views!!

We finished our too short visit to Libby on Thursday - Jamie and Ernie headed back towards California - and Peggy, I, and the Wiz headed south and a bit east to Missoula, MT.

We continued our trip towards home yesterday along I-90 to here in Livingston, MT.

In spite of just a bit of smoke in the air from the western wildfires ... our travels thus far in Montana have been fantastic. Whether it's the gorgeous drives through the mountains and trees of northwestern Montana - or the scenic valleys, rivers, and bluffs in the southern and central parts - Montana is a beautiful place! We should have taken more pictures along our drive - but we were too busy just enjoying the views!

We are taking a "zero day" today which fits in with our basic plan for our return trip. Drive for two days - rest for one ... and do it again ... several times. Our general route will be along I-90 through the Black Hills and central South Dakota and then drop down to I-80 somewhere along the line to continue the trek east until we make it to near Cleveland where we will backtrack the route we took from Maine when we left -- through southern New York and then into Massachusetts/New Hampshire and back into Maine.

We still have a long way to go - and we are both looking forward to getting home. But this is also my favorite time of year to travel! The kids are back in school leaving the RV spots to us retired folks, the air is crisp and cool with a hint of fall in the air, and the national politicians are busy worrying about their re-election ... too busy to create any new problems for we "normal" folks. I know - it's only a temporary respite ... but we should enjoy it while we can.

Winne The Two continues to keep running and operating well. It is always dangerous to tempt fate ... but ... so far - so good! I will keep air in her tires, keep feeding her diesel fuel and DEF, keep her pointed between the lines and away from the obviously crazy drivers - and she will keep up the good performance - that's our deal!

So ... that's about it from Big Sky Country ... see ya down the road a piece!