Sunday ; Sunny and cool
Today was our final day of pre-departure preparations. The U.S. border re-opens tomorrow. Finally, after nineteen months, we will able to return to the United States for the winter season. Our objectives for this winter season are to get rid of our Yuma, Arizona property and possessions.
Joanne spent much of today loading stuff into the camper. I refilled the camper’s freshwater tank, purging the winterization plumbing anti-freeze in the process. We are grateful that the weather for tonight will not be below freezing. Otherwise we would have to leave tomorrow with the camper’s plumbing still “winterized”.
I spent a part of the evening on the phone with a Tracfone “technical support” agent (in India, apparently) attempting to get our US cell phone reactivated. She assured me, repeatedly, that there would be no problem, she had accomplished it !
Monday ; Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada to Hillsboro, North Dakota, U.S.A.
NO … YOU HADN’T ACCOMPLISHED IT ! ! ! ! ... <SPUTTER>
<taking a deep breath, trying to calm down> Oh, goody … <sarcasm> ... my annual US cell phone reactivation drama has begun !
Sunny and cool today. By the time we finished our departure preparations, chatted with neighbours, and took our “early” exercise walk, it was noon. We departed Steinbach, headed west to Pembina Hwy. 75, then south. We will stay on Pembina Hwy. 75 / US Interstate 29 until Kansas City.
About a mile before reaching the US border at Emerson, Manitoba, crossing into Pembina, North Dakota, we were delayed for half an hour or so by a serious vehicle accident near the border. A small car had rear ended a semi-trailer flat deck loaded with steel. No apparent damage to the large truck, but … the car was demolished. The driver of the small car had obviously been injured. There were many police, fire and rescue vehicles on scene. Traffic had to squeeze down to a single lane, on the shoulder, to get by.
Crossing the border today was easier and quicker than we had expected it would be. The female CBP officer did not even want to see our Covid vaccination “passports”. There was no line-up in the “RV lane”, despite there being a line up almost a mile long in the commercial truck lane. HUH ? Why ?
A few minutes after crossing the border we stopped at a closed truck weigh station to have a late lunch. And turn on our US cell phone for the first time … <fume> … discovering that it was NOT reactivated ! I planned to use my laptop to phone Tracfone at the Wi-Fi equipped rest area where we were planning to boondock overnight. Adding to my cell phone drama, the rest area’s Wi-Fi was non-functional tonight !
As we returned to the truck cab after having lunch in the camper I noticed a large pile of … something … in the parking lot behind the weigh station. Obviously an overweight truck was forced to dump some of its load. It looked like a pile of … coconuts with roots ? HUH ? I picked one up and sliced an edge off using my pocket knife. It smelled like … a beet. I cut a very small piece and ate it. HEY ! Must be a sugar beet ! I gave a small piece to Joanne who tasted it, and decided we should take one and … bake it, see how it turns out. <shrug> Okay !
We stopped to boondock overnight at the Elm River Rest Area near Hillsboro, North Dakota, about halfway between Grand Forks and Fargo. We arrived at 4:15 PM, with just enough time left before darkness (at 5 PM) to take our “late” exercise walk around (and around and around and around) the rest area. BRRR … pretty chilly !
Tuesday ; Hillsboro, North Dakota to Flandreau, South Dakota
Very cold … below freezing … overnight, sunny and cool during the day.
We had difficulty finding freshwater today. We stopped at many truck stops and rest areas looking for a functional water spigot with which to refill the camper’s freshwater holding tank. We like to top up the freshwater tank daily, if we can. This far north, this late in the fall season, everyone has turned off their outdoor water spigots for the winter. We finally found one functional at a Cenex fuel station near Summit, South Dakota, at 5 PM, shortly before nightfall.
We did not reach our planned destination for tonight. Spent too much on cell phone drama !
We left the Hillsboro, North Dakota rest area this morning about 10:45 AM, after our early exercise walk. By noon we were in Fargo. We refilled with diesel at Love’s, then failed to find a functional water spigot at either Love’s or the nearby Flying J. We parked at McDonald’s, I connected to their free Wi-Fi, and used VoIP on my laptop to phone Tracfone. I was on the phone with a technical support agent (in India) for 37 minutes before he finally conceded that my problem was beyond his technical expertise and he would have to have a higher level of technical support agent phone me back, perhaps in fifteen minutes or so. I don’t think so ! I suggested that he refund the money that I paid for a phone card upon the … <ahem> ... attempted reactivation of last Sunday, and I would go to a local Wal-Mart in Fargo, buy a new SIM card, and activate that ! He readily agreed, and connected me to a refund agent … <rolling my eyes> … who promptly refunded my phone card purchase.
We drove to a nearby Wal-Mart. The middle aged white woman at the cell phone counter was unable to find any Tracfone SIM cards in their cell phone counter storage cabinet. HMPH !
We had lunch while parked at Wal-Mart, then drove to a nearby Target store. The cell phone counter was staffed by a young, Asian male. Oh, glory be ! He sold me a one dollar Tracfone Sim card kit, which actually contained three different Sim cards, and each SIM card fits three different sizes of SIM card slots ! The instructions/procedures were somewhat incomprehensible to me. The Asian kid disassembled my phone, loaded the SIM card into it, and then… <sputter> … used his cell phone to activate it ! AND … then prevented me from buying the wrong type of phone plan card. He identified the correct type of phone plan card for my (archaic) cell phone, and used his cell phone to “load” the card to my phone. <blink blink>
Oh, sure … but can he parallel park ? <ROFLMAO>
Thanks, kid !
We continued southbound on I-29 through the southern half of North Dakota and the northern half of South Dakota. Around 4 PM we stopped at a rest area and went for our late afternoon exercise walk. After finally refilling the freshwater tank we drove for about an hour in the dark before stopping for the night at a rest area. For supper we had cabbage borscht from MJ’S Kafe, the Mennonite restaurant half a block from our Steinbach condo. It was a bit thin and bland so … we “enhanced” it with yesterday’s “foraged” sugar beet. HA HA HA ! That made it better !
Wednesday ; Flandreau, South Dakota to Council Bluffs, Iowa
Cold, foggy, raining all day, sometimes heavily.
We left the rest area this morning around 10:30 AM and continued southbound on I-29. At Sioux Falls, South Dakota we stopped at Flying J and refilled the truck with diesel fuel. Not a full tank, it was too expensive. We’ve decided to stop buying diesel fuel at Flying J. They are always more expensive than the competition because they always have the best locations. As expected, the water spigots at this location were turned off for the winter, so we were unable to refill the camper’s freshwater tank.
Awhile later we stopped at Vermillion, South Dakota, at a large “fuel stop/travel center” and topped up with much cheaper diesel fuel. AND … refilled our freshwater tank at a functional water spigot.
At Sioux City we crossed over the Missouri River from South Dakota into Iowa. We stopped at a rest area to have lunch and dump our waste holding tanks. Iowa’s rest areas have RV sani-dumps. WOO-HOO … thank you, Iowa. At Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river from Omaha, Nebraska, we stopped at a Wal-Mart to replenish groceries. We were dismayed to see that 100% of the Wal-Mart customers in Council Bluffs, Iowa were unmasked, despite 100% of the Wal-Mart employees being masked, and prominent signage upon entry encouraging customers to wear masks. <sigh> A harbinger of things to come, no doubt.
We stopped for the night by 5:30 PM at a rest area a bit south of Council Bluffs, far short of our planned destination, due to heavy rain and darkness.
Thursday ; Council Bluffs, Iowa through Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas
REMEMBRANCE DAY ; LEST WE FORGET
Sunny and mild, the weather is improving.
This morning we walked around and around the rest area until “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”, when we observed Remembrance Day with a recitation of In Flanders Fields, then two minutes of silence “TO REMEMBER”.
A few minutes after 11 AM we departed the rest area and continued south on I-29. As soon as we crossed from Iowa into Missouri we found a fuel service station with a functional water spigot, and refilled our freshwater tank. We didn’t refill with diesel there, it was too expensive. Shortly thereafter, at Mound City, Missouri we refilled the truck with diesel. We stopped for lunch parked at a shopping mall in St. Joseph.
Shortly before reaching Kansas City we veered off I-29 onto I-435, a “ring road” around the west side of Kansas City, the Kansas side, not the Missouri side. While on I-435 we crossed from Missouri into Kansas. Near the intersection of I-435 southbound and I-70 westbound, at the NASCAR Kansas Speedway car racing track, we left the freeway and entered a very large shopping area surrounding the NASCAR Kansas Speedway. We found our way easily to Cabela’s and selected where in their massive parking lot we wanted to boondock overnight. It was only a little after 3 PM, so there was about two hours of daylight left. We used our GPS to navigate the short but complicated route to Nebraska Furniture Mart, an extremely large furniture store, with more square footage than any Wal-Mart. We wanted to buy some Kansas City style barbecue brisket at Blind Box BBQ, a highly rated “barbecue” restaurant embedded within the furniture store. After finding the restaurant, and perusing their menu, and watching their clientele being served, I decided that if I was going to indulge myself in way too many calories for a “barbecue” meal, it was going to have be better than that !
We found our way to a nearby Wal-Mart store and replenished groceries. The Wal-Mart store had signage posted at their entrances requiring shoppers to be masked. About half the shoppers were masked, mostly the black and brown skinned people. About half the shoppers were unmasked, some with confrontational looks on their faces. “Go ahead … challenge me !” That was most of the 30 to 45 year old white skinned people, male and female ! ! !
****ing hillbillies ! ! !
We returned to Cabela’s around 5 PM just before nightfall. We went into Cabela’s and I did some Christmas shopping … for myself. And we wandered around the immensely huge sporting goods store, viewing the stuffed animal displays and massive aquariums filled with all manner of fish. Santa bought me some fishing stuff for a trip to Northern Manitoba next summer.
Friday ; Kansas City to Topeka to Wichita, Kansas to Braman, Oklahoma
Overcast, clearing late in the day, very cold, very windy. A few minutes of light snow falling around Topeka, Kansas.
We went inside Cabela’s this morning at 10:30 AM to do our early exercise walking around the perimeter of the store. HA HA HA … the “demographics” in the guns section of the store was amusing … and telling. Lots of 30 to 45 year old males, all maskless, all wearing caps, most wearing camouflage clothing, most looking like some sort of white supremacist survivalists. Proud Boys ! Boogaloo Boys ! Promise Keepers ! Duck Dynasty ! Rednecks and hillbillies all ! ! ! Joanne surmised that they probably all have assault rifles in their pickup trucks. As we passed a display she wondered if she should buy herself one of the “conceal & carry” purses. HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA !
We left the Cabela’s parking lot at 11 AM heading west on the Kansas Turnpike toll freeway. About an hour later we paid our toll and got off the turnpike at Topeka, looking to buy lunch at Lonnie Q’s BBQ, an extremely highly rated, very small barbecue joint on the outskirts of Topeka open five days a week from 11 AM to 1 PM only. As we were pulling into Lonnie Q’s parking lot an old woman with Parkinson’s driving out of the parking lot rolled down her window to bemoan to us that Lonnie was already sold out of “cheezy taters”. Really ? How sad ! HA HA HA ! As I was wrestling the truck and camper into a too small parking spot, Lonnie himself came running out the front door and over to our truck to warn us that he was already sold out of almost everything for the day ; barbecued beef brisket, spareribs, pulled pork, sausages. All he had left was barbecued turkey and baked beans. HMPH ! We left.
We got back onto the turnpike, now heading south towards Wichita. We stopped at one of the many service centers / rest areas along the Kansas Turnpike to refill with diesel and search for a functional water spigot. We found a functional water spigot near the Valero fuel islands. Joanne wanted to have lunch before refilling the freshwater and diesel, so we parked near the McDonald’s. While she prepared lunch I connected to McDonald’s free Wi-Fi and checked e-mail. After lunch we returned to the Valero station for diesel and freshwater. While backing up to the fuel island that had the functional water spigot I bumped the top rear corner of the camper against a covered sidewalk’s roof <FUME> causing minor cosmetic damage to the corner of the camper roof and breaking a marker light.
We refilled freshwater and diesel then continued south on Kansas Turnpike heading for a catfish restaurant in Wichita. At Wichita we got off the turnpike, paid another toll, and used the GPS to find the catfish restaurant. It was permanently closed ! <SIGH>
Back onto Kansas Turnpike heading south to the southern end of the turnpike near the border with Oklahoma. Another toll ! We crossed from Kansas into Oklahoma and almost immediately stopped at a Native American (do they use the term “Indigenous” here in “Merka” ?) casino with a “cheap rez gas” fuel bar. We thought we might treat ourselves to dinner in the casino to make up for the barbecue and catfish restaurant failures. We went into the casino, wandered around, were not inspired, and left. We refilled with cheap diesel, drove a few more miles south, and stopped to boondock overnight at the Oklahoma Welcome Center / Rest Area.
Upon arrival we went for our “late” exercise walk around the rest area, but it was already dark, and extremely cold and windy, so our walk was a tad shorter than usual.
Saturday ; Braman to Oklahoma City to Elk City to Erick, Oklahoma
Sunny and mild. It seems as if winter disappeared overnight.
Before leaving the rest area this morning we went for our early exercise brisk walk around the rest area for about fifteen minutes. When we left the rest area we did not continue south on I-35, we drove east a few miles into the small town of Blackwell to dump our waste holding tanks and refill with freshwater at the town’s sani-dump station at the fairgrounds. Having a little difficulty finding our way to the fairgrounds, I made the stupid mistake of asking a couple of boys around eight or nine years of age for directions.
ME ; Can you tell me where the fairgrounds are ?
THEM ; Sure ! Right by the skateboard park.
ME ; OK … where’s the skateboard park ?
THEM ; Right by the baseball fields.
ME ; <sigh> OK … where’s the baseball fields.
THEM ; You know where the Dairy Queen is ?
ME ; NO !
THEM ; <both pointing generally southeast>
ME ; OK … thanks … bye … <sigh>
Eventually we found the fairgrounds … across the street from the Dairy Queen … right beside the baseball fields. Never did see a skateboard park ! After dumping and refilling we returned to I-35, continuing southbound to Oklahoma City.
Once in Oklahoma City we found our way to Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ for another attempt at “southern” food. WOO-HOO ! Found it, and … IT WAS GREAT ! We bought half a pound of spicy chopped beef brisket (with extra “sissy sauce”), potato salad, and three bean salad, taking it out to the camper to eat for lunch. MMMMM ! We’re looking forward to having it again in a couple of days at their other location in Amarillo, Texas.
After lunch while finding our way to a Wal-Mart we saw a Lowe’s and stopped to see if they had “cut to size” roller blinds. I have been trying to replace the duct tape repaired roller blind on the camper’s entry door since the spring. I had one cut to size at Rona in Penticton, BC, and refused to accept it because the cut edge looked like it had been chewed by a beaver. Exactly the same story on the second attempt at Rona in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Well … today I finally got a decently cut to size roller blind at Lowe’s in Oklahoma City … BUT … it took three staff and … <sputter> … FOUR attempts to get it cut to the right size. There was a problem with the measuring calibration on the blind cutting machine. <shrug> There goes three more cut to size roller blinds tossed in the garbage by the store, for a total of five in the garbage to get one cut and sold to a customer !
After buying a few items at Wal-Mart we decided it was too early to stop for the night in Oklahoma City. We decided to head east on I-40 towards our next “foodie” destination. On the way to Elk City, Oklahoma we stopped at Love’s near El Reno, Oklahoma to refill an empty propane tank. We have been running our camper’s propane Wave 6 catalytic heater on “high” for about fifteen hours per night, from the time we stop driving around nightfall until we depart the next morning. At that rate we used an entire thirty pound tank of propane in just four nights. SHEESH !
GPS guided us off I-40 at the exit to Elk City, which we never found/saw ! Dipsy doodling around cow pastures filled with Longhorn cattle for about 3 ½ miles brought us to the very crowded parking lot of Simon’s Catch, a very highly rated catfish restaurant, sitting out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by … pastures filled with Longhorn cattle ! Nary a mask in sight inside the restaurant, filled to overflowing by very obese old men wearing bib front overalls and filthy caps. Well … at least they didn’t appear to be the assault rifle toting crowd, like at Cabela’s in Kansas City.
We have been to a rural Oklahoma catfish restaurant once before, many years ago. It was similar to Simon’s Catch. Only one item on the menu ; fried catfish ! Served with it … EVERYTHING ! We ordered one dinner “to go”. Three large fillets of cornmeal battered, fried catfish, a huge quantity of fries, excellent hush puppies … and I don’t usually like hush puppies … cole slaw, baked beans, pickled okra, dill pickle slices, sliced red onion, tartar sauce, lemon wedges, ketchup. We left the restaurant toting our two bags of food, found our way in the dark back to the Interstate, and continued west on I-40 for about another half hour, stopping at 6:30 PM at the Oklahoma Welcome Center on the opposite/eastbound side of the freeway (for travellers coming into Oklahoma from Texas).
GAWD … supper was good ! ! ! For supper tonight the two of us consumed about two thirds of the “dinner for one”, with about a third of it leftover for lunch tomorrow. I suppose that somewhat explains the girth of the locals.
For a bedtime snack tonight … as if we really needed one … HA HA HA … we shared a Moon Pie. I bought two Moon Pies on impulse at Cabela’s a couple of days ago, because I had never had a Moon Pie and was curious. HMPH ! Just like a Canadian “Wagon Wheel”.
DSK
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