Michigan to New York

 We decided we were driving too much and took a 10 day stand-down in St Clare Michigan at a Thousand Trails just outside of the town.

We needed it.  The rig had racked up the need for a number of minor repairs and we were very tired.  The stop at the Thousand Trails gave us time to rest, get the rig repairs done (all DIY) and to do some local sightseeing.  We also used St. Clare as a general delivery address to get our mail forwarded to us.

Draw Bridge in St. Clare

We were close to Port Huron, so we went over there and took a lake/river tour on a boat out onto Lake Huron.  Walking around the beautiful town of St. Clare with it's river front boardwalk was also a very highly thought of activity.

We took a trip (quite a distance) to Frankenmuth, which we think is German for "Tourist Trap".   It was worth the trip just to see the the town and to enjoy their little river cruise on a stern wheeler.  They allowed our dog Ginger as a passenger - though boats are not Gingers favorite thing.

This is first place in Michigan we thought was over-priced.  I guess the Disneyland like experience is expensive.

Fully rested and repairs on the rig complete, we left St. Clare and proceeded along I-90 with a goal of getting to upstate New York.  We stopped at another Thousand Trails in Ohio, Kenisee Lakes.

This Thousand Trails is notably simply for beauty of park.  A lot of Thousand Trails are...ummm..rustic.  That is needing work to modernize or restore the amenities that are getting worn.  

That was not the case with this one.  Everthing was in pristine condition, with the grounds well maintained.  

We pulled in and did something we had never done before:  we extended our stay just as we checked in.

While at Kenisee Lakes we decided to back track a bit and drive the car to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. 

Long Live Rock!!

This was quite an interesting stop, with all the artifacts and history of the some great and some not so great musicians of the past.  It had a pretty liberal interpretation of the Rock and Roll since Johnny Cash's Tour Bus was parked out front as one of the exhibits.

Cleveland surprised us.  They apparently have done some serious urban renewal - particularly around the water front.  We were time limited (Dog are not allowed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Ginger was back at the Campground) and didn't get to explore much, but next time we are in the Cleveland area, we will.  This was a far cry from the "Mistake by the Lake" designation Cleveland used to have.

We we returned to Kenisee Lake we discovered that part of its charm is that there is nothing to do in the area.   There are some modern covered bridges in the area and some state parks by the water front, but the state parks are dog-hostile and therefore not visited by us.

We then continued our run along I-90 to upstate New York and Niagara Falls. 

Thousand Trails St. Clare Michigan

 Name:  ThousandTrails St. Clair

Location:  1299 Wadham Road, St. Clair, Michigan  48079
Sewer:  Some
Water:  Yes
Power:  20A/30A/50A
Cable:  None
WIFI:  Available only in the lodge
Cellular:  T-Mobile:  Fair. 
Comments:  Very pleasant TT near the Great Lakes

August  2021

This park is located just off of I-94 in St Clair Michigan and is home to a lot of seasonal RVs.  It is a very pleasant park, though section A is pretty close to the Interstate.

The park is older (like many of Thousand Trails offerings) but is apparently undergoing a lot of renovation.  There are signs throughout the park touting the "site upgrades" and the "exciting future amenities".

It is lush, with lots of lawn and very reasonable sized RV slots.  The lodge and pool are newer and well maintained.  A lot of the seasonals are there for the weekends only and the place has lots of kid running around.  On the weekdays it is very quite.

The staff is what makes this a notable ThousandTrails.  They seem to be very focused on providing a memorably stay for their quests.

While we were there, amongst many other things, was live music (two nights), a car show and most importantly, donuts on Sunday morning.  During the live music shows, a TT staff member dressed up a Big Foot and kept the kids amused while the parents enjoyed the music.

We were also surprised at the improvements that the seasonals did to their sites.  It is obvious that some of them had been there many years and were planning to be there many more.

Full hook up sites are a bit rare due to the large number of seasonals, but they are obtainable - particularly if one is willing to "get on the list" and move when a site becomes available.

The nearby towns of St Claer and Port Huron are both worth a visit.

We spent 10 days in the Park and we have marked it for a future return visit.

North Dakota and Northern Michigan - The High Culture Run

 We entered North Dakota and promptly turned west because of our proximity to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  

The famed president once had a ranch and a hunting lodge in the park.  It is believed that Theodore became concerned about the demise of the American bison while hunting in this area and in addition to starting the national park system and started the efforts to save the American Bison from extinction.

He would be proud of the results.

While there are hiking and horse back riding opportunities in TRNP, for most folks, ourselves included, treat this as a driving park.  It is about a 30 mile loop.  While we were there the loop was partially closed due to a landslide.

The drive was well worth it.  There was a herd of bison along side the road, so we stopped-along with everyone else-to gawk at the awesome creatures.  Remembering the "Don't pet the fuzzy cows" campaign in South Dakota, we didn't exit the car.   

There were lots of Prairie dog towns along side the road, we stopped to view them as well.

One of the more interesting parts of the drive was really not intended.  There are sections of the road where you can see an exposed coal vein.  At one section, the coal vein had actually caught fire - apparently due to a grass fire earlier in the season.  The park service was letting it burn out and didn't really want to hear about it unless there were open flames visible.

At the entrance of TRNP is the tourist-trap town of Medora.  This charming little town is fashioned after a movie western town, complete with saloons.  The Cowboy Hall of Fame - unfortunately closed when we were there - is located in Medora.  There were a lot of kid venues including pizza parlors and one of the best western-themed playgrounds ever built.

We overnighted at Boots RV park just outside of Medora.  This was interesting in itself.  This is on a working ranch where they have carved off a few RV sites.  The whole thing was totally web driven - we booked, paid and checked in without ever talking to a human.  Ginger found the plastic deer around the equipment barn to be quite fascinating.

The next morning we headed out on I-90 eastward across North Dakota.  We discovered North Dakota is still pretty sparsely populated.  We weren't sure if we going to boondock overnight or what, but then we broke out the Passport America book (thanks Bill!) and found an RV park in Dawson North Dakota.  This RV park is noteworthy because you checked in with bar in front.

The RV park was ok with 50amp power, water and sewer so we disregarded the Trump Flags flying out front and checked into RV park behind the best (only) dive bar in Dawson ND.  We decided "What the heck?" and had dinner in the bar (food was good) and Jerald had his first Hamms beer since high school.  The locals were friendly and we had a great conversation with a couple of the local ranchers.

We ignored the Trump memorabilia they were selling next to the pool table.

The next day we were treated with a stop at New Salem North Dakota.  This is the home of Salem Sue - The worlds largest plastic Holstein Cow

Not to be outdone by the good folks in New Salem a little ways down the road in the home town of Cowboy writer Louis Lamour, is the worlds largest concrete buffalo.

We guess there must not much to do in the evening in North Dakota.  

We sadly left North Dakota, passed through Wisconsin and in the upper peninsula found a place that put them all to shame

We then spent two days in a KOA just north of the Mackinac bridge in Michigan and did a day trip to Mackinac island with the dog.

Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera and we didn't take any pictures but rest assured the island expedition was well worth the effort and Mackinaw island lived up to its reputation for both it's beauty and it willingness to separate a tourist from their dollars.

At this point in our travels, we were quite burned out and decided to spend 10 days in a Thousand Trails campground just outside of St Clare Michigan.  From there we will recharge, collect our mail and figure out our next move.

You and me and 50,000 Motorcycles

 From Forest City, Iowa, we took off north and our first stop was the Spam Museum in Austin Minnesota - yes they have such a thing - and it was well worth the stop.  After learning about Spam and the history of the Hormel Company we took off on I-90 west towards Rapid City.

We overnighted at a little RV park in Plinkenton SD since South Dakota has a rule about not sleeping alongside the road for more than 3 hours.  Very nice little park - we have it marked for a return visit.

 We couldn't pass through South Dakota with a visit to the infamous Wall Drugs:

We decided to spend a few days in the Rapid City are and found a spot just off the I-90 at a small RV park named "Three Flags RV park and Camp".  The whole area was getting ready for the Sturgis Motorcycle rally and we were lucky to find full hookups in the area.

We made the obligatory trip to Deadwood and Lead just outside of Rapid City.  Even a week before the rally, Deadwood was saturated in motorcycles.  Lead, however was very nice and we spent some time exploring the mining artifacts in a park that was honoring the Homestake mine - closed in the 80s and currently being used by Cal Berkeley to capture neutrinos. 

We then drove back from Rapid City to the Badlands National Part.  Among other things they have restored a fairly large buffalo herd there.  The rangers there have an ad campaign;  "Don't pet the fuzzy cows", we didn't quite understand why until we saw this:

The next day was "Four Presidents and a Chief":

Despite it being "done to death", we would heartily recommend to anyone that they go visit both Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial.

We spent a day exploring the downtown Rapid City area.  The downtown has a bronze statue of all the president up to Obama.  They haven't gotten their Trump statue yet - we believe there is a shortage of orange bronze.

The last day in Rapid City we decided to go to Wind Cave national park.  This park offers tours of the Wind Cave - a massive cavern complex about 230 feet below the surface.  

We left Rapid City the day the Sturgis Motorcycle rally started in nearby Sturgis.  Our route (curse you GPS) .  We were totally amazed by the number of Motorcycles parked along main street in Sturgis.  So amazed we forgot to take a picture and turning the 37ft Motorhome around in city full of motorcycles was not practical.  This shot happened on our way out of town:

Ginger was not impressed with the motorcycles.

Conclusion:  We would have stayed in Rapid City longer if there was RV space availability.  As it was the RV park we stayed at - outside of Sturgis - was fully booked for Sturgis.  There was a lot more to do there.  We have already decided to return when there aren't 700,000 people at a Motorcycle rally.  We would really like to explore Deadwood and some of the other places we missed on this trip.

Winnebago Grand National Rally Forest City Iowa

 Well, we made it to the GNR in Forest City Iowa.

We boondocked across Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota ending up in the center of Iowa in Forest City, Home of Winnebago.

We had a few adventures along the way...

1.  The large wall slide failed.  This is the retractable room in the front.  It had a Schwintec mechanism which is notorious for failing in slides.  We braced it closed - it was trying to come out as we ran down the road and lived with it till we got to Forest City.  

2.  We learned that South Dakota does not permit staying in the rest areas more than 3 hours if you are a normal driver.  Commercial drivers are allowed 10 hours.  That is kind of tacky.

So we got into Forest City, got checked into the Rally Grounds.  Just the size of this place is kind of amazing

We are in the upper left, but all you can really see is the Smart Car because....

We were broken.  When we got to the Rally Grounds we bee-lined for the Factory Service Center across the street.  We got into the queue (Factory Service is a very popular option for Rally participants) and eagerly checked the list every morning.

For the first three days we were on the list!!.  We needed to have to coach across the street by 6AM, so we would get up early, take our showers, get the coach "road-ready" and drive it across the street.   We would then go back across the street for the morning coffee and donuts provided by Winnebago/WIT for the rally participants.

We would go to the plethora of seminars/demonstrations/talks that are at the rally, but we needed to be back at Factory Service everyday at 2:30.  

The folks at Factory Service know people are here at the Rally and don't have any other place to live so everyday at 2:30 - whether finished or not - they gave you your coach back.  In our case it took two days to get the Schwintecs replaced and an extra day on the drivers door seal we asked them to fix.  The drivers door seal was apparently a booger.  On day 3 they went up to bend down our antennas so they could get it out of the service bay and noted that the roof had some issues and needed caulking.   So we signed up for day 4 as a "standby customer".

We got the call at 9AM the next day and had 1/2 an hour to get the coach across the street.  But we did it and got repair work done.

We can't say enough about  Winnebago Factory Service.  They were more than accommodating,  the work was top notch and not all that pricey.  

We will stay until Saturday and then we think we head back to South Dakota to see Mt Rushmore before the Sturgis Motorcycle event - which don't want to get anywhere near.

On the road to the Winnebago Grand National Rally

 July 19, 2021 - Thousand Trails San Benito to Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln California.  293 Miles.  Will conquer the Sierras tomorrow.  

Note:  Thunder Valley has a large, flat lot and encourages trucker and RVers to spend the night.  They ask that you register with Security.  

July 20,2021 - Our wedding anniversary spent putting miles down.  We were very disappointed to find that gas prices in Reno are on par with gas prices in California.  However when you get out of Reno the gas prices drop dramatically?  What....?  I guess if you have to truck it farther, you can charge less.  Spent the night in the Alamo Casino truck lot in Wells Nevada.  Not wonderful, but free.

Thousand Trails San Benito

 Name:  ThousandTrails San Benito

Location:  16225 Cienega Road, Paicines, CA 95043
Sewer:  Yes
Water:  Yes
Power:  30A/50A
Cable:  None
WIFI:  Yes - very good.  Roughly $2.00/Day (we could stream video)
Cellular:  T-Mobile:  None.  AT&T is reported to be ok.
Comments:  Large RV Resort in the Central California

July 2021

This is a large RV resort located sort of near Hollister California.  It advertises 627 sites, but not all of which are RV capable.  Most sites have sewer connections - but a few do not.

Power is 30A with a large number of 50A.  There is water to every site.  There are quite a few pull-thrus.

There are a fair number of sites designated for "Tent" camping.  These seem to be sites that have "infrastructure issues", most likely electrical.  

Since it away from the ocean, it does tend to get a bit warm, so 50A for 50A capable RVs is probably a good idea.  Though in this authors opinion, the prettier sites are 30A.

like many of TTs campgrounds, this one is a older, but it appears ELS is spending money to refurbish the campground.  They recently re-paved some of the access roads, they've renovated and in the process of renovating the bathrooms.  While we were there the "Adult" Lodge and the "Adult" pool were closed for renovation.  We note new fire rings in a lot of the sites.

The family lodge and family pool were entirely sufficient given the low occupancy rate (not sure if the low occupancy is due to Covid or $4.10/gal regular)

We found the staff to be very friendly and accommodating.   They were very helpful when we needed to store the rig temporarily to go handle a family emergency.

It is within striking distance of Pinnacles National Park, Fremont Peak State park and the Hollister ORV area.  Slight longer to Monterey with is various attractions.

There is partial week store in the RV park and a "general store" in Paicines that looked pretty small.  Tres Pinos seemed to also have a small general store, so major provisions should be bought in advance in Hollister which is a bit far down Highway 25.

One of the fun things about this park, is the wildlife.  We are not talking about the partying septuagenarians,  but the local creatures.  The deer were not quite hand tame, but they had little fear of humans and were content to maintain a minimal distance.

Lots of quail...

a bunny or two...

A couple of feral pigs...

We didn't get a picture of the bobcat we saw, they are nocturnal and don't care for humans that much.  We didn't see any of the foxes or racoons that reportedly inhabit the area

A travel note:  We will be storing the RV at San Benito for a few days and then doing what we call a "Kamikaze run" to the Winnebago GNR in Forest City Iowa.  We will do 80 from California to Salt Lake City and then we will decide if the approach to Forest City will be from the Northern route or the Southern route.