You Can't Get Lost

 When I got in the trailer Monday night, I saw that the tray I keep in the sink was full of water, which it wasn't when I got out to go into Ralph's.  I quickly shut off the faucet, but I don't remember seeing a trickle of water.  The water pump was on, so there was positive flow, but I don't know how much.  Sadly, the tank gauges RV's have only indicate the 1/3 levels, and since I had filled up with water in Laramie before I left, I knew I was in the lower 1/3 of the tank, but I don't know how close to the bottom I was.  And since I wouldn't be close to water until St. Cloud on Wednesday, I decided to add water to the fresh water tank.  (I had dumped the gray and black tanks on Thursday, so I knew they wouldn't be a problem.)  So I hooked up the hoses at Ralph's and added a third, more than enough to get to St. Cloud.   But that put me 15 minutes later than I wanted to leave.  I had set up to meet my cousin Sylvia Viken in Rochester at 10:30 before

Sunday was the day to visit family and friends.  When I was done scattering Sally's ashes at the farm on Saturday, I called and left a message for Romelle Wojahn.  Romelle is Sally's sister's husband's oldest brother's wife, Sally to Sandy to Wilbur to Melvin to Romelle.   I said I was sorry to have missed her, but I would see her on Sunday morning at church.  She was pretty surprised (and happy) when I sat down next to her Sunday morning.  We sat and had coffee after church ( I even drank half a cup!) and had a good conversation.   Later, I saw Wilbur's next younger brother, Orville.  His wife Jan was visiting a friend up north so I missed her.  They moved a couple of years ago from their farm back to the original Wojahn family farmstead.  The old house was gone and they built a new one.   I vaguely remembered they had moved, but didn't remember the details.  When I pulled in to their old farm, a six to eight year old boy informed me that they didn't li

Dear Friends, Yesterday, I had breakfast with my Kyllo cousins and their mom and dad.  It was so special because it has been so long since I have seen them.    But I had to leave at noon so I could get to Windom to get to Sally's High School Reunion.  I got to Windom and setup at the County Fairgrounds by 4:00.  The get-together was at Dudley's Garage, Restaurant and Bowling in Lakefield, MN, about 15 miles away.  Yep, all three.  And a nice patio that accommodated about 40 classmates and spouses.  Very informal, pay your own.  Just fun to see everyone.  Sally and I attended every class and all-school reunion since the 20th where I became the official photographer.  I've taken every class picture ever since.  (Not true, actually.  I missed the 2010 All-School reunion when I was in Kenya with Engineers Without Borders.  But Sally was there.)   Today was an emotional rollercoaster.  It started with Erik's birthday card.  Tomorrow (the 25th) is Erik's 42 birthday.  I b

 Whoa!  I think I've got it.  Here's where we are right now.   First:  I took the pickup to the dealership on Wednesday.  The thermostat came in from Omaha on time, they replaced the old one and then found several other problems that could come up and will need to be taken care of when I get back to Laramie, IF they don't become a problem while on the road.  That's not comforting, but, after I got the vehicle back at 4:45, I hooked up the trailer and drove for six hours to Shelby, Iowa, 315 miles without an incident.  That felt better.  And, from Shelby, I got here to Austin, MN to meet up with my relatives at the Beaver Trail RV Campground!  A success!  Everything seems to be working fine on the truck...for now. But, there is a story, believe it or not.  And I want you to understand, I'm telling this in my own humorous way like normal, and it may sound like I am mocking these people, but I'm really not.  Everyone is trying to be diligent and helpful and really

 Good News, Bad News. Good News first.  I talked to the Fertile, MN town clerk/secretary/gopher/manager/you-get-the-picture yesterday.  All the campground spaces are filled from the July 4-11 during the county fair.  No surprise there.  What was a surprise is that there is only one person camped there the week before.  So, I'm set up for June 29-July 3.  Pretty amazing if you ask me.  Of course, it meant inverting the trip by going there first, but I'll just work down from there and still try and catch all the people that I wanted to if I was driving north instead of south.  Everything there seems to be working out. Bad News.  I was able to get the pickup into the dealership here in North Platte on Tuesday at 8:30, in the morning!  They checked it out and decided that all the problems were from the thermostat, which they didn't have.  So, they are getting one from Omaha this morning and I'm scheduled to have it worked on at 2:30 and it shouldn't take more than 30 mi

 So, I got home from my Nebraska swing on Saturday, June 17, as planned.  It went really well, I had a good time, but I missed a lot of things I wanted to do, so I was happy to go back on Sunday.  After I got home, I collected all the stuff I needed but didn't have (not much really, mainly food) and the things I knew I needed for this coming trip to Minnesota, which ended up being a little more than I thought.  But, mostly done by Saturday evening...my time.   Church Sunday morning, finish loading and filling water tanks and diesel tanks and dumping black and grey tanks, I was getting ready to head out about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I wanted to be back in Scottsbluff by 4:00 which is when the host had asked me to get there, and that would just make it..... until..... I got a phone call from my cousin Bob in Fertile, MN (100 miles south of the Canadian border) who I was going to stay with for a couple of days at the end of the trip, somewhere around July 5-9th or so.  I have some fle

 I slept well Thursday night.  That's always good on the first night out.   Drove across the border into Nebraska and stopped in Mitchell.  Had lunch and some stops there, but got a text from the Rocky Hollow Buffalo Company (my next Harvest Host) that the ranch tour was going to take place and when could I get there.  I was able to get down there and parked in my spot  by 2:30. The owner and another couple and I took off in the ATV to go out into the pasture where the herd was located.  He has six pastures he can alternate with.  I was sitting shotgun and the couple were in back.   We came up over a rise and met the first of the bunch, three younger bulls.  They were inching up on us until Fred showed up.  Fred is alpha bull.  Fred is very big.  Fred weighs about 1450 pounds.  Here's Fred. Fred starts to come up to us and we leave.  We'll see more of him later.   We have treats to give the bison.  It is a compressed distiller's grain pellet.  It must be pretty good.  I

 I'm on the road!  Finally!   Yesterday, I really scrambled to get the trailer and the truck ready to go.   Some things scrambled more than others.  When I got the notice to renew the registration for the truck and the motorhome in early May, I taped the two notices on my kitchen cabinet. I found out that I didn't have to renew the license on the motorhome when I put it under consignment.  Well, I happened to look at the two notices on Tuesday evening about 3:00am, and realized I didn't have time to renew the truck on-line, I had to go to the County Treasurer's Office.  Now, I've seen lines out of the Treasurer's Office, into the hallway and into the Tax Office and wrap around, but that is on the last day or two of the month.  I figured I had a better chance on the 14th.   In the morning, I was doing stuff like washing the sheets and installing an outlet attached to the 2000W inverter I had installed last year.   (The previous owner had installed a surge protect