Round Two

Here it is nearly the end of June. It's been a pleasant, albeit wet, month overall. The heat finally calmed down, and today promises to blend into the beginning of a warm, mostly sunny week. At least that's what today's weather report says. Tomorrow could well be another story. This IS Minnesota, after all.

For those of you who have been on pins and needles to learn whether or not we're staying in Minnesota, the answer is no. The potential job possibility that Mark was looking at didn't pan out. The Good Lord says, "Head on down the road." Maybe He has something in the works for us in Arizona or Texas, maybe not. In the meantime, we're determined to enjoy each day as it comes.

We managed our long ten-day boondock experience better than I thought we would. The biggest inconvenience was not being able to wash clothes. I hate laundromats, and use them only at great need, but we took a few loads over to Maegan's and washed while we visited.

On Friday afternoon we moved the coach from the nice park by Lake Washington to Brian and Maegan's business, APT CNC. If you need anything machined or fabricated and you live near the Mankato area, check them out. They are very good at what they do. We parked in a dirt drive beside the building, proceeded to put down the jacks and level the RV when Mark saw that the rear driver's side jack stopped moving and spilled its fluid guts all over the dirt. There would be no leveling things this day. Fortunately the side with the heavy front room slide was sitting high, so we put out the slides anyway - level or not. Mark promptly made an appointment for Monday morning at Boyer Truck in Savage, to have the jacks checked and fixed.

Later that evening, Mark went up with the Mayo's to their lake cabin, which is about a four or five hour drive "up north" (to the uninitiated, this is Minnesota lingo for anywhere north of the Cities).  I spent the weekend restoring my soul with music, knitting, crocheting, and cleaning of the front room.

Mark and his grandson, Riley, left the cabin very early Sunday morning and drove down to the State Fairgrounds for the annual "Back to the 50's" rally. I'm glad because I have absolutely no interest in old cars, and Mark got the double blessing of enjoying the old cars AND the company of his grandson, neither of which he gets to do very often.

By 5:00 or so Sunday afternoon, we were packed up and on our way to Dakota Meadows, where we got a nice level spot. Monday morning we buttoned up again and headed to Boyer Truck and dropped the coach off for repairs. Then we drove the car over to Wampach's in Shakopee, one of our favorite breakfast spots. Their home fries are to die for! Afterward, Mark got a much needed haircut, and I did some much needed yarn shopping. The good news is, the jack that failed did so because the line was rubbing up against something and wore through. They replaced it and tied off all the others to make sure this doesn't happen again. We're back in good shape and ready to roll.

We love this park for short-term stays. The spaces are tight, but it's clean and well kept, and all the spots are 50 amp full service pull-throughs. We can run the basement air whenever we need to. And I'll be catching up on the laundry. The only thing missing is a swimming pool and hot tub. But, then, I suppose its primary purpose is parking for the casino...so, who cares about swimming when there's gambling?!

Joe and Bev (Mark's brother & sister-in-law) arranged their annual trip to Dakota Meadows to coincide with our stay, so we're enjoying visiting with them this week among our other activities. Yesterday I had a great time catching up with my former workmates at ACS over lunch. And both Mark and I have meetings with friends, family, and the dentist over the next few days before winding it up on Friday and heading out again for "Round Two" of our cross-country travels.

I've updated our itinerary page with our travel plans for the next few months. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have laundry to do.

Full Circle and a Fork

The sun hiding behind the clouds after a rainy morning.

It's been more than two weeks since my last post, but not much has happened and so there hasn't been too much to write about. It's been a mostly quiet and restful period as we wind up our first year of full-time RV traveling right back where we started from in the Twin Cities (MN) area.

Parked beside the pond at Joel & Beth's

And what about this spring weather?! Mark and I left hot Mississippi in May and headed north, expecting to find cooler weather. For the most part, that didn't happen.The heat followed us up through Missouri and Illinois, and right into Minnesota, which generally has fairly mild weather in June. Of course we've had some cool spells too, but more hot ones than we counted on. We're still having chronic problems with our basement air conditioner. Only one of the condensers feels like working, and so the roof cooler has been our primary. Thank goodness we have that one!

Our first stop in Minnesota was Isanti where we spent a little more than a week on my nephew's property. Bless their hearts! In addition to a constant supply of water, they gave us a power cord with 20 amps so we didn't have to run our generator once. And what a gorgeous view! A public Thank You, Joel and Beth, for your wonderful hospitality!

Washington Lake Campground

This week we're in the Mankato/St. Peter/Cleveland(MN) area, camping in a little hole-in-the-wall park by Lake Washington, close to where Mark's daughter, Maegan, and her family reside. This park has more or less nothing to offer except a parking space with 30 amp electric. None of the spots have sewer, and none of the spots have their own water supply. Fortunately, we are close enough to one of the water spigots to run our hose. More than ever before, we are learning the art of water conservation. The park's amenities consist of two playgrounds for children, a building with toilets and showers, and a dump station on the way out. We wash dishes once a day: the wash water goes down the drain and into our grey water tank, the rinse water goes on the lawn. Showers are taken in the campground shower facility. Anytime we need to run the water -- to rinse veggies or dishes,etc. -- we collect it in a basin and toss it outside. Even still, the grey water tank filled up at the end of the first week and we had to close everything up and drive over to the dump station yesterday to empty it. We shouldn't have to do that again until we leave.

Yesterday, the park was practically full...Father's Day campers, you know. Today they've all gone home and it is nearly empty again.

Mark & Maegan on the back patio (Brian is lurking
in the background)...and the fly-eating dog, Gus.

So now that we've come full circle, what next? You know that wonderful passage of scripture:  "Man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his paths" (Proverbs 16:9 slightly paraphrased)? This past week we spent a good deal of time and energy making our plans for our next two months of travel. In the meantime, Mark has been toying with the idea of going back to work for a little while to build up our repair--I mean our fun money supply. He put feelers out to his old employer, Modus, a few weeks ago, and last week sent them an updated resume. Late last week he got a call. It sounds like he could very well be getting a six-month work contract somewhere. And that somewhere just might be Minneapolis. His dream job would be in Phoenix, Arizona (no surprise to anyone who knows Mark), but we're not holding our breath. In any case, we're sitting at a fork in the road and hoping to find out next week which direction we'll be taking. I'll update our itinerary once we know.

Taking life one day at a time and trusting God for the important stuff...that's really all we can do, no matter where we are in life, right? When you think of us, please keep us in your prayers.

In any case, we're hanging around here until the end of June. We have places to go and people to see.