Dispatch number 13 - Chicago Detour

Tuesday, Aug. 17th Day 40, 5437 miles

We are writing to you from a KOA campground in Nashville that was under 13 feet of water last May. We sent out a batch of pictures but it has been more than a week since Robin's last dispatch. We have covered a lot of ground in that time and so it's time to get crackin'. First, a little history....

After Mackinaw City, our next Hamfest destination was Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. A sick water heater on the bus forced us to make a detour, however, to North Chicago, a suburb of Chicago proper. There, we took the bus to Liberty Coach, the factory where it was originally built. We decided to take the opportunity to hop in the jeep and tour the city while the bus was being repaired.

For advice, we called our own Chicago expert, Susan Fynmore. She had a bunch of great suggestions. We would have one whole day to spend in the city before having to return to the Liberty factory to spend the night on our bus, parked in their barbed wire fenced parking lot. This was probably the our least appealing camping spot of the entire trip, but on the positive side, we had good electricity, which hasn't always been the case. Somehow we managed for two whole nights, sleeping in an industrial parking lot, a destiny that I had previously hoped would never befall me. It was only after the second night that we learned that the Jelly Belly factory across the street had a shift change at midnight. We wondered what all the late night commotion was, but it proved to be a generally peaceful spot.

As for downtown Chicago, the city was interesting, the surrounding neighborhoods were really pretty but the traffic was awful and the toll roads were irritating and expensive when driving the bus. Some toll fees were only 80 cents but the lines leading up to them sometimes backed up traffic for miles. It seems like a stupid system to us. Why don't they just raise the gas tax a penny and be done with it? Also, when you shell out hard cash for the privilege to drive on a stretch of highway, you tend to expect that all of those riches that they collect are spent to provide modern, well maintained roads. Well, let me tell you, they're flushing that money down the toilet because we didn't see any decent road maintenance whatsoever. In other parts of the country they call it a shakedown: here, it's a Toll Road. Same difference.

We read in the paper that the city recently signed a contract with a private company to build, maintain, manage, run, and police their parking meters. At first, this sounds like just your ordinary outsourcing contract until further in the article you learn that the contract was let for 75 years! The city expects to collect 1.5 billion dollars from the deal. The parking meter company, which also issues tickets, is said to collect some 74 million dollars a year from their meters. I don't know about you, but the deal sounds fishy to us, especially since it will be the grandchildren of the guys who put this deal together that will still be lining their pockets. Sweet home Chicago.

Once downtown, however, it turns out that parking cost more than driving. We drove along Lake Shore Drive admiring the shoreline and the impressive city architecture. After navigating the downtown streets for a while with our trusty but sometimes schizophrenic GPS unit, we parked to go up into the Willis (nee Sears) Tower. At $28 plus tip for parking, we made sure that we walked around and gawked at the tall buildings for a while to get our money's worth. It was about $l5.00 each to go up to the 102nd floor of the tower and we thought it was worth the wait and the dough. It was very well run with lots of interesting facts and trivia to read while waiting in line for the elevators. I'd say it is one of those must do things in Chicago. Susan advised us not to go if the sky was cloudy but we lucked out, it was a beautiful day and we got some great pictures.

Coming down from the tower, we grabbed a Starbucks, retrieved our car and headed down the shoreline to the Museum of Science and Industry. There, we spent another $16.00 to park plus $28.00 per person to go inside. We wished we had had more time for this place. As adults alone, it could easily take 5 hours to see everything. With kids, plan on spending the day. We barely skimmed the place but did get to spend time for a special tour of the World War Two Nazi submarine, U-501. The U-boat tour alone took about an hour and a half but was well worth the history lesson. It is truly an impressive artifact and one of the star attractions of the museum.

We returned “home” to North Chicago only to find that the bus was not quite ready. This meant yet another night in the industrial parking lot but we were now much better prepared for the experience. The next day we drove into the town of Libertyville in search of some cigars and some public WiFi where Fred could login and do some work. We thought that the Libertyville public library was probably a good bet but we had no such luck. It was closed for massive renovations. There was a small farmers market / street fair nearby so I left Fred on a park bench while I did some shopping. I was happy, Fred, not so much. He met a farmer with a tractor on display and the next day the guy emailed him and said he was going to get his ham radio license and buy a subscription to QRZ.com. You just never know what is going to happen when you look up from your computer and mingle with the locals! Lesson learned I hope.

We left Chicago feeling like we had a good taste of the place and headed for our next ham-fest in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

For more pictures of this dispatch, see our Picasa Web Album

from the road:

-fred..... and a little bit of robin

Dispatch number 12 - Ditch Day

Tuesday, Aug. 10th  Day 33… 4627 miles driven

The Mackinaw Bridge

This year I made a New Year's resolution and have been sticking to it.  I resolved to be adventurous and try something new every day if the opportunity presented itself. I have always been timid  when it comes to trying new foods so almost every day my resolve is tested when faced with a menu.  Michigan is known for its whitefish so I ate that last week.  I saw one on the wall and it is one ugly fish, but I ate it. Yesterday when faced with the soup or salad question, I chose the soup.  I can't pronounce it and certainly can't spell it for you but it was delish!  The waitress said it was a stuffed cabbage roll made into soup.  Mackinaw City is also famous for its fudge; so much so that the tourists are called “fudgies.” Since I've had lots of fudge, it didn't qualify and I'm proud to say I passed on it. I did try a sample of German chocolate fudge...yuck.

The USCG Mackinaw Icebreaker

Our purpose for being in Mackinaw City was a visit to the ice breaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum. Fred interviewed the museum staff for an article on QRZ.com and we received the VIP tour. It was another of those “boys and their toys” tours but this time I stayed interested the entire two hours. We got to see places in the ship   that even one of the guides had never seen.  I gotta say it was cool.  When Fred has his blog up and going, I'll give you that site address so you can read the technical story and see the pictures.  My main impression was that there were LOTS of spiders and their accompanying webs everywhere.  I ate one but not on purpose so it doesn't count for my resolution.

Our Guides

Down to the engine room

Two of the 4 engines

Now to the new “incident.” While I've been learning little lessons along the way, Fred has been saving his learning for one big lesson.   Do not drive a jeep in to a ditch. It's hard to get out.

So, we are enjoying a nice drive on a  Sunday afternoon and stop to explore the beach from a small public park.  Children are romping around, a watermelon is chilling in the lake and a young couple is getting married  on the grass under the trees. There is a big display map of the county showing the “Old Macinaw Road” which looks fun to Fred and not fun to me.   With no road map and no GPS in the car, we take off for adventure.  Turns out, the road is narrow, isolated and not paved.  Just when I am thinking....what if we had a wreck here...no one would ever find us, I spot an old dilapidated farm house begging to have its picture taken.

The "Incident" farm house

I mention it as we pass it so Fred slams on the brakes and whips an exuberant U-turn.  It is clear to me that there is no room for this maneuver and I hollar as the jeep sinks into a ditch full of cat tails. 

We lurched along straddling the bottom of the ditch, trying to climb back up onto the roadway.  No luck.  With each try the jeep would strain and struggle but could not quite lift itself up over the hump.  Fred stopped and put the vehicle into 4-wheel drive.  No luck.  We weren't getting out this way.  With the jeep canted sideways at  a 45 degree angle, we backed up and leveled off again in the bottom of the ditch.  Fred asked me if I wanted to get out.  I didn't and I couldn't anyway; too deep.  He got out and walked several yards in front  and then behind the vehicle and realized that conditions worsened in the direction we were going. The path to self-extrication would be rearward and the maneuver would have to take place in reverse.  Fred put the vehicle in low range 4-wheel drive and started backing up, first slowly and then with a sharp turn to the left, managed to get both back wheels up onto the roadbed.  The front ones followed and just as suddenly as it had started, the event was over.  We were again on safe, solid ground, on the roadway.   A local came driving by in a beat up station wagon just as we came up out of the ditch and he never slowed down.  I think he saw our Arizona plate. I was ashen and silent but Fred was beaming.  His little white jeep proudly displayed a  layer of mud proving itself worthy of its four wheel drive heritage.  Fred declared himself an extremely skilled driver and proceeded to take the picture of the farm house. Fred says it was thrilling in an adrenaline pumping sort of way.  For me, not so much.

from the road:

-robin

Dispatch number 11 Beautiful Marquette and weird Ranger Jeff

Saturday, Aug. 7th  Day 30…

Man, oh man, Michigan is a sight to see.  We love it here. This is where my mother was born and both my parents were raised.  My grandmother taught both of them at Denby High School and all my cousins lived here.  I've got roots, just no experience with the place.  We stayed just outside Marquette in a forested campground for five nights. Ranger Jeff  was described in every review as “eccentric” but he was flat out weird. Too many examples to even write about, but he gave us lots to talk about.  So, we are camped in a forest and when we walk across the street, we are greeted by a pristine beach with only a few people enjoying the sun and sand. Lake Superior is so large it looks like the ocean except there are no seashells and the sand is a fine, tan color with very little debris.   One of the weather dudes said the water was 69 degrees, but it was so shallow where we were that it seemed much warmer. Strangely, at home we would never consider going in the pool at that temperature, but here it seemed perfect. The sunset was so pretty it made me miss Arizona.

We were in Marquette to tour the National Weather Service station.  Fred is writing an article about the Skywarn system for QRZ.com. It's a federally sponsored program where amateur radio operators in surrounding areas call in to report severe weather sightings. Their info is used to update NWS weather alerts and forecasts.  Each NWS station has at least one amateur radio operator available to listen and take reports from the network of hams calling in  their reports.  With tons of technology, big generators, charts and graphs, Fred was once again in the “big boys and their toys,” world.  He scampered up a 100 foot radar tower with glee, crawled under big machinery and interviewed all the guys that worked there.  It was an interesting hour....we were there for three.

Every time Fred gets to have “fun through technology,” I get to have “fun through tourism.” We went on a boat cruise along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The waters of Lake Superior are crystal clear blue green and  have created masterpieces of colors and rock formations found nowhere else in the world. We had a narrated, up close tour of the caves and rocks, a light house and an island. There were people waving from beaches, kids swimming into caves, teenagers jumping from cliffs and general frolicking.  I wondered how all the people got there since it's a forest on top of sheer cliffs. Evidently there are hiking trails, campgrounds and parking lots behind the trees.  Anyone who  loves camping should definitely check this place out.  At least it looked good from the boat.  The last time I camped in a tent was in my living room with a toddler and a four year old.

Michigan Attractions we skipped: “Mystery Spot – Open Rain or Shine” ...and...“Weird Michigan Wax Museum”

Celebrations: The calm and quiet of staying in the same beautiful campground for 5 nights
Surprises:  The abundance of gorgeous beaches along the coastline of Lake Superior
Disappointments: Mouse droppings on the clubhouse tables (pool table, however, was clean..I won)

Lessons learned:  It takes twice as much charcoal to cook a steak than I thought (dinner was very late)

Next dispatch, I have a brand new “incident” to report pertaining to one WHOPPER of a lesson learned and I've created a blog so I can embed pictures for all of you who have requested visual aids.

from the road:
-robin

Dispatch number 10 There's no place like home...there's no

Sunday, Aug. 1st  Day 24…

This is officially the longest Fred and I have been away from home.  For 32 years  I have told my clients that after three weeks in their new house their anxiety will dissipate and it will finally feel like “home.” Well....maybe it takes some folks four weeks. Especially if the house moves down the road to a new city with a new culture most days. It is still exciting and fun, just not “home” yet.  Another thing, you girls were right about all these mirrors.  I clean mirrors several times a day and often in my sleep.  Sometimes I feel like I am living in a fun house at the carnival.  Luckily, four sections of mirror fell off in the kitchen so I got a reprieve for a few days before we glued them back on. Also, unless I cook our meals, we get tummy trouble.  Who knew my cooking would be the preferred fare?

Last Thursday we landed in Minneapolis at that ugly trailer park that cost a whopping $40.00. Even the squirrels had tatoos.  It got 3 out of 4 Ws in Woodall's campground guide and usually a triple woody is a good thing. It was the closest place to downtown which was its only redeeming feature. After a half day of work Friday, we moved to a lovely campground in Prior Lake at the Mystic Lake Casino.  A trip to the Mall of America left us winded and impressed.

Saturday we headed toward our next official speaking engagement at the Cedar Rapids Ham-fest.  We parked in the lot at the Union Hall and dry camped so as to be ready for an 8:00 a.m. start time. Fred spoke at 9:00 to an small but enthusiastic gathering of more than half a dozen local hams. We hit the road Sunday afternoon for destinations unknown.  We landed in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin at a lovely KOA.

More signs from the road:
In Iowa: A steak restaurant: There is no such thing as a chicken knife
In Wisconsin: Polaski Polka Days – 25 bands – 2 locations
                Heavy Critters next exit
And our favorite:  The Mustard Museum-Free Tastings-Home of Poupon U


Celebrations: Finding a fabulous campground in Prior Lake, MN on Friday
Surprises:  The Skyway in downtown Minneapolis
Disappointments: Staying at a rotten trailer park in Minneapolis, MN on Thursday

Lessons learned:  Our next ham-fest was Sunday... not Saturday...oops
                             The pump button must be on to enjoy the new improved flush


from the road:
-robin

Dispatch number 9 Big Boys and their Toys Heaven

Thursday, July 29, Day 21…

Fred on Top of the Bus

Wednesday was a big day in Fred's life.  He actually found a cherry picker  to lift him on top of the bus. We had to drive to the nearby
town of Vergas where they had a ballpark parking lot big enough for the
bus and the truck to maneuver.   He was in “boys and their toys heaven.”
He did some improvements, caulked some, cranked a spotlight and
generally had a ball playing around up there. Our satellite dish is now
all connected and we are spending some of our free time trying to figure
out how to work it.  

I, on the other hand, did the job that follows a woman where ever she
goes....laundry.  The laundromat was in Vergas and was also a restaurant
and bait shop.  There were little bistro tables in between the washer
aisle and the dryer aisle with menus and tent cards warning me not to
sit there unless I was eating. To tell you the truth, the food looked a
lot better than the laundry equipment. The bait looked very fresh. We
have seen many  other odd combination stores. One of note was a
smoke/gas/dinette/hardware store and casino.

Road signs are fairly interesting; especially if you have no idea what
they mean.  Oink Joint Road for instance. Zorba's advertises with an
aging hippie who claims his pizza joint is “nicely baked since 1969.”

Eating and shopping was always interesting.  I created a “Minnesota
Glossery” for you who may visit for the first time.

                      Tap Pop = Fountain Soda
                      Mac Hot Dish = Hangover Hot Dish = Macaroni Casserole
                      Walleye fingers = fishsticks
                      Pull Tabs = Cardboard Cocaine = gambling similar to
scratch off lottery tickets but ya pull
                      Oof da Tacos = Indian Frybread (elephant ears sold
here but I have no idea what they are)
                      Kum pow chicken = Kung Pow chicken (you can choose
your spice level 1-5 here)
                      Scenic Wetlands = Swamp

We are driving to Minneapolis today and will write again after we
experience that new town.
THANK YOU to all of you who have written back after getting my emails.
News from home is one of the highlights for us each day.  Don't forget
to check out our pictures of good and bad campgrounds.

Lessons learned days 20 and 21
There is a difference between a campground (good) and a trailer park
(bad).

Bad Campground!

Good Campground

There is such as thing as too much butter - tummy troubles after Ruth's
Chris Steakhouse

from the road:
-robin

Dispatch number 8 They have tornadoes here? Say what?

Tuesday, July 27, Day 19… When we were in Turkey a couple years ago, I was haunted by two words ....they were......wait for it.......“Turkish Prison.”  The two words scaring me now are.........“Tornado Warning.” Last Thursday night we were greeted by a “Tornadic Storm” in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. I don't think there is any louder sound than pouring rain and howling wind pounding the skin of an all metal bus. At least I hope I never hear a louder sound, after all, the tornado missed us by 5 miles. Our bravery was rewarded and tested with three more storms starting at 2:00  Tuesday morning, only two of which had the potential to swirl us off to the land of Oz. The bus held fast to the soggy ground although the rain held us hostage in our grand metal house for three quarters of a day.

On Friday we headed to Brainerd for the smallest ham-fest I have attended to date.  I did manage to buy  an old table top radio for $10.00 that the guy swore was worth $60.00.  It will make a good addition to our antique radio collection at home.  I need it for the bus because it just has one knob for on/off/volume and another knob to dial up an A M station.  So simple, I can handle this bad boy all by myself!

Saturday we headed back to beautiful, charming, Detroit Lakes where we collected our mail at Terry and Jane Stallman's house on the lake. Jane just happens to be my friend, Vonnie's, big sister. Vonnie is visiting them this week so we all cruised around the lake on their pontoon boat.  Very fun! Sunday was the Flea Market, Art in the Park and more lake time including a swim.  I was surprised to find out that the common practice is to bathe and wash ones hair in the lake.  Since it was 13 feet deep, I didn't think I could tread water long enough to get this mop of hair clean so I passed on the hygiene part of the fun.  When I came home to use my own shower, I was not happy to find out the hard way that Fred had not turned the water heater on. He said lightening was coming out of my eyes when I exited the shower.

In addition to work, Fred has been researching all the parts and pieces of this bus so he is prepared for the inevitable repairs. If the past is predictor of the future, there will be many opportunities to put his new found knowledge to work.  He spent most of Monday improving the toilet and adding a pressure gauge.  He spent the rest of the day cleaning the shower where the holding tank spilled its guts when he flushed the toilet so many times during its “improvement.” It was a good thing I was at the casino all day while it happened or I would have been on the first plane home.  By the time I returned, there was no evidence of his very eventful day except a flawless flush.

That brings us to today, Tuesday....it's raining...a lot...for hours...Chinese food tonight then dispatch.

Celebrations: A royal flush from an improved throne
Surprises:  People with bathrooms actually choose to bathe in a lake
Disappointments:  A shockingly cold, take your breath away, shower

Lessons learned days 14 – 19
GPS is not to be trusted
My recommendations are rarely respected, and rarely wrong
The food in Minnesota is as unusual as the food I've eaten  in foreign countries
This traveling in a bus thing......is hard

from the road:
-robin

Dispatch number 7 Glacier National Park and We sing

July 21st 2010  Day 13… We have traveled 2503 miles, are just outside of Bismark,  and have replaced 400 gallons of fuel so far.  The top local news story in Mandan, North Dakota tonight is the rally in corn prices.  Not something I am used to hearing in Phoenix. It is just so gol darn interesting traveling across this country.  Our campground tonight was carved out of a corn field and the corn stalks are taller than me. It reminds me of the movie, “Field of Dreams.”  I half expect Shoeless Joe Jackson  to appear and can slightly hear some disembodied voice whispering, “if you build it they will come.” Thunderstorms are expected tonight but I  already knew that just by checking out my hair after our evening walk....curly and growing bigger by the minute.

Last Monday we took the roof off the jeep and went exploring throughout Glacier National Park.  We cranked the volume as we drove the Road To The Sun.  Thank goodness we didn't scare the abundant wildlife with our enthusiastic singing.  Time slowed as we tried to take it all in.  It was all so, so beautiful that we kept pulling off to the side at every opportunity. We are posting just a few of the 200 pictures we took. Highly recommended.
http://picasaweb.google.com/flloyd.qrz/GlacierParkJeepRide#

We drove about 400 miles each of the last two days and stopped so Fred could work on QRZ for a few hours. There is no internet provided  here but the WiFi system that Fred set up in the coach is allowing him to work and me to send out this latest dispatch.  We also have TV!

Celebrations: Free WiFi in the rest areas (which are even prettier than Utah's rest areas).
Surprises: They mow the grass along side the highways in this part of the country.
Disappointments: The local KOA charges $50.00 and we have our own room!!...we passed on that one.

Lessons learned days 10 - 13:
With the top removed in a jeep, water from the weeping wall will pour into the car.  Rain is also a problem.
When you forget that you are filling the coach tank with water, the campground manager will knock on your door and remind and reprimand you.
The unbelievably adorable white Shitz Tsu puppy named Popcorn......bites.
Maps and AAA tour books multiply and fill the coach with clutter if not kept in check.

From the road
-robin