Winter Excursion 10, Day 28

We left camp this morning and headed to the eye doctor to get exams and order new glasses. They had originally told us that our insurance was "out of network" and we would have to pay up front and submit the bill to our insurance company. After my exam and while Cath was getting hers' I mentioned to the associate about the insurance. She asked to see my insurance card, scanned it, and said it was good and not "out of network. That changed the bill from $1200 to $280! I was glad I asked!

From there we headed to the Kids and Kiddos. I spent the afternoon turning their old refrigerator into a kegerator. Brain ad been wanting one for a long time so we made it happen. It was just in time for the annual Oyster Roast this Saturday.

Kennedy wanted to do my hair, so I said Sure! Here's what I got.

I don't think I will keep this style!

After sampling the new kegerator we decided to spend the night.
  

Winter Excursion 10, Day 27

We both slept in a little recovering from the Kiddos visit!

Later in the morning we went to Lowe's Grocery Store and did our Thanksgiving Day shopping. Cath started cooking the cranberries and the pumpkin pie crust.

We went to "Cod Father's Fish n' Chips" Restaurant and Pub. I should have taken this pic sooner (the fish is gone), but it was so good I scarfed it all down. So here's a pic of the chips and yep, I ate those too!

Back at camp we watched a little TV and then hit the sack.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 26

We had another fun day with the Kiddos. We made a huge breakfast on the flattop, we were all stuffed! It was more like brunch as getting Wesley up was a chore.

The neighbors had another tailgate Sunday. We made wings and they were a hit.

Brain and Nicole showed up around 1330 and joined us at the tailgate. They and the Kiddos left around 1500 and the place seemed really quiet!

Cath and I watched a little football, but hit the rack early as it's been a "little sleep" weekend. I'm sure we will sleep good tonight (and long..LOL).
 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 25

The craziness started early. The Kiddos and us were up and about by 0800. First order of business was Wesley's famous breakfast sandwiches. There has been a small modification since last year. The new and improved version is as follows:  Whole wheat bread, sausage patty, fried egg. hash brown patty, and whole wheat bread on top. The dang thing is 4 inches thick!

We all hung at camp all day. Wes and I made a quick trip to the commissary for emergency supplies.

The Kiddos played some football and basketball. We all played some "Uno No Mercy".

Kennedy made me a friendship bracelet, red, white, and blue.

Spaghetti and homemade meatballs for dinner with some garlic bread was delicious!

After dinner a movie was in order, and we finally got to bed around midnight! Another long day!

   

Winter Excursion 10, Day 24

We got back to the camper this morning around 0930. Grabbed showers and headed to the commissary for some supplies. The Kiddos are spending the weekend with us! 

Around 1600 we drove back to Mt Pleasant for Wesley's basketball game. It was a good game, but they lost in the last few minutes.

After the game we all headed to the pizza joint, then we headed back to camp with the Kiddos.

We had not told the Kids or Kiddos that we have a new camper. I wish I had a pic of the look on their faces when they walked inside. It even took a minute for them to realize it was a new camper.

We watched a movie and everyone finally fell asleep around 2330.

It's been a long fun day.

BTW: here's the first pic of the camper for this year's blog! I had not posted any before in case the Kids or Kiddos saw it on the blog.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 23

We got all the windows in the camper cleaned inside and out. Some of the smears and smudges had been there for awhile. We also got all the bugs off the front cap that had accumulated during our drive down south.

We left for the Kids and Kiddo's house around 1500.

We had another nice dinner with them and then watched the Thursday night football game. The Bills lost, so Wesley is in mourning!

We are spending the night and will head back to camp in the morning. 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 22

We once again spent the morning in camp. Cath did some inside maintenance and I cleaned the inside of the truck.

We left for the Kid's house around 1300.

Around 1500 I became an Uber Driver! Picked-up Kennedy at school and delivered her to tennis practice. Then took Wes to basketball practice. I was on standby to pickup Kennedy, but another Uber Driver got there first. Lastly, picked-up up Wes and brought him back home. By then it was dinner time and I got "off duty"!

We had a nice dinner with the Kids and Kiddos and then headed back to camp.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 21

We spent the morning at camp, but left around lunch time. Then the craziness began!

At the Kid's house we got to tour all the new renovations. The house looks great with a nice open floor plan.

I spent a few hours washing the truck. It was filthy after the trip to here.

Kennedy and Wesley got home from school and did their chores. Kennedy has tennis coaching and Wes has a football game to go to.

Brian and Nicole arrived to the game from work. The game was a close one 14 - 7, but we were on the losing side. I got to "run the chains", so I had a birds eye view of the game. This game was for the league championship!

After the game we hit a great Hamburger Joint and had dinner. 

Cath and I got home around 2100. Sleep will come fast. 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 20

We spent the entire day at camp, although we did hit the commissary for a few supplies. The commissary is less than a mile away.

We spent a lot of the day outside as the weather is great, low 70s and sunny. It is forecast to stay this way for a least the next ten days!

Spent some time yakking and trading lies with our neighbors. 

The Camp Host (Frank) is right across from us. He has a cat named Willow that visits all the campers throughout the day. She spends lots of time by us!

It was nice to spend the early evening outside relaxing and enjoying an AB!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 19

We left Sesqui State Park around 0930 and made the short (125 miles) drive to Foster Creek Campground at the Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station. We will be here until 31 Dec. We arrived around 1230 and spent the afternoon setting up. It was nice to get all of our stuff out rather than just the essentials for a few days stay.

The neighbors invited the entire campground over to their site for a "meet n' greet". We learned that they do this every Sunday. Next week we will contribute some snacks to the event. We had a good time and met some new camping friends.

We had a small issue with the camper. The oven pilot light igniter is not working. While we were at the "meet n' greet" we learned that our next door neighbor is a Mobile RV Tech! He has offered to help us with the oven issue.

We left camp and drove to James Island for Wesley's basketball game. After that we all went to Lewis Barbecue in Charleston. It was probably the best BBQ we've ever had! The brisket was fork tender!

After a long day we hit the hay. We will sleep good tonight!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 18

We spent the day in camp watching the comings and goings of all the other campers.

The highlight of the day was slowly packing up for our drive tomorrow. We played some cards in the afternoon outside! The weather is perfect.

We are looking forward to Charleston as we will be in one place for six weeks. Hurrah!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 17

We did the hour drive to Dreher Island State Park, SC. It's a nice park on a very large lake. There are two campgrounds. The one just inside the gate is full hookups and most sites are on the water. The other campground is way in the back of the park. We think it is an older campground as the sites are very narrow and close to each other. The tent sites all have nice pads and most are on the water. The roads getting to the park are terrible, some of the worst we've ever seen.

We stopped for lunch at a Mexican joint. The food was good and the service great.

Back at camp we watched the campground fill up as it's Friday. One more day here then off to the Kiddos, let the craziness begin! 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 16

After breakfast we drove to Mast General Store in downtown Columbia. This store has been there since 1863. 

After Mast General Store we stopped at Ft Jackson to hit the PX. 

On the way back to camp we stopped at Publix (our favorite grocery store) for a few supplies.

Back at camp we relaxed and enjoyed the perfect weather.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 15

Woke up to a nice sunny day with temps a little warmer. We were on the road by 0930. It was a little windy, but the camper towed well.

We did have a small issue going through Charlotte, NC. The interstate was packed with traffic. The GPS said to get in the left two lanes to stay on I-77 South. I moved over and next thing I knew we were on the HOV (Express lanes) which are restricted to two axel vehicles and they are toll lanes. There is limited access to these lanes and very few exits back to the "normal" I-77. The few times I tried to exit the traffic was so heavy that I could not merge to the right. We ended up staying in the Express Lanes. I'll be waiting for the ticket to arrive, I'm sure they got our picture.

We arrived at Sesquicentennial State Park just outside of Columbia, SC around 1330. This is our last stop before Charleston, SC. It's an older campground, but we have a nice pull-thru site with full hookups! The ground is all sand. It's like being at the beach. We were all set up and relaxing by 1500.

There was two other Brinkley's right next top us in the campground. Ours is on the left in the pic,

Tomorrow we will probably do some exploring.  

Winter Excursion 10, Day 14

To all my Fellow Vets, Thank you for your service! And to the all Veteran Wives, Thank you for all you did and putting up with us.

We spent the day in camp surviving the cold temps here in Virginia. We watched TV for the most part, a history of the Vietnam War. It was sobering!

We went to dinner at a local joint. The food was good and the waitress was bad. I rather have it this way than the other way around.

Back at camp we did a little prep for the trip tomorrow, but hit the sack by 2100.

We are looking forward to our next campground as we have not been there before.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 13

Today we got to do our favorite chore; LAUNDRY (NOT!). While at the laundromat the owner came by to do some cleanup. We talked for a few minutes and he mentioned he is from Upstate NY. Turns out he is from Evan Mills just up the road from our home. Small World! 

We spent the rest of the day in the camper. The wind has been howling and temps are dropping.

There is only a few campers in the campground. We think the weather chased the rest of them away.

The truck behaved today, but I'm still not sure it's fixed. While in Charleston I'll get it to a dealer.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 12

I was able to pinpoint the problem area for the rear lights on the truck. I got it working by wiggling one of the connectors under the back bumper. I'm not sure it is "fixed", but we will see after we hit a few bumps.

We watched the mass exodus this morning. The campground was almost emptied, but a few arrived in the afternoon.

We hungout at camp, watched a little football, and had a nice dinner.

Weather will be changing tomorrow. Forecast high is 33 with a low tomorrow night in the low 20s. I filled the fresh water tank and disconnected the city water hose. I thought we were heading south to avoid this weather!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 11

We left camp at 0830 and made the 280 mile drive to Claytor Lake State Park in Dublin, VA. The drive was uneventful until I stopped for gas and discovered the turn signals were inop! Actually all the rear lights on the truck are not working (brake, signal, backup, etc.). The lights and signals on the camper are working fine. I'll have to do some troubleshooting tomorrow.

We got to our new campground around 1430. The place is packed, but I'm guessing it will empty out tomorrow (Sunday).

Here's our site and a visitor.

Yep, it's a piebald!

The rest of the day we enjoyed our favorite pastime..People Watching!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 10

We ran into town to get some propane. The tanks seem to empty quicker as the weather is cold.

Picked up a few last minute supplies and stayed at camp all afternoon.

Spent the time packing up for our trip tomorrow and doing some camp maintenance.

I helped our Camp Friends with a repair on their outdoor kitchen. We did not get it fixed, but we know what is needed to repair it. It's a simply faucet gasket and valve, but with any RV stuff it will be fun to try to find (not).

Off to bed early, tomorrow is a travel day!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 9

Today we went in search of some Rabba Scapple (which is the best in the world). We found some in a Weis Store near Gettysburg. We bought the store out!

Back at the camper we started to vac all the "scrapple gold", but the camper vac machine died! So off to Wally World we went. Found one we wanted, rushed back to camp, and saved the day by vacing (not sure "vacing" is a word) all the scrapple.

We met some new Camping Friends and spent some time yakking as campers tend to do. We will see them again tomorrow.

Spent the rest of the day and evening watching movies.

All is still well in the Boss Camp!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 8

For the past three days we have been in a "no cell signal" area. So I'm going to try and make up the past three days.

We left camp mid morning and headed to the Snyder's Pretzel Factory Store. We loaded up on enough snacks, pretzels, and candy, to last until next year! We have been here in past years, but what is new is that Campbells has bought Snyder's, so there is lots of soup stuff in the store now.

On the way back to camp we stopped at Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium.

They have over12,000 elephants on display and another 12,000+ in storage!

Had to post this pic:

And this truck was in the parking lot when we left.

Back at camp we watched the campground comings and goings which is always entertaining!

  

Winter Excursion 10, Day 7

We never left camp today.

One of our FROG friends stopped by and spent the morning with us, We spent the time yakking about everything you can think of. It was good to see Ron. He will be hosting in Georgia this winter for the first time. We will be anxious to hear how he likes it.

In the afternoon we played some more cards, took a walk, and watched a little TV.

The weather continues to be nice, although a little cool.

 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 6

After a great night's sleep we left camp to do a few errands. 

First stop was Wally World for a new sewer hose extension. The full hookup site we are on has the sewer dump probably 25 feet from our dump valve. In all our camping I've never seen one so far away.

Next stop was Sailors or what used to be Sailors. This has been one of our favorite grocery stores in this area, bit it is now a Weis Market! We use to stock up on all our favorite Pennsylvania food goodies. Now they didn't have any of them.

We did find a Country Store that had a few of the items we were looking for, but we came up empty on Scrapple!

Back at camp we played ort first of many cribbage games for this trip. Cath won!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 5

We got up to a beautiful day. Sunny, no rain, no wind, but a little chilly. We were on the road by 0930. The drive was nice. Many parts of I-81 have been recently paved, but some areas are the same old lousy interstate!

We arrived at Caledonia State Park around 1430 and were all set up by 1530. With the time change it starts to get dark by 1630. We will be here for six days. 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 4

At least the wind finally stopped mid-day and with it the rain. It was nice to see the sun again. The forecast for the rest of the week looks good, 60s & 40s with no rain. 

We did a little camp maintenance and watched a movie. We ran a few errands and Cath got her A&W Root Beer Float fix.

As is the tradition for our last night in a campground we got some really good pizza from a local Mom and Pop Pizza Joint.

Tomorrow we are off to a campground we have not stayed at before near Chambersburg, PA.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 3

It rained hard all night and then all day. The wind gusted to almost 50 mph. It was a raw, cold, and wet day. We stayed hunkered down in the camper.

Some of our Camping Friends came over in the afternoon. It is always good to see Chris & Jean. We spent most of the afternoon yakking and catching up on news. Cath made the perfect meal for dinner, Chicken and Dumplings. With this weather it was a welcome meal. It warmed our innards!

We watched a few shows and then hit the rack. The wind was still kicking!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 2

We definitely made the right decision to leave a day early. The weather here today was horrible! It rained all day, temps stayed in the low 40s, and the wind never quit. The low clouds made it even drearier. It would not have been a fun travel day.

We made a quick trip to Wally World for a few supplies, but spent almost the entire day in the camper watching TV.

I guess the bright side is with all the wind and rain we got a free truck wash!   

Winter Excursion 10, Day 1

It's hard to believe this is Winter Excursion 10!

It is actually Day -1. We left home a day early to avoid the wind and rain forecast for tomorrow.

We made it to our first stop at Cortland, NY with no issues. Last night the rain started around 0200 and is still continuing all day. The wind is gusting near 25 mph.

We are at Greek Peak Campground. We stayed here last year for a few days. It is a good first day stopping place. It is only 120 miles from home. We will stay here four nights so we can visit some camping friends that live in the area.

It is good to be back on the road again. As always we are looking forward to this year's trip.

All is well in the Boss Camp!  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 291

We left camp this morning for our drive home, but first we stopped at the Welding Shop to get the battery deck repaired. It took about 1.5 hours, but the welder did a great job.

The 200 mile drive home went by fast with no issues. Here's the Lewis County line on RT 177. Welcome Home!

The house seems in good shape. There is plenty of dead bugs, but very little sign of mice. We will stay in the camper for a few days while we get everything cleaned up.

I'll type up and post the trip stats in a day or so.

It's good to be home!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 290

Woke up this morning to find a lake outside the camper at the water pedestal. Seems the underground line (pipe) was broken. We called the Rangers and maintenance was able to turn it off. Later in the day a crew came to repair the line. They had to turn off water to the entire camping loop. Luckily we had filled our fresh water tank yesterday. 

Our friends left this morning. We will see them when we leave for our winter trip this year.

We took a drive to the Shoe Trees and to get some gas for the drive home tomorrow.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 289

Today was a hot one. Temps were in the 90s by late morning. These temps are forecast to break tomorrow. We should get some cooler weather.

We just hung out a camp today. I did get a short bike ride in.

We had dinner with our friends and once again sat and yakked for awhile. It's been a fun few days with them. They leave in the morning. We will see them again when we start our winter trip in October.

Late evening we put everything away as rain is forecast for tomorrow morning.  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 288

We spent most of the day in camp. The weather moderated a little as the humidity is not so bad.

We did head out to a cider mill that we'd visited six yeas ago. The cider is still cold and delicious. We sat out back in the shade and enjoyed the breeze coming of Lake Ontario. 

We got a pic of this crazy thing on the way back to camp. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll bet the neighbors love it! 

We had a nice dinner with our camping friends and sat outside yakking until almost dark. It's been a nice day.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 287

This morning I called a welding shop in the area and explained what had happened with the battery box. He asked if I could get some pics so he could see the damage. After he saw the pics we made an appointment for Monday morning (the day we leave here). I won't even have to unhook the camper for him to do some welding repair. His shop is large enough for me to pull the truck and camper into it!

We spent the day in camp yakking with our friends. 

We keep moving around where we are sitting to keep in the shade. The sites we are in have no trees so we are using the campers for shade depending on where the sun is!

We smoked a small brisket for dinner. It took 12 hours, but the wait was worth it. It came out great.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 286

 It's moving day and it started out just fine.

This little guy was in the dumpster when I threw the trash out.

I put that stick in so he could climb out which he did after finishing his breakfast.

We left camp around 1000 enroute to our new campground. While we were on I-90 heading east a car pulled up beside us and motioned that something was wrong with the camper. I rolled down my window and he shouted that our battery box was dragging on the ground! I immediately pulled over to the shoulder, put on the four ways and found this.

Two of the factory weld weld joints on the driver side had failed and the whole thing was dragging on the highway. I called 911 and got a policeman to sit behind us on the shoulder with his lights flashing. With traffic whizzing by at 70 mph I disconnected and removed the batteries and strapped the the broken battery box frame to the camper "A" frame. I was able to drive to the next exit, but there was no repairmen in the area. We ended up driving to our new campground with no further issues. All said and done, We were lucky!

Here's the new campsite at Lakeside State Park, PA.

We are meeting camping friends here. We will be here for five days and then head for home.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 285

After breakfast we did one more load of laundry. That should be it until we get home next week! Hooray! 

There is rain and thunderstorms forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning so we started packing up all the outside stuff. We leave here in the morning and we hate packing up in the rain. Maybe the "Weather Guessers" will be wrong as usual.

We ordered pizza for our last night here. Zeppe's has a very interesting crust. The call it "Zig-Zag Crust".

It's actually really good pizza. 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 284

It was nice and cool this morning and I got a great walk in.

Another of our favorite pastimes is laundry so we did that today. Yuk!

I did get a bike ride in, The park has a bike path that goes all the way to Geneva on the Lake. For the most part it is shaded. The path is almost 5 miles long! Along the way I saw this next to the path.

Here's a view of the path. Some of it is right on the Lake Erie shore.

We went to GOTL to get our favorite Gyros from Mike's Gyro Stand. They are the best gyros we've had since Germany many years ago.

We spent the evening sitting outside with the fan going and people watching.

It's been a nice relaxing day.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 283

We were up at 0630 and in the dump station by 0800. We wanted to beat the crowds as this campground has over 250 sites and it's Sunday. Lots of campers will be leaving. We were out of the dump station by 0815 and on the road. It's 325 miles to our next campground.

We traveled RT-6 (Grand Army of the Republic Highway) all the way to Cleveland. RT-6 was a great road on the part we traveled. We went through a few towns, made good time, and the road was not crowded. RT-6 basically parallels I-90. We will use this route again when we travel this area.

We stopped at a Fricker's Restaurant for lunch and had some frickin' great sandwiches. It's a chain food joint in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

We arrived at Geneva State Park around 1530. We have a great site with tons of shade and a nice breeze off of Lake Erie. Here's site #42 with full hookups!

The sites in this area are newly renovated since we were last here six years ago. We did minimal set up. We will be here for three days and storms are forecast for Tuesday.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 282

Temps remain high. It was 73 deg and 95% humidity when I got up. We would either

want to stay in the camper or drive around in the truck rather than sit outside.

We drove around in the truck to the local grocery store for a few supplies. This Kroger was not one of our favorites, but we got most of what we needed.

We spent the afternoon in the camper, playing cribbage and enjoying the air conditioners, but we could only run one at a time as we are on 30 amp service. Until late afternoon best we could do was 85 in the camper! but at least we could combat the humidity!

We will be heading to Lake Erie (Geneva State Park) in the morning. Wishing for a breeze and cooler temps.

   

Winter Excursion 9, Day 281

We did some camp maintenance this morning.

In the afternoon we drove into South Bend, IN and had a late lunch/early dinner at a brewery called the "Crooked Ewe Brewery & Ale House".

The beer was cold and the food was good.

Back at camp we watched the weekend camper arriving. By early evening the campground was 100% full! People watching was the hit of the evening.

Temps were in the 90s today. We sure wish it would cool off.  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 280

After yesterday's drive and the time change we slept in till almost 0900! We had a great night's sleep. 

We explored the park. It's really big with over 250 sites not to mention the cabins, day use area, beach, General Store and Nature Center. There are many, many trails also. The park has the largest dump station we've ever seen. There are six lanes and it is very modern.

We left the park to check out the local area. It is mostly farm land. The little towns in the area are nice and very well kept. We discovered US Rt 6. It is called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. It is a transcontinental highway stretching from Bishop, California, to Provincetown, Massachusetts. It was named in honor of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union Army veterans organization from the Civil War. We plan to take it vs I-90 most of the way to our next campground.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 279

We left Token Creek County Park around 0930 for the 250 mile drive to our new campground.  We said our goodbyes to our new camping friend who happened to be the Camp Host. We hope to see her again in our travels.

The drive today around Chicago was not as bad as anticipated. We did I-90 to I-294 to I-90. In places the road was terrible, but for the most part not bad. Traffic was heavy, but we only had a few slowdowns.

We arrived at Potato Creek State Park, IN around 1530 as we are now on Eastern Time. Here's Site #39. Nice site with partial shade.

We will be here for four days.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 278

Today was a repeat of yesterday. We only left camp to fill up the truck as we are leaving tomorrow.

We played some cards in the morning and hungout outside the rest of the day.

We did have a camper at the dump station across from us have a "wardrobe malfunction". While dumping, his sewer hose broke off of the dump valve. He did not to a good job of clean up and just left. Guess who cleaned it up!

The weather is getting warmer everyday. I guess we got spoiled while we were in the Dakotas. 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 277

After all the driving for the past week or so, today was a day of rest. We did manage to go to Wally World for a few supplies, but for the most part we just hung out at camp.

I was able to fix the stone chip in the camper front window. I used a windshield repair kit made by Rain-X. It worked great!

All is well in the Boss Camp! 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 276

Today's 260 mile drive was fine until we got across the Mississippi (gee that's fun to type). That's where I-90 and I-94 come together. It's also the highway to the Wisconsin Dells, a tourist hotspot, think Dollywood/Gatlinburg area!

Here's our new site at Taken Creek County Park/Campground. We were in this exact site 6 years ago with Jacob.

We said Hi to the Camp Host across the street from us. She knew where we had hosted last year at Dames Ferry and also where we live in Lowville. She knew where Miller's Meat Market is! Small World!

We will be here for three days. It will be nice to not have to drive everyday!
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 275

Our original route planning had us doing a 400 mile day when we leave Blue Mounds State Park. We decided to leave a day early and drive 175 miles and spend one night. Here's our new campground, Albert Lea / Austin KOA Journey, MN.

We didn't even unhook the truck. This stop will make tomorrow's drive a lot easier.

Weather is still nice and cool, but we have very bad air quality due to the smoke/haze from the Canadian wildfires.
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 274

We drove into town this morning to tackle our favorite camping chore...LAUNDRY! We actually knocked it out very fast. The laundromat wasn't crowded. We did a little food shopping and headed back to camp.

I'm not sure when it happened, but we got a stone chip in the camper's front window. It's about the size of a nickel.

I got a repair kit while we were in town, but it was missing a part required to use it. I'll have to get another kit during our travels before the chip spiders.

Back at camp we watched the campground fill up as it is Friday afternoon. People watching is one of our favorite pastimes. 
  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 273

We left Richmond Lake Recreation Area at 0930 and made the 230 mile drive to Blue Mounds State Park, MN. Here's Site #24.

We were in this exact site 6 years ago when we made the Family Reunion Trip with our Grandson Jacob. The site and the area have been renovated since then and the campground is really nice!

We spent the late afternoon and evening relaxing and enjoying the 70 degree weather.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 272

I got the new stabilizer jack installed this morning with no issues. I'll be more aware of curbs at gas stations from now on!

We went into Aberdeen, SD around noon. First stop was a car wash. The truck looks good again. We went to The Lager Inn for lunch.

The sign on the outside read "Coldest Beer In Town". It was correct and the food was good.

Next stop was the grocery store for some supplies. We had asked our waitress what was the best grocery store in town. She said "Kessler's". She was right, this store is on par with Publix. We spent over an hour there.

Back at camp we watched some TV and had an early snack dinner.

We enjoyed the Aberdeen area, but will be leaving tomorrow for more points east.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 271

We left camp early this morning enroute to our new campground, Richmond Lake Recreation Area just north of Aberdeen, SD. Here's site # 3E.

This is a really nice campground, well kept, and plenty of room between sites.

The drive today was once again on RT-12 through North and South Dakota. This is a secondary road and not crowded at all. We do get to drive through a few towns, but they are few and far between. We stopped for gas and I got a pick of me and my buddy.

We were amazed at how green everything is! We usually think of South Dakota as the Badlands and the Black Hills. Most of the drive was through cattle country and huge farms. Some of the fields of corn, soybean, and sunflowers were hundreds of acres in size.

We drove into Aberdeen to an RV parts store and picked up a new stabilizer jack. I'll replace it tomorrow.

We will be here for just two days.
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 270

We spent the day in camp for the most part.

We had a storm blow through mid morning. I got some really good pics. Here's a few.

We were at the southern end of this storm as it came by. We got some pea sized hail and a little rain. If we had been a few miles to the north we would have been hammered.

In the afternoon we did some camp maintenance and started to pack up as we leave in the morning.

We planned on getting dinner at a food truck that had a five star rating, but they were closed. We ended up back at the burger joint we ate at a few days ago. They are the only thing going in this tiny town. Once again the food was good and the beer was cold.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 269

We had a lazy morning and then went to a local joint for burgers and beer. Back at camp we watched a few movies and relaxed.

Temps moderated in the late afternoon and we got a nice breeze, so we sat outside. I got the drone out and got a few pics of the area.

Here's our current campground. We are on the bottom right.

And a close up of our site and camper.

The next four are looking north, south, east, and west from 300 feet above us. First pic is the little town of Bowman, ND.

We did some air fried chicken wings for dinner, caught another movie, and hit the sack. It's been a nice relaxing day.