Grand Forks ND Again – Day 7 (Oct. 27, 2012)

We are up at around 5:00am and make it to the West Side Market in Cleveland about 7:00am, close to our usual Saturday morning routine. This trip involved lots of time on the road and terrible weather, but it was a a good change of pace and a good trip for us.

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 6 (Oct. 26, 2012)

We are up early and on the road. We stop at two suppliers for the RV business and camp at a KOA near Toledo, OH.

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 5 (Oct. 25, 2012)

Another cold, rainy day. The workshop continues until 2:30pm. Mike and I head out for home around 3:00pm and collapse about 9:30pm at a Holiday Inn Express just West of Eau Claire, WI. 

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 4 (Oct. 24, 2012)

We spend the day at a huge sugar beet processing plant conducting a workshop on electrostatic precipitators. We go back to Sanders for dinner and stay another night in the hotel.

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 3 (Oct. 23, 2012)

We set out about 9:30am with only about three hours left to drive. It is a grey morning, about 45 degrees, with a steady drizzle. All the fields are empty here, but there is a peaceful mist over the burnt orange colors.  We learn that we are too late to cancel the hotel reservation Mike’s office made without a penalty, so we check into the Hilton Garden Inn in Grand Forks, ND. The space and heat feel great!  At the hotel, we meet the two people from the Cleveland office who flew here and then we all meet our local friends, Paul and Jill, at Giuseppe’s for dinner. We go to Sanders for dessert: awesome cheesecake topped with peach cobbler.

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 2 (Oct. 22, 2012)

In the morning Mike gets up to find us some coffee.  He comes back empty handed. People at both the truck stop and restaurant next door treated him with disdain when he asked for decaf.  We drive for half an hour to a Cracker Barrel for decaf and a full, hot breakfast. 

Across Wisconsin, it is a cloudy, grey day, about 50 degrees.  The fields are empty except for a few pumpkin patches. We stop at a KOA in Hixton, WI for a few RV supplies.  The fields here between the rolling hills are golden. 

On the iPhone, Siri gives us a list of “the best restaurants in Eau Claire.”  At the top of her list is Tacos Juanita, a tiny Mexican place in a strip mall one mile off I-94, where we enjoy the best tortilla soup we’ve ever had. Our waiter brags that he made it himself.

We stop in Albany, MN, just west of St. Cloud, for fuel. This is the exit for the Lake Wobegon Bike Trail that we enjoyed earlier this year. We are sorry that we don’t have time for biking this trip.

I am alarmed to find that most campgrounds this far North closed Oct. 15. In Alexandria, MN, we discover that Alexandria Shooting Park and RV Campground is open until Nov. 1. Camping at a shooting park is a first! It is a wide-open, flat area stretching for about a half mile with about 30 shooting sites. Yes, they shoot away from the campsites! This night there is only one shooter and he stops at dusk, around 7:30pm. 

The showers are hot but the bathrooms are not heated, so we shower in the evening, thinking it will be colder in the morning.  We heat up pot roast and root vegetables from home and, since there is no TV reception, we listen to the presidential debate on the radio. 

Grand Forks ND Again – Day 1 (Oct. 21, 2012)

Late in the afternoon on Sunday we set out in our Sprinter RV for Grand Forks, ND, about 1100 miles away, where Mike will help facilitate a workshop on Wednesday and Thursday.

Our goal for today is to get beyond Chicago, a six hour drive. As we drive, we figure out some new technology. Our GPS system has been updated so we discover new features, like different screen views. Mike “pairs” his new iPhone 5 to the new Pioneer AV-Nav system and we learn how to ask Siri questions. I download Pandora so we can find new music within the genres we enjoy.  I hope that figuring new technology out is good for my aging brain!

We stop around 11:00pm just west of Chicago, “dry camping” at a TA truck stop.  Finding a spot away from the lights and the motor noise of refrigerator trucks, we tuck our little Sprinter between two huge tractor-trailers and sleep well.

Customer Visit: MIssy and Rick

This week Advanced RV had visitors: Missy and Rick, a high-energy, interesting couple from eastern PA.  They arrived in Willoughby yesterday around 4:00pm. Mike and I picked them up about 6:00pm at the Marriott Courtyard and took them to dinner.

Over drinks at Lure Bistro in downtown Willoughby, Missy and Rick told us they are “retiring” and planning to buy a Class B motor home so they can realize their travel dreams. Although she is in her 40s and he is in his early 50s, Rick has sold his small manufacturing business. They are also selling their home, with plans to set out in a Sprinter RV with their two dogs, explore the country, and eventually choose a new place to live.

Missy and Rick have worked hard since their early teens. They have had all kinds of jobs. For example, at one point when they needed a break from their norm, they moved to Aspen for a few months, where Rick ran the ski lift (one of his dreams) and Missy waitressed and did manicures while they remotely managed to remodel a local (eastern Pennsylvania) restaurant. He kept getting promoted and had to turn down running the operation and move back home when the restaurant was ready to open.

They have great taste and love remodeling old buildings and making them into new businesses, according to their own exacting standards. They really enjoyed Lure Bistro, once a taxi dispatch office, now a thriving, hip eatery featuring sushi and martinis. Missy took pictures of the menu and all the food and drinks as they came out.

The next morning Mike took them to the Advanced RV shop to see the Ocean One as it nears completion. Missy loved the interior design, especially the custom, bamboo-finish cabinets,  including a wine cabinet. Rick and Missy liked the heated leather seats and that they can be positioned to face in any direction. Because of their dogs, they liked the charcoal colored seats and couch and the extended length chassis. They don’t plan to camp per-se, but rather “dry camp” in cities where they happen to be, so they appreciated the four lithium batteries and large inverter and air conditioner. They also appreciated the HushMat and other noise and thermal insulation that make the Advanced RV extremely quiet and comfortable.

Mike and I had a great time getting to know Missy and Rick and look forward to future get-togethers. 

Shawshank Redemption (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 3)

We leave the Berkshire Lake Campground, north of Columbus, at about 8am and head north on I-71 to Bellville, just south of Mansfield, where there is a beautiful bike trail. 

At the parking lot, we meet a biker finishing his ride who tells us to go south and back to experience the most scenic part of the trail. He also tells us the best route to Malabar Farm where we want to have lunch, and about the Shawshank Trail.  The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed around here and now there is a self-guided tour of the sites, including the prison (the former Mansfield State Reformatory) and the road and tree where “Red” found the money Andy left him. 

We ride about 10 miles along a shady trail through farm country and at the turn back point, stop at an Amish farmer’s produce stand and buy tomatoes and banana peppers that fit into our packs. When we return to the RV, on the windshield is a plastic bag holding a Mansfield area map, flyers on the Shawshank Trail and Malabar farms, and hand-written directions from our friend on the bike! 

We have a fabulous lunch of farm fresh food prepared in country French style at Malabar Farms Restaurant, out on the porch. I love this area with its rolling hills, fields of corn and gardens of lilies and vegetables. We are home by mid-afternoon.

Relaxed and Rushed (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 2)

After Mike takes a long run, we “break camp”– just pull the electrical plug – and head to Black-Hand Gorge Nature Preserve just east of Newark, which we read on a biking website has a 4.2 mile bike trail through a stunning gorge.  We eat lunch at the trailhead, sharing a picnic table with a woman and her 10-year-old daughter who bike this trail often. Because the website warned about rough pavement we decide to walk instead of bike. It is a hot day, but the shaded trail follows the Licking River, which cut the gorge.  A huge outcropping of black rock forms the “Black Hand.”  At the turnaround point a group of young guys set out to tube the river. Faced with walking back the 4-plus miles in the heat with little water left, and seeing that the pavement isn’t that bad, I wish we had ridden our bikes. But we enjoy the view from the Quarry Rim Trail and make it back.

Mike goes into the camper to get his soap so we can wash poison ivy off our legs, but he quickly comes back out, saying we have to go back to Salt Fork.  He hung his wet running clothes on the picnic table at the campsite and then put his toiletry bag there, too, so he wouldn’t forget them. We left it all. It is 3:00pm, the drive back to Salt Fork is 80 miles, and we have dinner plans in Columbus for 6:00om. While Mike drives, I call Salt Fork and the woman at the office kindly offers to go see if the things are still at the campsite.  When I call back 20 minutes later, she says she is holding it all for us at the office. We grab the stuff, get our friends to change the reservation to 6:30pm, and fly to Columbus.

We make it to “M”, one of Columbus’s finest restaurants, just in time to wash our faces and throw “dress-up” clothes over our hot, sweaty bodies.  The valet lets us park the RV ourselves on the circle in front. As Mike gives him the keys, he jokes that the valet could take a nap in the RV while we eat dinner. 

Salt Fork State Park (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 1)

We leave home at 9:30am in our RV, heading to Pittsburgh to have lunch with an old friend and visit a cousin who has been ill.  From there we loop back into Ohio on Rt. 70 and camp at Salt Fork State Park, Ohio’s largest state park, set in rolling woodlands and meadows bordering Salt Fork Reservoir. The campground is huge and well maintained, with excellent bathroom facilities. We camp next to a group of nurses from Akron, out for a long weekend of camping with their families. Pop-up campers and tents and kids on bikes are everywhere. This is old-fashioned family camping, with few RVs. It is a quiet night. 

Homeward Bound (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 6)

After an early morning appointment to look at window shades for RVs, we head toward Cleveland.  I drive while Mike catches up on e-mails and makes phone calls.  We stop in Toledo to see Mike’s 96-year-old uncle who just moved into assisted living. We have lunch with a cousin and his wife.  Then, we push on, arriving back at the office in Willoughby around 4:00pm.

This trip was a lot of driving, but we made some good business contacts, caught up with friends and family, and discovered more of this big, wonderful country.

Whistling Gophers (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 5)

This is a heavy driving day. I drive the first leg, while Mike works on his computer and makes phone calls. We enjoy Sirius Radio news, political and music stations. For lunch, we stop at a travel plaza and get iced tea and cookies to supplement our sandwiches in the RV.

We keep on to Elkhart, Indiana, where we have a beer with a young salesman from the company that is molding some plastic parts for Advanced RV’s motor homes. He told us that he understands the appeal of designing and manufacturing motor homes; as a kid, he loved making forts and designing spots for all his favorite things. Who doesn’t love making forts? He also told us about a friend of his in RV sales. After a recent RV show, he asked the guy, “Did you sell any RVs? He said, ‘No, just a bunch of whistling gophers. They ask What does this go-for? When you tell them, they just whistle.’”

After the beer, Mike and I stay on to have a light dinner. We camp at the Elkhart Campground, a burned-out flat grassland that’s nothing much to speak of. But, it is five minutes from our 7:15am appointment the next morning. It’s still 100 degree this evening, so we make a quick walk around the campground to see all the RVs before retreating to our motor home with the air conditioner blasting.

Mississippi Headwaters (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 4)

We start the day with a yoga class led by our friend at the local fitness club, before breakfast at the downtown artisan bakery, Dakota Harvest Bakers. We decide to take Route 2 East across Minnesota to go see the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca State Park. 

The park has a welcoming stone visitor center, with a wooded path down to the lake where a tumbling, clear 15-foot-wide brook flows out of the lake to create a small stream flowing North, before it turns South building to become the great Mississippi.  We take our turn with a bunch of kids, walking across a log at the headwaters. 

Then, we drive the 17-mile Wilderness Drive and Bike Route around the park, stopping to examine a giant 300+ year old white pine, 112’ tall and 178” in circumference. Next time we stop here, we’ll bike the route instead of driving it.

Continuing on Route 2 East across Minnesota, we descend toward Duluth, enjoying stunning views of the blue waters of Duluth Harbor and Lake Superior. From there, we take Route 53 South to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and then I-94 for about 30 miles to the KOA at Hixton. This is a peaceful campground with large pines and beautiful gardens and landscaping.  In the bathroom, there are vases of fresh daisies and Black-Eyed Susan. At our site’s picnic table, we eat salad and the leftovers from last night, and work on our computers, connected by Wi-Fi, until almost dark.

Mixing Business and Pleasure (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 3)

In the camp restroom this morning, I chat with a woman who is traveling with her husband in their motor home. They are going to Alaska this summer, but have to be back home to Canada (across the lake from Sandusky, Ohio) in August for the tomato harvest; the husband hauls tomatoes for a living.

We push on to Moorhead, Minnesota, where Mike meets with customers, and then to Crookston, Minnesota where we stop for sandwiches in a city park. While Mike meets with more customers, I hang out in the motor home, catching up on e-mails and my journal. It’s 90 degrees out, but there’s a breeze and I am comfortable with the camper windows down.

Late in the afternoon, we meet friends in Grand Forks, North Dakota at their new home, built on a lot where the former house was destroyed in the Red River flood of 1997. Their new house faces a dike about 50 feet high, with a running path and the river on the other side. We go out to dinner with them in downtown Grand Forks and settle in for the night at nearby Grand Forks Campground.

Lake Wobegon Trail (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 2)

Today we push on across Wisconsin into Minnesota, through lush farmland under perfect driving conditions: 70 degrees, blue skies, and a good road (I-94). For lunch, we find a good rest stop with a shaded picnic table.

Marcia leading the way on a
Minnesota Rails to Trail bike ride

Just west of St. Cloud, at Avon, we pull off to bike a piece of the Lake Wobegon Trail, a rails-to-trails biking and walking trail.  At the trailhead, we meet a couple on recumbent bikes, who recommend we drive to Holdingford, about 10 miles North (where there is a covered bridge) and pedal about 7 miles to Bowlus for dinner at Jordie’s Trail Side Café. 

We take the couple’s advice and drive to Holdingford. Late on this perfect summer day, we ride through forests, wetlands and farmland on well-graded asphalt and over wooden bridges.  At Jordie’s, in a former hotel across from the train station, we eat good barbequed ribs, sitting at a wooden glider with a table and canopy, set in the owner’s garden.

It is after 9:00pm but still light when we pull into Prairie Cove Campground in Ashby, Minnesota, halfway between Minneapolis and Fargo on Route 94.  The campground, on a rise overlooking two lakes and a cornfield, is clean and well-maintained, but only half full.  Sadly, the couple who owns it expect this might be their last year in business.

Running Away (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 1)

At 8:15 am, Mike and I set out from our home in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, for a “running away” trip in our 2009 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Class B motor home. We are heading to Grand Forks, North Dakota—1,100 miles away.

Running away in our camper is a chance to simplify. Before getting underway, I packed a few rugged, comfortable clothes that don’t show road or camping grime, stowed in nylon sacks tucked into the upper rear cabinets. For his clothes, Mike prefers hard, rectangular bins that just fit in the cabinets. Jackets and better shirts for “dressing up,” if we must, easily hang in the closet.

For food, I picked lettuce and snap peas from our garden, hard-boiled some eggs, cooked some bacon, and roast beets for salads. Yesterday, at the West Side Market, we bought cheeses and Mexican roasted pork loin for salad toppers and sandwiches. I also made a barley, mushroom and greens stew with produce from our CSA farm share. All of this fits easily into our RV’s large fridge and freezer.

We also brought our bikes, packed behind the couch inside the motor home; we’re hoping to have time in Minnesota to try more of the bike trails we enjoyed there last year.

Once underway, we start figuring out how far we might get this first day. We call old friends in Milwaukee, and they invite us to stop for dinner. Now we have a destination to happily anticipate. Mike does most of the driving, as he usually does, but I drive for two hours while he catches up on emails.  Our friends in Milwaukee, we learn, are moving to a family cabin on a lake north of Montreal. They are considering getting a motor home, thinking it will be the perfect way to travel in their new life.

After dinner in Milwaukee, we push on for a few hours, ending up at a KOA campground in De Forest, Wisconsin, just East of Madison. We usually don’t stay at KOAs, preferring less-developed campgrounds, but this one is right off the highway. It is also clean, well-maintained, and the staff is friendly. We walk around the campground, nod at people sitting around their large RVs, and laugh about how small our motor home looks in comparison. Families with kids are gathered around campfires or catching the last few minutes of daylight on the playground.