Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

July Wanderings
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We left Malta, MT and were back on US 2 in no time. This is really an interesting route. It crossed the continental US and has very little traffic! The road is not bad - sometimes down to two lanes, but much of the time it is wider, and the fact that there's not much traffic makes it a delightful route. It doesn't have the flat expanse of an Interstate, nor the fuel stations like Flying J or Pilot, but we purchased fuel in Seattle and won't refill again until we reach Minnesota.

We've passed any number of "historical markers" - especially as we traverse the state of Montana, but many are too small a space for us to pull our 40' home through to learn about the significance of the area. One such spot was situated in a larger pullover, and we learned about the plight of the Indians in this area ... probably a recurring situation for them as the "civilized" people moved onto their lands.

One thing we do miss as we ride through the northern part of North Dakota, are the nice rest stops we enjoyed in Washington, Idaho and Montana. They all seem to be on the left side of the road, and just one rest stop for east bound traffic as well as for west bound traffic (and long gone are the welcoming teams in Washington State with their coffee and cookies.)

When we reached Minot, ND we decided to call it a day. This is a nice part of the state, and we were in need of supplies. We felt lucky that the town boasted of many large chain stores, and we drove into the town and filled our larders! The campground here is a very nice place - it's called "Rough Rider RV Park and Campground" and is afforded us a good place to spend the night.

We passed many fields of yellow since we began our trip, but today we saw so many fields of yellow, that we wonder if it might be mustard? Tucked in and among the green hills surrounding it, the colors are brilliant.

We passed a number of oil diggers - at least we think they are places where they are doing the drilling.

We haven't seen any oil wells yet.

By afternoon we reached Grand Forks - right on the border, and found a nice campground.

Grand Forks Campground

We experienced our first rain in the evening - it rained fairly hard for a while then stopped. We feel pretty lucky to have had no rain all across the country so far!

The "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign made us feel as though we were nearing our destination! We recall the many outstanding rest stops we've visited in this state, and today's stop was not a disappointment.

Above the beautiful potted plants was this little "welcome flag" that we thought was rather cute.

We also noticed that this state appears serious about recycling. (We haven't noticed these kinds of receptacles in other parks we've visited.)

The drive across Wisconsin and in to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was a pleasant one - lots of green, rolling hills. But the weather we experienced last night seems to have followed us, and we've had a good deal of rain during today's travels.

This was the 4th of July and one little town through which we passed was holding their 4th of July parade on the street just parallel with Us 2. Lucky us, we were able to by-pass the celebration. However, in the next city we were not so lucky, and had to "detour" around the parade that was going right down US2. Our rig is too long to just "pull off the road" when there are no large pullouts, so we continued on the "detour" with out signs. We drove along and eventually took a right and hoped we might run into US 2. The streets were not that wide, and we imagined having to stop and unhook and search for our route. However, luck was with us, and we did eventually reach US 2 and no more parades!

Eventually we reached Route 95 that took us up through Channing and to our spot for the next few weeks - Silver Lake RV Park.

The place was packed when we arrived, and we were grateful that we had reservations. It was the only space open, and faces the lake. It's a nice little park with some seasonal campers. We have only 30-amp service, so we will have to be careful on our use of electric power. We were able to get the rig in the right position to get satellite service (dish up!)

We've had rain here, too - but hope it will end soon. It's times like these that make us grateful to have a motor home and not any of the many tents we've used over the years!

This means we can enjoy following the Tour de France each day! We missed only one day's coverage so far. It is the one TV coverage we look forward to enjoying every July.

Paul called Michelle to let her know we had arrived, and was surprised to learn that the Winchesters and friends were at the Lake House for the holiday. The following day (Monday, July 5th) Michelle and Graham drove over to our campground and saw the rig then we all drive back to Lake Lotto where we met Michelle and Slade's friends and had a chance to see our other grandkids; Cody, Sebastian and Zane. We had such a nice time meeting everyone and bidding they goodbye when they finished packing their things and took off for "home". Soon the Winchester family was packed and ready to head for Minneapolis, so we said goodbye to them and promised to join them in Minneapolis in a day or two. We drove back to camp (more rain) and spent a quiet evening (watching recaps of the Tour).

A call to a childhood friend of Kathleen's proved unsuccessful, but we'll be back up here later in the month, and we hope to connect then.

Tomorrow we will be packed and on our way to Minneapolis. We will leave "ATK" here in the park and return on the 18th of July. There are next to no parks close enough to Minneapolis for us, and this will be a good place to use as home base once the other Smiths arrive on the scene.

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