10 facts about South Dakota

10 facts you didn't know about South Dakota
1. People eat a lot of beef jerky and brats
2. Hay bails are placed along the roadside. I don't know if they are dropped off or waiting to be picked up
3. Native Americans are from various Sioux tribes
4. The Black Hills were called "black" by
The Native Americans who thought that the tree covered hills looked black from a distance
5. The badlands are weathered sandstone hills and canyons
6. Custer State Park has the largest buffalo herd
7. The cowboy city, Deadwood, is located in SD
8. There aren't very many blacks or Jews in the state. There are only @ 10,000 blacks (which make up less than 2% of the population and 345 Jews. This is down from 1,900 in 1899.
9. It is the home of Mt. Rushmore
10. Stephen and Lynne will get their SD drivers license on Tuesday! and become residents of this state. I'll be number 346!!!

Taken at a museum in Webster, SD, depicting life in SD at the turn of the 20th century

Old school house

Jail

Gas Pump

Stephen about to go to jail 

Views from North Dakota

Finally, beautiful weather after 2 weeks. We are @15 miles outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota, I was thrilled to go into town and get my first manicure and pedicure since we've been on the road!  We are camping in a lovely and spacious site for 3 days. The countryside has gotten flatter and there are fewer trees. When driving we see fields of corn, barley, and sunflowers; the American heartland. I spoke to a woman today while I was getting my nails done. She told me that last year wasn't a bad winter; they only had several days at 30 degrees below zero. Needless to say, I've ruled this city out as my future home!

Baudette/Lake of Woods, MN

It is eerily quiet here. There must be at least 75 to 100 RVs at this resort, but not a sound. I think that many of them are seasonal and leave after the weekend to return home. NO sounds from crickets since Michigan. This is a shame since I found it particularly soothing. I'm going to try to see the northern lights once it gets dark.

The grass is full of spotted frogs and lizards. It is disconcerting to see the ground move underneath you.

People  here eat a lot of fruit pies of various varieties. I had blueberry peach tonight and blackberry apple a couple days ago. Eating my way through MN is not helping me lose or even maintain my weight!

photos from MN

wolves from wolf center

zuni looking out of car

Grounds at Glensheen. Lake Superior in background

Cook, MN

We arrived in Cook after a week near Duluth, MN. Cook is way out in the "boonies" on the border of boundary waters, an area in northern MN which has thousands of lakes and nothing else. No one lives in the boundary waters and there are no roads. It is a wilderness where individuals can go on canoe expeditions.

We plan to stay here for 2 days and then drive up past International Falls to a locations in NW MN which is the farthest north you can go in the US.

The weather for the past week has been cloudy, rainy, and cool. It is hard to believe that it is August 22.  Average temps have been in the 60's, but feels cooler.

While camping near Duluth we spent 3 days with Barb and Mike Lhotka. Barb and I met 3 1/2 years ago when Salus created a cohort of students from MN. Barb and Mike have a camper and joined us on our adventures up north. They took us to a historic home, Glensheen, built in Duluth in 1908 by an iron magnate. One day we drove to Ely, MN to a wolf conservation center and shopped in several outfitter stores for people who go into the boundary waters. Yesterday we drove to Grand Marais. In each city we ate pies (apparently that is very popular up here). While I hoped to lose weight on this trip I have, so far, done the opposite. Eating all those pies doesn't help!

Two Harbor/Duluth, MN

It has been a very cold and windy few days. After it rained in Michigan the over night temp dropped to 42 degrees with a daytime high of 56. That was the day we bundled ourselves up and took a boat ride on Lake Superior to see Pictured Rock National Lakeshore. Pictured Rocks is several miles of lakeshore where the limestone cliffs have been carved by erosion and colored by minerals leaching from above. It was all very pretty and it even warmed up as the sun came out while we were on the boat.

Following Michigan we spent one night in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin and finally arrived outside Duluth. We will be here for one week. On Tuesday, our friend, the Lhotkas, will join us in there camper. Yesterday we drove into Duluth to run some errands. I felt like I was back in civilization! We had a good grocery store, a drug store, and even a best buy.  We had to replace the 32 inch flat screen TV that came with the trailer because I  forgot to tie it down when we left WI and it was damaged on the trip to MN. Now we need to figure out how to make the new one work. It is windy and cold and I'm wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

My first two weeks full-timing

It has been an interesting two weeks full of self-reflection. These last 2 weeks mark a major change in my life. Philadelphia, my home for the last 24 years seems far away. It is somewhat  unsettling to know that I will not be returning to friends, a job I loved, and all things familiar. There is no longer a Fresh Fields to run to when I need fresh produce, a manicurist to see on a weekly basis or even my favorite hairdresser to color and cut my hair.

We are in the boondocks. Mackinaw City strictly exists to satisfy tourists. The only grocery store in town, the IGA, has a minuscule meat section and the produce was even worse. When I needed a drug store, I was told that the nearest one was 15 miles away. What does one do when there is an emergency in the middle of the night? There is no church, definitely no synagogue, and god knows where the nearest hospital might be. I am a spoiled big city girl and this is definitely an adjustment!

On the positive side, I have much less stress. My nights are spent watching netflix on the computer, reading, walking the dog and sitting around the campfire. I'm usually in bed by 10:00 where I read some more.  Everyday is a new adventure. Tomorrow we are taking a boat trip on Lake Superior to see the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore. If I were in Philly, I'd be sitting in my office.

It has been a hassle getting my computer to work. I have an eRDP that allows me to view my desktop at Salus as if I am sitting there. The problem is that it frequently hasn't worked. I had one melt down that lasted several hours regarding my inability to do my work. I got the dog so upset that he barked and wanted to escape from the RV...and probably me. I did manage to pull it together and the dog is much happier, as am I and my husband.

In a few days I will be near Duluth, MI. Hopefully I will find a drug store and a good supermarket. If us for a few days of camping.

Stay posted...

Arrived in Mackinaw City, MI on Wed 8/6/14. Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground right on Lake Huron. Our site is back a bit from the water but we can see the lake. We're here for 6 nights so we leave Tue 8/12/14. We took a drive on M119, 'The Tunnel of Trees' from Cross Village, MI to Harbor Springs, MI. Beautiful drive; about 25 Miles, narrow 2 lane, beautiful homes, and an occasional view of Lake Michigan. Stopped at Good Heart, MI, a 5 store hamlet. Good Heart General store with great homemade bread and pastry which we partook of and a deli that we did not. Hey, it's vacation. It is a great drive for motorcycles and bikes, both of which we saw many. Told cousin Dean about it because his group will be up here next week on there motercycle trip. Yesterday took the ferry to Mackinaw Island for the day. The ferry was Star Lines and was a hydro-jet and took about 1/2 hr. We took Zuni with us everything there is pet friendly. Her first time on a boat but she was really good.  We took a horse drawn carriage tour with Clydesdales pulling. Again Zuni was great except a few barks at some of the horses. Not sure if she was afraid of them or wanting to heard them. Iit was a great day. Today and tomorrow we relax and Monday we head up to Sault Sainte Marie. Lynne has to put pictures up because I can't do it from my iPad. Later

Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island

After 4 days on the far reaches of the "mitt" of Michigan I have learned that their is a Mackinaw city and a Mackinac Island. Both are pronounced Mack-i-na with the last letter silent. It appears that back before the days of the zipcode, the two places had to distinguish themselves for the postal service. Hence, Mackinaw City (on the mainland) added a w and dropped the c.

The weather has been beautiful here. Sunny and in the 70s in the day and cool and in the 50s at night. Mackinac Island is reached by ferry. It is quite a tourist attraction; 4 miles long and 3.8 miles wide. Since the late 1800s no motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. All transportation is by bicycle, horse or horse drawn wagon. There are several blocks of tourist shops, 17 fudge shops and 18 bars. There is also a lovely park, a huge hotel called the Grand with the largest porch in the world (built in 93 days @100 years ago, and some beautiful Victorian homes decorated by the most gorgeous flowers. Apparently the horses produce a lot, and I mean a lot, of manure. When turned into compost it fertilizes the flowers. Mackinac receives about 100 feet of snow a winter. Those 500 year-round residents tough it out and cross to the mainland on an ice bridge that forms in the winter. You will see from the attached photos that Zuni went with us to Mackinac. We took a carriage ride, bought some fudge, and basically acted like tourists.

In addition to Mackinac, we drove on a beautiful, windy road along lake Michigan called the Tunnel of Trees. Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron at Mackinaw City. The camping resort that we are staying at is right on Lake Huron. There is a 5 mile bridge that connects the upper peninsula of MI with the lower. People who live in the Upper call themselves "uppers." We drove about 1 hour today on the UP to see Sault St. Marie, the location of locks that connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Not too interesting and a really depressed city.

People around here eat lots of whitefish, both fried and smoked, and something called pasties. A pastie is a little hand-held pie containing meat, vegetables, or apples. The only time I had one was in New Zealand.

One more day here and we head back to the UP. We are enjoying ourselves except for some anxiety attacks that hit Zuni several times a day. When this occurs she jumps on the bed and starts digging. She usually does this when we raise our voices, say a swear word, or when she hears a sound she doesn't like. I am not motivated to do my Salus work, but really need to apply myself tonight.

Zuni on carriage ride

locks at Sault St Marie

beautiful home on Mackinac

Arch rock on Mackinac Island

Campground with Lake Huron

view through arch rock

We head for new territory tomorrow. Cleveland, OH to Otisville, MI. Up to this date all has been very familiar. Now it feels like we're really on a new journey. Exciting!  We have some big plans in the coming months. Stay tuned for more. We've had a great time here in Cleveland staying with Lynne's cousin Faith and her hubby Dean. A good chance to see family and say goodby for a while. Great ribs at 'Blazing Bill's' and pizza at Geraci's.

We are staying in Otisville, MI tonight on our way to Mackinaw Island and the Upper Peninsula. We arrived to find one bottle of wine broken with stains on the carpet and the window shade. Anyone know any great solutions to remove red wine stains?

We had a great weekend in Cleveland staying with cousins, Dean and Faith Eisenberg. We spent one evening with my niece, Heidi Feuerman, her husband, Rick and daugher, Ilana and as an added bonus, ate dinner with old friends, Lamar and Carol Veatch from Atlanta.

We finally left Philadelphia today after a very long month of living in the trailer in a trailer park outside of Philly and saying goodbye to friends. We will miss so many people and familiar locations, shops, bakeries, restaurants, etc. , but it is time to go.

If I did not mention, this blog is named after our RV, The Presidential Suite. It is a 39 foot fifth wheel, which is pulled by a pick-up truck. We have all the conveniences of home, just in a much smaller space. We have a separate bathroom and bedroom with a king sized bed, a washer and dryer, a convection micro-wave, Corian counter tops, a living room and dining room and even a refrigerator with water in the door and an electric fireplace!

We are in Bedford, PA this evening at the Friendship Village Campground. We leave for Cleveland in the morning to visit friends and family over the weekend and then we are off to Michigan.