Barn Quilts and Country Roads

Tuesday, Oct 23 The country around Lexington and Nicholasville is beautiful with rolling grass covered hills divided into pastures and fields by rock walls and wooden fences.  A mixture of old and new homes, some which are graceful and grand and some more simple dot the countryside along with old tobacco barns.  A maze of windy narrow roads provide access and dip and turn with the terrain, keeping drivers inexperienced with such roads from enjoying the scenery.

Today, Ruth took us a a drive and we enjoyed the fall colors of oaks and maples and a variety of smaller vegetation all dressed in fall colors.  John and Ruth have talked about finding a house they could buy in the country so part of today's expedition was to show us some of the homes in the area that appealed to them.  

I was fascinated with the barn quilts that decorate the barns. Barn quilts similar in design to quilts but are painted on large wooden signboard and hung under the peak of the roof above the barn door.  

First Paid Campground

Sunday, Oct 21, 2012  Got on the Road around 8 am this morning and traveled to Princeton, Illinois, Jim's birth place.  We parked the motorhome and tried to find Beryl and Dorothy's graves but I couldn't remember the name of the cemetery.  Because it was Sunday and we didn't have much times and had to abandon the quest and move on.  Stopped for the night at a KOA in Crawfordville, Indiana.  This was our first paid campsite.

Crowfordville, IN KOA

Monday, Oct 22 2012 In the morning we took Highway 231 south to avoid Indianapolis  and then Hwy 231 through  Bloomington  and picked up I-65 heading south.  The good news today is we found a Break-buddy around Scottsburg.  The guy gave us good directions and I got a cash discount and paid $250 instead of $300.  The bad news I drove the motorhome down his street which had a cul-de-sac at the end.  I had to unhitch the car and have Sunni move it out of the way while I turned the Motorhome around.

I-65 goes right across the river to Louisville and we both though that was going to be trouble but it turned one to be a low traffic day.  We caught the 64 over to Lexington and and the 27 into Nicholasville.  Had some problems getting into the apartment complex where John and Ruth are but all was fine.  We were talking to them on the phone trying to find the turn.  Ruth said, "I can see you! I can see you."  Turn left at the light."  It seemed to work much better than the GPS which wanted us to make a U-turn.

We took the motorhome out to Camp Nelson RV park on the Kentucky River about 7 miles south of Nicholasville.  It was down in a canyon which lack sunlight but other than than and being far from our kids it was okay. Paid for four weeks.  Most RV Parks close during the winter back here which seems kind of odd because the weather isn't any worse than Spokane where there are RV parks open all year round.

Our First Walmart

Saturday Oct 20  This evening I am thinking that we are real RV'ers now because we are staying in our first Walmart!  And, as I am sure they expected, bought groceries there and had some breakfast there in the morning,  Also, we did ask.  They told us to pull over to the left side of their parking lot and it would be okay.

Walmart, Clinton, IA

While we are traveling, we are looking for a used Break Buddy to put in the Jeep.  Although I don't think it matter one way or the other if we got into an accident, I understand the insurance companies would frown on it, maybe not pay or protect us from a lawsuit.  So, Sunni has been looking at and calling Craig's list as we travel through towns.  No luck as of yet.

We missed an opportunity earlier in the day.  We called someone who was trying to sell his Blue Ox, a similar device, while driving into Cedar Rapids, but he didn't call until we were 75 miles past the city.  I didn't want to turn around and told him our predicament.  We'll keep looking, I'm sure someone has one for sale up ahead.

Iowa Prairie

Friday Oct 19, 2012  Pulled into Beresford, South Dakota the next afternoon and went through town looking for a place to stay, hoping for a small park but didn't find any so we stopped at Emily's Cafe on the way out of town for Diner, thinking it would be another long and noisy night at a truck stop or rest stop.  We pared our rig in a large vacant lot next door and upon leaving we had the good sense to ask if it would be okay to stay the night next door.  They told us people do it all the time so, happily we didn't have any late travels.  So far this trip has cost us nothing for RV accommodations for the night, but there are some drawbacks.  No hookups.  For travel this is okay but when we get somewhere to stay awhile, we'll need our creature comforts.  And since Sunni is writing, we will need internet as well.  Pretty spoiled pair, don't 'cha think?

Beresford, South Dakota

Windy City

Sunday, Oct 14  Got into Rapid City about 3:00 pm in the afternoon.  We had already talked with Dave who said we could stay in the parking area above nephew David's flee market.  We spent four nights in Rapid City.  The plan was to travel with Dave and Joan for a day or two.  They were heading back down to Texas with their fifth-wheel.  Joan was going to work for her brother's real estate company for the winter.

Wind was absolutely non-stop and the awning over the forward slide-out on the motorhome was making a lot of noise, so after the first night we decided to pull the slide in.  Second night awning was still billowing so the next morning I tied wire around to hold it in place.  The third night, winds still blowing strong with gust up to 45mph at times but the awning seemed to be okay.

We left Rapid City on Thursday with Dave and Joan but our awning wiring-job broke and it was billowing out in the wind as we left town.  Turning back, we stayed at the new Cabbalas that night.  Dave and Joan continued on their way.  The next day we found an RV repair facility that had a replacement armt.  I paid for the part but they wouldn't take anything for installing it because it only took 5 minutes to install. They said, if I wanted to,  I could put some money in their party fund.  That I did and we were on our way with a repaired awning.

The Journey Begun

October 11, 2012  We left Newport at 11:00 am this morning.  Not exactly an early start but early enough.  We plan to be gone until spring.  Love our newly purchased 2005 motorhome and can't wait to begin life on the road. Our first destination will be Rapid City, South Dakota where we will spend some time with Dave and Joan, nephew Dave and grandniece Hannah.

Motorhome ready to go!

Our first night we spent in a rest area along I-90 in western Montana.  Wasn't great because trucks were pulling in and leaving all night, but it was free.

October 12, 2012  Got an early start and were excited to get back on the road.  It's a wonderful thing not to have to shut down and lock up the trailer to move forward for the day to the truck as we did each day of travel this past summer on our trip to Alaska.  All I had to do was pull in the bedroom slide and start the coach.  We were on our way.

Put in a very long day, stopped at the little town of Boadus, Montana on Hwy 212.  Well after dark, I stopped and asked at a service station if there was anyplace to spend the night in town.  He said there was a city park a couple of blocks ahead of us.  No one would mind if we pulled along the curb and spend the night.  Didn't want to put the jacks down so we got as level as possible and spend the night.   There should be a book of places to stay for free for RV's but I'm sure letting the cat out of the bag so to speak could ruin those stopped for you if too many RV'ers started coming.

Travels of Jim & Sunni

Montana Rockies in October

I think it's time to start a new blog.  Not that I intend to quit my other blogs because I really enjoy writing Walter Chatters and Jay-Jay Says.  But I want to write a blog with Sunni about our travels together as we journey around the country and as we continue our journey through life.

I don't know if anyone but us really cares. but that's okay - we do!  And so we will keep a log of the impressions we have of people we meet, places we see and thought we have as we travel along in this great adventure.

                                                                                                       So, we hope you, family and friends, will follow us and share your thought with us.