St Paul, MN

Retail store selling stone sculptures and grave monuments named “Birdbath and Beyond”

This was the beginning of Boots’ 3-day birthday celebration. What with traveling and searches for the best restaurant we have expanded our B-Day celebrations to 3 days. Any excuse for a good meal. We took Karma to the Mississippi river. Since this is the head waters it is little more than a creek.

Karma, as is her usual, walked as far out as she could before swimming to the ball. There was no current to speak of. We expected it to be no more than 6 feet in the center. There was a paddle boat ride on the river and through the lock to the upper shores. The surrounding off-leash dog park was very woodsy and well populated by dogs of all sizes and breeds. We did see more black dogs that we had experienced in other parks in our travels. Black dogs are marked as being “scary” and are very hard to adopt out from the various shelters. I guess Minneapolis / St Paul haven’t heard that yet. That goodness!

St Paul, MN

OK, we are here for 2 weeks; finally, a stopping point. We have come to the conclusion that we may have traveled too far and too quickly this first year of our adventure. By the time we get back to California for the winter we will have touched 38 states. Some were literally “touched” (as little as 10 miles of Maryland) and others we toured quite a bit (California for 5 months, Arizona for 3 months). So next Spring, we will slow the touring down a bit. We have all winter in San Diego to put the plans together.

Gresham, WI

After 2 nights at the Island Resort we had a little money left for a second casino – North Star Mohican. This is a brand new facility and RV park grounds – opened January 2009. One advantage to the casino parking facilities is the possibility of buffet dining. Unfortunately, neither of these had that option.

Generally when we are headed towards a new location, we utilize Good Sam, Google, MapQuest, and our truck’s GPS maps to determine the best approach based on time, mileage, sights to seen between points, etc. Approaching this particular casino, we saw signs indicating that our main approach road was closed to through traffic. So, trying to figure out if that meant us, we called the casino reservation desk. We were told “no problem, go into town and turn left at the purple sign.”

Off we go, 45 feet overall length pulling our 5th wheel home behind us. We enter Grisham and see more indicators that this was probably not the best approach (or idea for that matter). We follow the casino and all maps directions and plow through roads under construction until it is clear this was a BIG mistake. Luckily, there was a road worker with a good sense of humor and directions. So, we circled the small town hoping to get back out of town without traversing the construction again. Well, that didn’t happen and we had to go the wrong way down the fresh dirt bumpy roadway to the outskirts of town.

We again put the casino address in our GPS and retract our steps. Eventually, we find our way to the RV park. On the way, we cross just beyond the construction we had intersected with back in Grisham. There is NO WAY we could have traversed those roads being worked on – clearly the casino clerk has never travel South of the casino.

Harris, MI

A great RV Park at a casino. There’s a shuttle to take us back and forth to leave our money at the casino. We’ve done casino parks before but this is the best so far. A real park with paved pads, grassy lawns with fire pits and picnic tables and best of all large mature trees for some sun relief. The showers are very clean and roomy.

In our travels these past few months, we have crossed various time zone boundaries – West to East and now East to West. This is the first time we have stopped/camped on the line between time zones. Our phones would flip back and forth between time zones. We finally had to depend upon our analog clock in the living room. We were sure it was on Eastern time.

Nephew, Allen and Abby had a daughter Sophia Emma Koch today - Our Great Niece.

Petoskey, MI

We have to leave this wonderful lake-side campground for points North and West. When Karma finally figures out we aren’t going to the beach every morning she’s going to be very disappointed. She has even improved her swimming and added body surfing to her repertoire. When Ruthi gets the ball out far enough for Karma to swim out beyond the breaking waves, Karma rides them back to shore. Well, not exactly but close enough for a dog.

We were testing our “dry camping” capabilities here because they don’t have sewer hook ups. Our city campground in Madison, Wisconsin won’t have sewer either. It might not even have water or electricity – we can’t remember. The challenge for us is the showers; we like to use a lot of water. For electricity we have the solar panels. If the power doesn’t last far enough into the evening hours (not happened yet), we can always just go to bed. Luckily, most camps have bathrooms and shower facilities if they don’t have complete hookups (water, electricity, and sewer).

We crossed a bridge between Lakes Michigan and Huron onto the Upper Peninsula. We saw our 3rd Recovery “at work” sign along some highway repair work. Like Alaska, summer on the roads has been full of delays and detours due to improving the roads. In the midst of one construction area, a deer crossed the roadway, road crews and on coming traffic in various leaps and bounds to the safety of the forest on the side of the road.

Petoskey, MI

This is a great city/county park - right on the bay off Lake Michigan. The spaces are wide and long with satellite access. Our Verizon coverage (phone and internet) is not the best but at least it works somewhat. We got a back-in and Boots did the honors this time. It worked very well. While we can’t back up to a precise position we have been able to put the RV into the selected sites. This time we had neighbors 2 spaces up that were very entertained.

Karma still loves the access to water and has been in every time she has to go do her duty. So much for the bath on Monday! The section of beach that she and Ruthi use has flat “skipper” rocks and then large flat platforms of rock that go out about 20 yards from the beach. The water seems to be shallow 10-30 inches out quite a ways into the bay. Karma is careful not to step off into a “swim only” section.

Birch Run, MI

The good citizens of Michigan have certainly done their part to keep GM, Ford, and Chrysler fluid. The roads are full of newer autos. We didn’t see even a few old wrecks or many foreign models in our travels to this beautiful site.

The RV park owners/hosts were very customer focused and even came back to our site to ensure we were able to get sky access for the satellite. The part was very woodsy with small patches of sky. We got a site with shade for the rig and sky for the dish.

A billboard offering assistance to those with credit problems has this web site poopycredit.com.

We visited with Ruthi’s sorority sister, Pattie Wilson and her partner (Laurie Dexter) and the 3 dogs and 2 cats. Great times were had by all! Except for Karma, who was off to the groomers for a much needed bath.

Newton Falls, OH

Stopped for diesel and the vehicle next to us had this sticker on the window “If you ain’t a Stiller Fan, You are shit.” So, having seen the same sticker on a lot of cars, I asked her what it meant. Newton Falls is very close to the Pennsylvania border. She said “Stiller” was “Steelers” in an Ohio accent. I didn’t even know Ohio had a notable accent!

Today, we passed a town square with quite a few people gathered. The primary sign was “Enough Already”. One attendee had a t-shirt that read “@%$# the IRS.” Internet research identified it as a “Peacefull Tea Party” with a medium size crowd (all ages). They wanted people to know that the American taxpayers and unemployed are not going to take it any more.

We’ve noticed a lot of closed shops in Malls and on Main streets across America. Phoenix was especially bad. Once we got to the NorthEast it got pretty bad, too. Peekskill, NY; around St Johnsbury, VT; and here in North central Ohio have lots of closed stores and large building (manufacturing maybe) shuttered. As we have said before, all of our campgrounds have had permanent residents that appear to be in their 30’s and 40’s. (i.e., not retirement age).

Newton Falls, OH

So, Karma and Ruthi go back to the lake again this morning (10:30am). Absolutely no one is on the beach, not a kid in sight. Ruthi continues to try and put the ball out far enough for Karma to chase but close enough to shore so she can walk to get it. Opps, the ball got out too far for Karma to walk to it. So, she’s prancing around and whining wishing the ball to her. Ruthi goes to the side and makes waves with the chucker hoping to send the ball closer to Karma. The more Karma moves the more the ball drifts away from her.

Ruthi thinks this is it – we might as well go home. Karma will not give up. A female camp worker comes by and informs them that they are on the wrong side of the dog area and must move. Ruthi explains the situation and the worker stays to watch and says “OK.” She leaves and soon a male camp worker comes by with the same conversation. He watches a while and goes off to find something to help out. The camp office person comes out and again tells Ruthi she needs to go to the other side of the lake to the dog area - same conversation, again. Karma continues to try, whine and splash at the tennis ball.

Finally, she steps off into the deep and tries but her flailing about sends the ball away again. So, she circles the ball and thinks ok one more time then it’s quits. Karma walks until she has no choice but to swim and makes it to the ball and after a couple of swipes is able to get the ball in her mouth and starts back to shore. Ruthi is wondering if she’ll need to go in and rescue the dog. Karma begins flailing about again and Ruthi has figured out that Karma is now close enough to walk on her hind legs until she gets close enough to walk on all four legs so she indeed is just flailing about her front legs.

Newton Falls, OH

In the mid-West and East there are toll roads. Until yesterday and today, we had only encountered a few for short distances or bridges/tunnels. Now we were traveling hundreds of miles on these toll roads. The tolls aren’t really high but when you forget to get your Canadian money exchanged and you find out you only have a few dollars of American money and the change in the console you begin to start counting and panicking!!! We figured from the little card that we were going to owe $13.40 American at our exit. Picture this: Boots is counting the few quarters (8), the little dimes (10), fat nickels (8), and pennies to get to the total. There was no surface to lay out the coins and she kept dropping 1 or 2 after she’d already finished her count – hence the panicking part.

So, we pull up to the toll booth coins at the ready and we notice there is an “Accept Canadian money” sign. Whew, between the Canadian and American money we were able to get through the tool booth and head for the nearest ATM! Unlike when we came down through British Columbia to Washington state last year, we now had no Canadian money to try and find a bank for the exchange. Canada has 1 and 2 dollar coins (wish we did, too) which American banks will not exchange. So, we had been carrying $10 in Canadian coins around all year waiting to spend them in Montreal.

This RV Park/Camp Ground has a section of the lake reserved for dogs. So, as soon as we got here, Karma and Ruthi went to check it out. Near shore the base is mucky. Out about 2 feet or so it changes to rock and get deeper. Karma is not a swimmer yet; so Ruthi tried to throw the ball along the shore about 2-3 feet out so Karma could walk out to it. She (Karma) loves the water and spends most of the time in the water approaching the ball. After a few throws, the very wet and tired dog was ready to call it a day. Back home they came. Before Karma could go in the house she needed a good rinse and drying out. While Karma is not real thrilled about the shower approach to rinsing her, she really loves to be dried/rubbed down/combed.

Rochester, NY

From French speaking Quebec, we passed through Ontario to America into New York. The language transitioned from French to all English 1/3 of the way into Ontario. Once we got into New York we still got lost. We would like to blame it on poor signage – which there was – but mostly we weren’t looking. So, we ended up down a well-paved 2-lane road to who knows where.

We had no idea where we were headed and Gypsy, our GPS, kept saying turn right in .2 . . . in .1 . . . in .0 on street “blab blab” which wasn’t the name of the street in front of us. So, began our search of a place to turn around a 45’ rig. Not an easy task for the very experienced – imagine how hard it is for the poor beginners, us. We finally found a large gravel pad in front of someone’s house/shop (we didn’t know which as no one was there). So, Boots got out to direct the maneuver. Have we mentioned how much Karma hates for 1 of us to outside the moving truck and 1 inside; even if she can see us she’s sure someone is being left behind!

So, she’s barking, we are yelling over that, squirting her with water, and trying to back into the road before other vehicles come by. We must be getting better (and lucky there was no traffic) as it took less than 15 minutes to get back headed in the right direction. I’d say we finally have backing up in our grasp.

US Customs again - unlike Washington state’s maze of lanes in the approach to the Agent, New York was a straight on lane. The questions were a bit more through – like specifically did we have oranges or tangelos, any fire wood (a major problem across both Canada and America in the spread of diseases that devastate forests), tobacco or alcohol. So, we passed those easily enough. He got real nosy about where we had been in Canada and why. Then, where were we going in America and why. Unlike Washington state approach (check our blog back in June 2008 – 22nd or 23rd), this seemed to be a more appropriate set of questions if we are really going to keep more dangerous threatening people out of the states.

Montreal, QC, Canada

Karma and I have found very very small strawberry plants (like the Alaskan wild strawberries I used to have in the yard) at rest stops along the highway and in the RV park. She can’t seem to pick the berries, so I pull them and feed her. She loves them but then as a lab she loves everything that goes into her mouth.

We have been doing Karma’s ball chase exercise on large field besides roads or local schools with little or no fencing. After 10-15 throws, she’s tired of racing full speed as far out as she wants to wait for my throw with the chucker. We have always been practicing the “recall” behavior with her but our success rate was iffy. Especially if a cat, kid, or other dog was distracting/attracting her. But we keep practicing. Lately, after her runs I say we are ready to go and she comes over to be harassed and lead to the truck. Recently, I had left her truck door open. So, I just said go get in the truck . . . and she did!!!! Either she’s growing up or was totally exhausted/thirsty and didn’t want to fight the command.

Montreal, QC, Canada

Karma and I have found very very small strawberry plants (like the Alaskan wild strawberries I used to have in the yard) at rest stops along the highway and in the RV park. She can’t seem to pick the berries, so I pull them and feed her. She loves them but then as a lab she loves everything that goes into her mouth.

Montreal, QC, Canada

Montreal is a city customized for bikes. Their streets are very narrow but they have eliminated 1 auto lane for a 2-way bike lane. Everyone bikes – all demographics – young, old, male, female, really! There is a thing called CityBIXI which provides about 5,000 bicycles for rent and drop off at 400 stations. It was great to see most of downtown Montreal’s streets had bikers while we were there on Thursday.

Montreal, QC, Canada

We didn’t anticipate the language challenges. We are “ugly” Americans traveling in a foreign country without understanding their language. We thought so little about the language aspect that we didn’t even get to the thought “everyone will speak English”. Boots’ high school French does come in handy. Ruthi has no ear for language nuances in English let alone the French.

Ruthi has always wondered about the ESL (English as a Second Language) challenges for immigrants like her grandparents (German and Italian) and some aunts/uncles who arrived on America’s shores with little or no formal education, no understanding of English written or spoken, etc. Her mother didn’t speak English until she learned it in the course of her education starting at 1st grade at Lincoln grade school in Marseilles, IL.

So, with a sense of other languages in general (high school Latin for Ruthi and French for Boots), knowing “oui”, “non”, “arret”, “s’il vous plait”, “bon jour”, and “merci” have gotten us by. But walking through Costco today with no English signs or language around us was very isolating. Even though we really appreciate the anonymity of large cities, taking away our language is more personally isolating.

We can understand immigrants staying together with others of their common language to feel connected and a part of something bigger. At the same time, we see the need for immigrants to learn the language of the greater society to belong there. These language conflicts create large challenges for immigrants.

Montreal, QC, Canada

Again, access via Canadian customs is much more through than we had experienced getting back into the US. The Canadian custom agent asked in French and then English if we had any weapons or gifts to leave in Canada. She wanted to know if we were the only people in the rig. No one else seemed to be heading North today so we were not delayed at all.

This is really a foreign country – everything is in French (road signs “ARRET” means “STOP”). Luckily, most people are bi-lingual. We are relying on Boots’ high school French which gets us to the “Do you speak English?” phase of the conversation pretty quick. We went to a restaurant last evening. The waitress knew enough English to take our order slowly. But that was ok, because we knew enough French to go slowly, too.

Did you know “rare” (as in meat cooking) is “saignant”? Ruthi spelled out “rare” and the waitress had to ask the cook what the word was. So, she went the safe route and ordered a filet. For sides, Ruthi thought the waitress said French Rice. What Ruthi really wanted was a potato “pomme de terre” but thought ok, she’d never had French Rice – she’d try it. What the waitress had said was French Fries – which is what Ruthi got. They were good and we all had a good laugh on Ruthi.