Notta lotta wifi out here!

May 26--New Ulm, MN

This morning I got up and, while it was really cloudy, it wasn't raining. Still, it was cool and damp, so I took my time getting up and getting on the road. But I got started by 7:30, so it wasn't too late (I'm still doing this up-and-down-with-the-sun thing, so I've gotten plenty of sleep).

Highway 35, up the east side of the Mississippi through Wisconsin, is really quite lovely. There are bluffs on both sides of the wide river, along with islands and channels in the river, and the scenery is just beautiful. The towns along the way tend to spring up when there's a stream running into the river so there's a flat spot, although some of them just build their way up the bluffs (I don't think any of the small towns is more than a block or two deep away from the highway, simply because the hill is there). About an hour or so into the trip, I feel something furry on my leg--and it's Puck! He and Nell have managed a jailbreak from the kennel (they really, really hate being confined in the kennel, but it's safer that way). He wants to get down by my feet but is easily dissuaded, and I pull over as soon as I can. I grab him and Nell and put them back into the kennel, and fasten the zipper with a clip so Nell can't open it (though I know she tries, and has only managed to dump the kennel, complete with her, Puck, and the litter box, face-first onto the floor). I should figure out a way for them to ride not in the kennel, but I'm not sure loose is the answer either.

By the time I get to LaCrosse, it's raining. I take a quick route across the river up to Winona and back over, and it's stopped! Wonderful timing here.

I'm headed for Pepin, where Laura Ingalls was born. When I get there, I find the actual homestead was up in the hills, so up we go. Twisty windy county road, to a roadside rest with a small log cabin and a picnic shelter. The Big Woods no longer surrounds the Little House; it's almost all cleared and either plowed or pasture. Rather hilly area, and I tried to get into the cabin but it was locked. So I headed back and across the river to head toward Walnut Grove.

I got on Highway 60 and stayed on it for most of the rest of the day, unfortunately. The first part was nice: hilly and scenic and wooded. About the time the plains took over, the road surface deteriorated to what may well be the worst road I've ever driven on (and that's saying something). The concrete was broken and patched, and the patches were patched, and yet there were still potholes in the surface. I drove fast, thinking it was better to get through it as quickly as possible, except that it never ended! It was bang/thump/boom for more than half an hour, and everytime I got to a cross road I thought it would get better, and it didn't! I think I lost a few years of life on that road, and I have to say that if that didn't break the rig, then I have no fear of the Alaskan highway. None. It can't be worse than that stretch of road.

By the end of the Road of Doom, I was exhausted. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to find campgrounds here. I was looking for ones in my guide books, and there weren't really any. Many of the little towns would have municipal campgrounds, but they were hard to find and/or skeevy, so I kept going.

I finally stopped at a state park in New Ulm. I had to go through the town then up an incredibly steep hill; the RV had to downshift THREE TIMES to get up it. After that, the windy road into the campground was no problem. I got a nice spot (well, I changed spots once to one I thought would be better, which wasn't, really) and was so tired that I almost fell asleep at 6pm. I managed to stay awake for a while 'nother hour and a half or so, before crashing. I did manage a small walk first. This park had been developed by the CCC during the depression, and had a number of cool buildings. It also had a swimming hole, with water pumped in from the river, that just looked like an ad for water-borne diseases to me. Not appetizing at all. And then it started to rain again. Hence the crasing.


May 27--Pierre, SD

I woke up this morning relatively late--just before 7am. It was sort of dripping much of the night, not really raining, but probably condensation off of the trees. It was quite cloudy, and a bit breezy. I had found an alternate route off of the hill, which was much less steep, and headed west.

I stopped in Sleepy Eye (yes, there is such a place) to buy a few supplies (bananas, tortillas, cheese, and Pepsi!) and a chicken salad sandwich for breakfast. It was raining on and off, and drizzling the rest of the time, but the road here is pretty flat, so it's not a problem. An indicator of how harsh winter must be here: at either end of all these little towns are signs and barriers to close the road when necessary. It must be a bit unnerving to be basically stranded in one of these little towns, cut off from everything for the duration of the storm and maybe a bit after. I guess we're t5he same with hurricanes, but there is just NOTHING in between towns here.

I got to Walnut Grove around 10am. Most of the town in this plains part of the country seem to be built in river/stream valleys, and Walnut Grove is built on Plum Creek. I stopped at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and got to go through the exhibits (some interesting history stuff and a lot of crap) before the school groups arrived. I also got to drive north a mile or so to near the actual dugout site; I didn't go there, since it was raining harder and the dugout is on a dirt road that I didn't trust, but it's apparently just a dent in the bank, so I don't think I missed much.

I then got back on the increasingly flat road and drove to De Smet, South Dakota. This is where Laura and her family lived for most of the books (from "On the shores of silver lake" onward). The downtown looks like the downtown of a lot of these small midwestern towns, but I stopped at the city hall and got a map. I walked a bit, to see where Pa Ingalls had a store, and the Wilders did too; I saw the house that Pa built for everyone to live in, and I also saw the house where everyone stayed the first winter they lived there. I also went to the graveyard south and west of town, and saw where Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, Grace, and Laura and Almanzo's baby boy who died were buried. It's a nice little town, and a lovely cemetery, up on a ridge.

Then it was off, driving more west. Flatter, drier, and once I got about 30 miles west of De Smet, the sun came out! I'm now in Pierre, on the banks of the Missouri, in a city park that has spaces for RVs to park (alas, no showers). I walked around a bit and went to a grocery (no sandwiches, alas again) and wound up grabbing dinner at what might be the slowest fast food place since the Great Falls Taco Bell; it took me about 15 minutes to get my food. I'm now back, almost ready to go to sleep (I should drink a lot of water first--I was dehydrated to begin with, and it really is drier here).

Tomorrow, it's north. Hopefully to the Highline, but we'll see.

The cats, by the way, continue to be fine. Nell saw what might have been her first close-up squirrel this morning at the state park, and immediately went into "Kill! KILL!" mode, which was amusing to watch. She doesn't have enough of a chance to play "great hunter", which is rather sad. She's also found the warmest place to sleep: up in the front of the overhead bunk, between me and the carpeted front wall, usually surrounded by the blanket. Puck is just fine as well; he has a nick on his ear from something (probably Nell getting pissed at him), and he still doesn't quite understand how to sleep best when it's cold (Nell burrows under the covers, but he resists that and just curls up against me, which isn't the warmest way).

I really, really hope that all the people here with their radios go away when it gets dark. There's a boatramp nearby, and a lot of these boats must have MONSTER sound systems, judging by the rap. Way to ruin a lovely river ride, guys!


May 28--Minot, ND

Well, the river actually wasn't that pretty. After a good night's sleep I was woken up by Puck around 6:45, and I got dressed and took a little walk. The river is a bit stagnant where we were, and was decorated with at least one large dead fish. I found out later why: the water district people have decided to not release water in case of a dry summer, so the dammed lakes are all full to the brim and beyond, but the Missouri river at Pierre is a bit starved. Oh well.

I headed out around 8am. I decided to see what would happen if I didn't pen up the cats. It didn't work out too well. Both Nell and Puck were disconcerted and wouldn't settle down--I had thought Puck at least would stay where he was (napping in the front of the bunk) but after some miles he tried desperately to get under my feet. I kept grabbing him by whatever was available and hauling him out, but he decided eventually that his happy place was wedged in the drivers side footwell of the door, which meant I couldn't use my door. Nell, it turns out, hid under the couch, which of course means that she couldn't get out from under there by herself. After half an hour or so, I gave up and put them both back in the kennel. Since they managed to tip the kennel over twice during the day's drive, I'm going to put it on the floor near the front. I don't think they'd enjoy being able to look out; they seem to want to hide!

I took the scenic route up around Lake Oahe, where I saw lots of pheasants (there are pheasants everywhere here) plus a couple of pronghorn! Not much traffic, so I could take it easy. I drove the rest of the way up to Mobridge, enjoying the sunny but not too hot day.

At Mobridge I got gas and decided to go up the west side of the lake. Again, not the best decision. There was construction which kept me waiting for almost half an hour to cross the bridge, and the road once I got on it was also rough and not well taken care of. I didn't have much of a chance to enjoy the scenery because I was too busy trying to stay on the road! I crossed the river again at Bismarck and headed north to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

This is a big center affiliated with the Fort Mandan reconstruction nearby. The exhibits were good, but I did like a collection of watercolors by an artist who traveled to the area in 1835 or so, right before smallpox pretty much eradicated the Plains Indians around here. Very pretty, and rather fascinating. I also took this as an opportunity to see how well the RV would sit with the windows open--in fact, I found that I had forgotten to close one of my bunk windows, and it had been open all day! Luckily I could close it just fine when I discovered that (I had also left my suction-cup thermometer on a side window when I left, which I grabbed when I caged the cats--it was still there--quite a suction cup!). The rig stayed pretty cool, even though it was in full sun, at least in part I suspect because of the brisk wind that was blowing directl into the open windows. Well, we use what we can!

I'm in a campground in Minot. It's in a valley and has some trees; I may go for a walk in a bit, after I feed the cats. I actually ate three meals today, which I don't think I've done since I left home, and I can use the exercise. I also need to drink water--it is indeed drier here, and I don't need to be dehydrated.