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Monday, February 9, 2015

The First Day of Our Journey - Heading out West 2015

Ahhhh   after packing and checking and doublechecking our lists.... we were ready to roll by 2 pm.

Steve had to work up until 1:30 pm, so it was up to me to run all of the errands, return the extra furnace parts, run the dog to the vet for her last round of booster shots plus finish loading all the items that could have frozen overnight if we did it last night.  I put on 82 miles running around before I made it back home to load up our final items.  Whew!

At 2:15, we hooked up the Tracker and rolled out of the yard! 

Yup.. we are heading south and west for six weeks--- seeking desert sun and peace and quiet.  ahhhhh


63,198  starting mileage

We headed south through the snowy Wisconsin countryside.  The further south we went, the higher the snowbanks got because they had a storm last week that piled up more snow to the south.  The temps were mid 20's, the sun was shining and the roads were dry and clear.

We only had one tiny detour of a few miles during some construction areas, but the rest of the drive was clear and uneventful.  Just the way we like it!

By 4:49 pm we crossed into Illinois, and set our sights on zooming south until dusk set in.  We really don't care to drive at night.  But... Steveio decided to keep driving into the dark, and get south to where we don't see any snow!  Ha... they have more snow here than we did in Wisconsin.

We got around the exit for Wenona, Illinois, and we remembered a gas station with five RV sites along side of the building.  Figuring we drove enough for one day, we pulled in at 6:30 pm.

Finding any type of a campground open at this time of year is unheard of in our neck of the woods, so this gas station is pretty special.  It is located at Wenoma exit hwy 17,  $15 hookup for 50 amp, dump station but no water available at the site of course being winter.  They said in the morning at the building we can hook up a hose to the frost free faucet when the manager comes in with the key.

Normally we don't need any hookups, but we knew this was here, plus having the 50 amp hookup allows us to use our electric heaters and electric mattress pad tonight.  Saves our propane when the temps are going down to the mid teens tonight here.  Brrrrrr.

Soooo it was 241 miles traveled today.  Pretty good for being up at 6, running all those errands and Steveio having to put in more than half a day too.

I popped two chicken pot pies from Hilde's Deli and Bakery into the oven.  I buy 10 frozen ones before we leave on our vacations, and we can enjoy them for a quick no fuss dinner while we travel.  I whipped up a couple salads and we cracked open a bottle of wine.  Ahhhh that is roughing it on the road, eh?

Binney was exhausted and kept falling asleep on the loveseat
while Finney kept begging for some of our pot pies!


Little Binney rode very well, and was not scared in the least.  She and Finney cuddled up and enjoyed the ride.  Once we stopped, I took them both out on the long leashes into a small grassy area near our Rv slot.  Finney did his thing right away and spent the next 20 minutes sniffing.  Binney just stood there for 20 minutes, refusing to do a thing!  Stubborn little cuss!!   The vet told me a way to get her to go potty was to sing the song from Frozen.  You know the one.... "Let it gooo  Let it goooooo"

But she didn't.

Tried again at 9:30 pm .   Same result.

Oh well, we will get her out early in the morning.  As for now while I write this, both dogs are cuddled on our bed with a snoring Steveio.  When I hit "publish" I will be zonking out too.  Quiet countryside, far enough from the highway.  Time to sleep.

We will hit the road early and make some miles burn up under our tires tomorrow.

Looking for warmth and sunshine.







17 comments:

  1. Safe travels. Looks really cold there for sure.
    Love the adventure of the journey.

    Wendal (our latest addition) is the same Binney, I think we may let that song play on an endless loop while we are in the office and see if the subliminal message has any effect!

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  2. Karen, I'm so glad you're enjoying your ride! And I truly hope you don't encounter too much snow... we did once traveling from AZ to CO traveling across the Navajo Reservation (182 miles)... and when we finally arrived at our place in Colorado, we were very thankful indeed! The steps froze, the generator froze, the dash defroster didn't work, and it took us 14 hours to make a 7 hour trip. The following morning when we went out to unload, we were shocked to see that snow had built up so much in our wheel wells that one of the storage bay doors was completely pushed out, and also that it was a miracle that the bus even turned, considering the ice that was built up in the front wheel wells. That would be when we decided never again in snowy conditions. We should have pulled in somewhere in Flagstaff when I saw that a big storm was incoming (I have Wi-Fi in the motorhome, so I was monitoring the weather). I tell you this because I want you to have a wonderful and safe trip. If it looks like a big snowstorm, find a place to plug in and stay. Hopefully you'll be out of snow country soon! If you're ever in the Four Corners area, we live in Dolores, Colorado (southwest Colorado), and we own a small RV Park here. We'd love to meet you, you can find us at www.cozycomfortrvpark.com. But don't make the trip here when it's snowing, LOL!

    Brenda & Tony

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  3. Poor little Binney. I am hoping she was able to go this morning. Let it gooooo Binney. Safe travels and I hope you get out of the cold and snow today.

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  4. Todays a travel day for us too. We will be in Louisana tonight. rolled up Chedderworst with Crecent Rolls are planned for dinner. Not the healthiest, but we like them.

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  5. Safe travels and hope you are somewhere warm soon! And I hope Binney goes SOON!

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  6. Going to be great fun to follow you along on the road again. I am always impressed with you hardy Northern souls as you begin traveling journeys in Wisconsin weather. Impressive! Have a great trip!

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  7. Nice to see you back on the road and trying to get away from that white stuff! Won't take long before you are nice and warm and in shorts and t-shirts.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  8. Yeah! You are on the road and heading for sunshine and warmer temperatures😀. Binny will learn from his big brother. Happy trails to you.

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  9. Woooo, that first picture looks way too cold for me. I lived up north for the first half of my life, then I moved south. Now I can't understand how the heck I managed to survive those cold, cold, long, long winters!!

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  10. Oh yes, here in East Texas it is going to be 77 degrees today.

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  11. I am glad that Binney was not afraid, but sorry that she could not make up her mind to pee! Your trip sounds great so far!

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  12. So very happy that Binny is not scared. Enjoy your days and be safe! I can't figure how you find wifi? Someday this country will have it available all over and be a tax or something to pay for it. Blessed .............

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    1. Rosalyn.... I have a contract with Verizon to get data signals sent to both my tablet and my phone. I pay $59 a month for 5gb of data. When we travel, we set a function on the tablet that let's the data signal be shared with our laptops...(called creatinng a hot spot) ....

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  13. For as long as Lady lived in the NC mountains she couldn't "go" on a leash, but it wasn't a problem letting her run loose. When we started RV-ing it was a different story, and she finally got used to being leashed while taking care of business.

    I can feel the excitement of starting on a journey, and hope you have great weather, not much traffic, and have no problem finding wonderful places to stay.

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  14. I'm glad to hear you two are finally on the way south. Hopefully the weather cooperates and you have a relaxing and safe journey.

    Our paths may cross before winter's end.

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  15. Yay, back on the road! Looks like the pups are doing great. Hope Binny "goes" for you in the morning. We'll be in AZ all April. Maybe we'll see you?

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