WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - THE HEAT DOME Forced Us Home

Yep, this is our "Turnaround Day" that's definitely time to head north. The temperatures are creeping up closer and closer to the predicted "Heat Dome" that is going to hover over Texas and Oklahoma as well as the rest of the South for a week or more. We just can't take that kind of heat. 

We left Platter Flats Corps of Engineers Park in Oklahoma with a pretty strong wind blowing at our backside.  We were traveling in a Northeast direction and the wind was blasting us from the southwest. It made for some pretty good fuel mileage, we did 14.4 miles per gallon in this stretch!

The scenery was pretty but everything was stormy and turbulent as we were driving along.

With such unsettling weather, it's hard to know for sure if we should keep going or batten the hatches and hide out for the night?

Back home, our kids security camera at their cabin in Northeast Wisconsin was showing the extent of Blizzard Elsa wreaking havoc in just 24 short hours. That rectangle is their picnic table, and that string of lights is at head height. 

Records were broken all over Northeast Wisconsin...

We saw this cute graphic online. It really makes sense with what's happening across the country.

We decided to pull off at Belle Starr Corps of Engineers Park on Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma.  

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233424

We were able to get a site up in the trees and away from the blasting winds. We were somewhat protected as the winds raged throughout the day and night.

All of the sites that were open were pretty level and concrete pull throughs. Large portions of the park were closed and it was too windy to explore anywhere else. We got set up on our site and enjoyed seeing some deer prance through the park at sunset through the trees in the distance.

We know the storm front was going to be blowing in the beginning of the "Heat Dome" that was forecast to envelope the entire Southwest. Our brother is camping over in northern Arizona and already suffering with over 100° Heat. 

We were going to go to Enid, Oklahoma to visit with our son-in-law's parents. But the temperatures there were just going to be unbearable. We just can't handle this type of heat, nor can the motorhome stay cool enough with the roof air conditioning on full blast. It's definitely time to move north.

We stayed at Belle Star overnight and then took off in the morning to make tracks North.  We made it up as far as Lebanon, Missouri and decided to take a break for the evening. It was already getting hot and I didn't feel like cooking. Steve suggested we Google around and check if there is a Godfather's Pizza nearby. Yesss!!! We found one. Easy peasy cooking supper plus enough left over to put in the freezer.

We love Godfather's Pizza, and it's a chain in the midwest that has somewhat disappeared. We do have a new Godfathers Express one that recently opened up about 50 miles from our home in Wisconsin.

We were planning on boondocking in the Walmart parking lot. Although there were not any signs prohibiting it, some of the reviews on our RV parking app said that RVs have been asked to move next door to the Lowe's parking lot. So we moved over there after picking up a few groceries and eating our pizza.

We sat there for a little while but it was quite warm and uncomfortable on the blacktop pavement. The heat just radiates upwards. Since we were boondocking we weren't running the air conditioner, and we would have to fire up the generator to get cool.

Steve decided since it was probably our last night of camping that we would really be extravagant and treat ourselves to a KOA campground! We NEVER stay at a KOA, we find them quite expensive.  But he said let's splurge and do it...  We got the directions to the one just out of Lebanon a few miles from town. It was $56 for the night! Oh my! We never pay that much money for a campsite...

We found our way there for the night and the host had pre-registered us and left the tag hanging in a yellow box. All we had to do was submit our cash back in the envelope and it was all taken care of. We got the very last site in a row of other rvs. We were right next door to their on-site bar and grill! This time of year it was not open, nor was the pool.  I bet during the seasonal summer months this is a busy place. 

The sites were really nice and some were set up for longer-term rentals. The KOA was neat and clean, but we never did go into the office or the little camp store to check them out. 

Steve chatted with the next door neighbors in the morning and then we all hooked up and headed on out again. Back on the road...  So much for $56. 

Driving now into the middle of Missouri, we were enjoying the scenery and change of terrain. Gone were the wide open stretches of Texas and Oklahoma. Gone were the flat grassy fields. Now we were seeing hills and rocks and hardwood trees. Things were getting to look more familiar and "Midwester-y" to our eyes.

We did travel through some agricultural areas and saw some interesting terrain and farmlands. Clustered around some areas were grain bins and railroad tracks to ship their products to other parts of the country.

Our sights were set on a tiny colony town called Bethel, Missouri. 

https://historicbethel.org/

Bethel, Missouri, is a small village in Shelby County, founded in 1844 as a utopian religious communal colony by German-American preacher Wilhelm Keil, known for its shared property and labor, handicrafts, and music. Though Keil led many followers to Oregon in 1855, the community continued, and today it preserves its unique history through events, a museum, and historic buildings, many on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our dear friend Rosie has a cute little farmette on the edge of town. She has beautiful pastures that up until recently housed her beloved llamas and alpacas. She graciously let us "mooch-dock" in her driveway for a few days.  We got all settled in after big hugs all around and joined her in the pleasant sunshine out on her deck. I have been daydreaming for months of getting back to visit with her and sitting on her deck.

The hours fly by and we always pick up right where we left off. We have online daily hours-long conversations that go back and forth with our third dear friend Linda in Tennessee. We keep a running Facebook Messenger chat box going. We check in with each other every morning and we chat on and off throughout the day until bedtime when we sign off.  We post whenever we have a thought to share, project to photograph, or just chatting with each other. We three together are pretty important friends to each other and rely on our caring and thoughtful and loving messages. All three of us are weavers and that's how we met. And now we are all best of friends.

I love this dear lady with all my heart. She is facing a major surgery next week in the big city of St Louis. A nearby neighbor is bringing her who is so kind and thoughtful to accompany her and stay there with a nearby relative until Rosie is released. We will gladly accept any thoughtful prayers for her healthy outcome and healing afterwards.

While we women yak and yak and yak, Steve gets to work finding a few projects around the house that Rosie could use a hand with. She had expressed a desire for some water barrels at the end of two of her rain gutter downspouts. She had all the materials ready, she just needed someone to get up on the roof and make sure the gutters were cleared out and free-flowing. Steve is her man for the job!

Once he got the downspouts and rain gutters figured out, Rosie located the spigots and fittings for him to create her two beautiful blue rain barrels. This will make it a lot easier to water her flowers and plants. Wrestling with a hose is one thing, but putting City treated water on her plants is also undesirable. Now she will have fresh clear rainwater for all of her blossoms. 

Another thing that needed a little attention was replacing her shower hose with a new sturdier detachable metal one. Rosie is very capable and sensible and wanted to do it herself. But the previous one was on just way too tight. For Steve, it was only a 10-minute job because he had the strength in his hands to take care of it.  Now she can enjoy her new shower hose with various settings and a shut off knob.

Rosie's property is located on the edge of a beautiful pond right behind her barn. Each morning we were waking up to the sounds of birds and seeing flocks of geese stop by the pond on their trek back North.  

Many years ago, 16 to be exact, Steve had made up some bottles of cherry wine from his cherry tree when we lived out on the Oconto River. He had gifted Rosie with a bottle back then. She had set it aside in her refrigerator all of these years. She was waiting for a perfect occasion to pop the cork! Over the years, my computer printed label for his bottle was a little worse for the wear. But the cork was sealed tight. Rosie suggested that we share a glass of wine together.

How fitting that Steve was able to pop the cork on the last remaining bottle from that batch of wine he had made. He was quite honored. We only wanted little samples, so Rosie broke out her fine crystal stemware!  LOL!

WE LET STEVE BE THE GUINEA PIG!!! He took the first sip and said it was quite good. Then we each took our samples and it really was good! I laughingly told him it tasted like Cherry NyQuil. But I was teasing. It was very good. It was also very strong. So we only each had a little bit or else we would be tipsy --- right off the end of that deck...

The next morning we awoke to the beautiful songs of the birds, singing like a cacophony of a symphony in the trees. None of us were hungover from the wine, so I guess it was pretty good.

This beautiful little colony town has a lot of brick buildings. Rosie's home is located next to the old school. Somebody has purchased it now and has stacks of bricks staged and doing some of the repair work. It will be interesting to see what they do with the building once it is reconstructed.

As with any tiny community, everyone is looking out for Rosie during this time of needing her surgery. Friends stopped by, and others were calling on and off all day wishing her the very best.

I took care of all of our meals and made extra portions for her to set aside in the freezer. That way she has a few extra treats for when she gets back home from the hospital.

One of her kitties, YB, which is Yellow Bee, commands all of the attention on her lap and holds reign over the deck conversations.

He was willing to let Nicholas sniff him carefully, but I know the claws would have come out if Nick made any rapid moves. Nick was very careful. He learned respect of cats 2 years ago. While he was on the run (right before we rescued him), he was trying to snitch food from the feral cat feeding station in our town. He had to do battle several times with big mean tom cats. We saw him on surveillance cameras. So he learned his lesson and decided to be curious and careful and very, very slow moving to get in a sniff of YB.

Such a gracious hostess, we enjoyed our time while parked in Rosie's driveway. Steve got the rainbarrels assembled and into place, while we were enjoying our visiting every single day.

But soon our eyes turned to the weather forecast. By Friday it was getting so hot in the driveway, that even running the generator for hours on end to keep the air conditioner going, we could not get the motor home below 84°. It was becoming unbearable. The next few days it was going to be into the 90s! 

So we cut our visit a little shorter than we had planned. Besides, Rosie needed a few days to gather her things and get arrangements made for her pets, etc before leaving for St Louis. With hugs all around and a few tears, we hit the road early in the morning before it got too hot.

We headed north of Missouri, up through Iowa. There aren't any campgrounds that are open that are readily accessible for us. It would still be too hot to boondock at a Walmart. We decided to keep on going the entire 500 Miles back HOME to Northeast Wisconsin.  Yup, 500 MILES IN ONE DAY!!! 

(We usually don't do over 200 a day)

We saw such pretty scenery, and quite a few red barns were coming to view. We knew we were getting closer and closer to Wisconsin.

Just before Madison, this Mustang passed us with the top down. Oh my, both young ladies inside were wearing thin strapped tank tops with bare shoulders and hair flying in the wind. What fun. But I can just imagine the sunburns they are both going to have by evening.

They must have stopped somewhere along the way because within an hour or so, they passed us again! Still with the top down in their hair flying in the wind. Looks like fun...

Since we were coming home earlier than planned, we contacted our neighbor to possibly remove some of the snow from our driveway. Remember? We had about 3 ft of snow sitting there. We were hoping maybe he could get over there and pull some out so we could at least get into the end of the driveway for the night. 

It turns out that he himself had been snowed in up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and had just gotten home himself. He was working hard to get the snow out of his own driveway. What a wonderful guy, he dropped everything and went over with a tractor and a back blade to push the snow out of the way enough so we would have access.  We could see him quickly working on our surveillance camera as we were nearing closer and closer to our home.

He had pushed enough out of the way, by the time we pulled into the yard. What a guy! Then he decided to finish doing more snow plowing and shoveling for us rather than finish his own.

There was quite a bit of snow drifted up here and we worked our way across the plowed out area to reach our own door. It felt so good to be HOME!!!!

He and Steve both pushed their way into the backyard. They tried using the snowblower to reach our basement entrance. We needed to get in there to turn on our water in the house. The snowblower just could not chew through the 3 ft of solid snow. So both of them had to grab shovels and work their way down through the layers, until they could actually open up the doors.  Now we could turn on our water.

The top surface of the snow was crusty and hard. Because it had blown so much during the blizzard it was very solid. This wasn't the soft fluffy snow that you see in movies. Nope. This was solid and hard and very very heavy. The guys worked mightily just to get that area cleared.  Our neighbor worked for 2-3 hours on our yard, them back to work on his own after dark. 

Nick seemed quite surprised that we had white stuff again. Just the day before, he was laying up in the shade and panting with all of his heavy fur in 90° heat.

It sure felt good. 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Here is the You Tube that goes along with those blog post: 

129 miles traveled to Belle Star, Eufaula, Oklahoma 

then 299 miles traveled to Lebanon, Missouri

Then 189 miles traveled to Bethel, Missouri 

Then 512 miles traveled to HOME!!  

2,536 miles traveled in total for the entire Winter Getaway 2026! 

NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 90 & 91 - PATTERSON LAKE ND - TO WISCONSIN - HOME!!!

As I mentioned in my last blog, leading up to this one, we were really tired after driving all the way to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We had made some reservations at Patterson Lake campground in Dickinson, North Dakota. This is the second time we have ever made reservations on this entire trip.

 Since we knew we didn't have to rush now to find a campsite, we took our time enjoying the rest of Teddy Roosevelt Park while we were in the comfort of the air conditioning in the motorhome.  We did a lot of driving through the park, and only stepped out a few times in the high heat and humidity. It was wilting us!! 

The campground at Patterson lake was just a bit out of Dickinson on the southwest side of town. I looked ahead on Google Maps and searched for Godfather's Pizza! If you are a long-time blog reader from the beginning of our trip, you will remember that I found a Godfather's Pizza in Minnesota, just before we crossed the border to Canada on our second day.

 Now we were lucky enough to find one more in North Dakota before heading back to Wisconsin. There aren't any Godfathers in Wisconsin anymore. Sigh.

We ordered a Classic Combo in deep dish before going to the campground. We picked it up, and Steve actually grabbed the video camera and filmed a cute little bit of me bringing the pizza back to the motorhome. It is on the YouTube link at the end of this blog.

Can you almost smell it?

We each ate two pieces, and packaged up the remaining slices and put them into the freezer. They will make two more good lunches after we get home. We learned that putting leftover pizza in the air fryer at home really makes it taste great!

When we got settled into our campsite #2, (the same one we had last year), we turned up the air conditioning on full blast. It had been up to 93° today, and extremely humid. We definitely needed to run the air conditioning the moment we pulled in.

Each site has electric and water. There is also a dump station, dumpsters, and a nice swimming beach and picnic area. We didn't check out the bathrooms or the showers. But knowing this is such a nice park, I'm sure they are fine.

https://dickinsonparks.org/patterson-lake-recreation-area/

Something sweet that I noticed at this campground is that each site is separated by a row of thick lush lilac bushes. There's also some other plant mixed in with it that has little berries that attract the birds. Each clump of bushes is just twittering and warbling with bird songs. It's absolutely delightful, and what a great way to separate the sites from each other?

There are large cottonwood trees down the middle of the row of campsites that provide beautiful shade on a hot day.

Right now, the cottonwoods are releasing their little bits of fluff and seeds into the air.  It's almost like little bits of snow along the edges of the drive, catching in the gravel.  It reminds me of our large cottonwood in the backyard at home. I wonder if it is also releasing its fluffy seeds right now?

The only downfall to the campground is the railroad track that runs along the back side of the property.  Where I am pointing with my finger down below. We only heard one train go through during the night. Either that, or we were sleeping so deeply we never heard any more?

It really never cooled down that much overnight, because the humidity was so high. We got up early and took our showers to cool off and have fresh dry skin for more comfort during the next leg of our journey.

The wildfire smoke from the North was increasing. We made our way quietly out of the campsite by 8:00 a.m. We didn't want to disturb anyone else. Although it looked somewhat clear to the East, we could see the haze in the North.  

To keep out the smoke smell, we have to use the dash air conditioning on "inside circulation". It tends to freeze up after 15 to 20 minutes of operation. We have to turn it off to let it "thaw ". Literally, chunks of ice come spitting out of the vents at us as it thaws!!!  Then we can start it up again and it works well for another 15 to 20 minutes.  Repeat.  We had recently had the control panel replaced to try to correct that very problem.  There is a known service bulletin on it and I think it needs to be recalibrated by Mercedes-Benz when we get back home.

So in the meantime, we fired up the onboard propane generator. This allows us to also operate the rooftop air conditioner in the ceiling of the motorhome. This gives us more cool air throughout the coach, and helps with the lag times that we have the dash air thawing.

It also keeps the living room portion of the motorhome nice and cool for Nicholas. He looks pretty comfortable, doesn't he?

Yes, we are driving on the Interstate... as much as we don't want to. We do want to get some miles underneath these tires to get beyond the high heat, humidity and wildfire smoke. 

We neared the community of New Salem. We could tell it was coming up in the distance because we could see Salem Sue!

Yep, that is exactly what you think it is. A big huge cow--- her name is Salem Sue.  We had stopped to see her close up last time, so we really didn't need to do it again this time. But she is something that you should stop to see at least once in your life. 

(Note the size of people in front of her)

The smoke was increasing as we entered into Minnesota. It was getting worse and worse as we were heading East. It was blowing down from the North and there really wasn't any way to escape it.

So we just kept on driving. And driving. And driving. There wasn't much else of anything we could do, other than find a campground and plug in and close all the windows and hide for the afternoon. And for sure, the next few days were all forecast to be just as bad, if not worse.

We decided to keep on going right across Minnesota. By 5:00 p.m. we were nearing Minneapolis and St Paul. 

Oh goodness, RUSH HOUR! There were barrels on our side of the road but they were pushed aside and no construction was really taking place. Google Maps said entire huge sections were under construction, but they were wrong. 

We flew through with only two small slowdowns, no stopping. We were on the 694 bypass around the North side of town. Mostly 65 mph all the way. 

The oncoming traffic heading westbound at times were slowed down to a dead stop. Sometimes for miles and miles they were backed up. We are so thankful that was not our case in the Eastbound direction.

Before we knew it, we were out of the city and crossing the St Croix River. I cannot imagine all of those people out there in their sailboats enjoying the day with that heavy smoke in the air? We could barely see across the river to the shore on the other side. And it's not that big of a river...

There it was, that large brown familiar sign that is at all the major entrances to the state of Wisconsin!!!

We have pictures of ourselves as children lined up by those huge wooden signs every time we would go up to Michigan to visit family. On the way back, we would stop and get our picture taken as we headed back home to Wisconsin. Very fond memories of traveling and seeing that sign as we came "home". 

We drove along to the first large town by the name of Hudson. We decided after 600 miles of crazy driving today that we would overnight it at the Walmart.

Nooooo no overnight parking allowed at the Hudson Walmart. Dangnabbit. We cooked up a little bit of supper, and debated about overnighting at a truck stop or trying the Home Depot which had a very small lot. Steve made the decision that we should just drive on towards Eau Claire. That town has a Walmart that overnight parking was allowed. It was 60 miles further, which meant another hour of driving. But it also meant we were another hour closer to home for the next day! 

We made it to the Eau Claire Walmart and found a level spot to park. It was still very hot in the 80s. We did not want to run the generator all night. So we opened up the windows at bedtime and dealt with the humid and smokey air. It wasn't very comfortable and we didn't sleep very well. About 2:00 a.m. a crazy Zamboni-type street sweeper came along to sweep the parking lot! Then about 4:00 a.m. big tanker truck came to the gas station next door to fill their underground tanks. I could smell the heavy fuel odor wafting in through the open windows. By 5:00 a.m. we got up and took showers. It felt strange showering in a Walmart lot. Lol. 

By 6:00 a.m. we decided to hit the road and head towards home!!! 

It was only 200 miles further to get across the state to where we live along the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

As we got close, we had to be careful to not say the words "home" or "house" in front of Nicholas.  It sends him crazy because he knows what those words mean. 

We got to Oconto, and pulled first over to the dump station at our little Holtwood City Campground. We paid our $5 fee and dumped our tanks so everything was empty at the end of the trip. Steve gave things a good rinse so it took a little bit longer. Of course, we were anxious to get home and in the house and get comfortable and rest a bit. 

Our central air conditioning is controlled through Wi-Fi, so we were able to have the house nice and cool as we rolled into the yard.

Little guy Nick was just beside himself to be back home. I quick turned off the alarms and the cameras so it didn't set things off coming through the door. He was rushing around and checking his toys and wanting to go out in his potty yard and just make sure everything was exactly the way he remembered it!

"C'mon, let's go potty in my OWN fenced in yard and not have to be on a leash!"

We put fresh water in his dish... and it was right where he expected it to be. 

I kind of did the same thing too. I wandered around my She-Shed, touched my looms and my quilting machine, stroked my sewing machines and thought about the next quilt I'm going to work on. 

After a rest, we called up the kids and grandkids and set up times to get together and hug and give them their souvenirs from Alaska. 

After 9,502 fun and adventure-filled miles, it was great to be 

HOME!!!

We will do a wrap up and budget of the entire 90 days in the next blog and on YouTube. 

Here's the video that goes along with today's blog: 

653 miles travel from Dickinson ND to Eau Claire, Wisconsin

then

205 miles traveled from Eau Claire Wisconsin to home!

9,502 miles traveled in total!!!