Back in Minnesota

If you noticed our map on this journal you will see that we have come full circle since we left here last fall. I will change the map to Minnesota for the next few months since we plan on staying in the area this summer and then a different one when we leave again.

Time has been flying by for us. Since our last journal entry we have been on the go all the time. After our one night in Mitchell, SD we headed for Sioux Falls to pick up our mail at Alternative Resources and get our new tabs for the truck. The mail worked out just fine but when we got to the government building to get our new tabs, the line was way down the hall and around the corner. I can’t understand what their problem is but someone is not doing their job. There is no way we would wait for at least two hours so we left and went on-line to order the new tabs. Guess we should have done that anyway but we figured that since we were there we wouldn’t have to wait for the mail. Lesson learned, never again.

On our way back to our campground we received a call from one of our MOC friends. Jim and Carol were in the area and wanted to know where we were. We invited them over for coffee and had a great time getting to know them.

The next morning we drove about 75 miles North to Minnesota and the county park by Bill’s sister’s house. Elaine had a great dinner/lunch all ready for us and we pigged out. It tasted so good. After eating, I went back to the RV while Bill went to see a pig farm. Elaine and her husband Arlis used to have a farm where they raised pigs as well as corn. They sold part of the land to Arlis’s son and he has turned the pig farm into a huge automated one where he raises pigs for a huge company. They bring him the piglets and feed and the rest is almost automatic. In one building he has 2500 pigs that are now full grown and ready to be taken out by the company and they will bring more young ones in. He is putting up another building the same size and soon he will be raising 5000 of those little pink things… Bill was so impressed with the automation compared to all the hard work it used to be when he lived on the farm.

We spent the evening just talking and catching up with the past months since we had seen them and the next morning we went further north to see Bill’s Mom. She is in a nursing home in Willmar. We got there a little after noon and there she was with a big smile on her face and all ready for us to take her out to lunch. Our Sister-in-law was also there so that we could all go in her car instead of trying to get Mom up in the truck. Our truck is quite high and it is even hard for me to get into it sometimes and with the Big Sky still on the back, we would have had a hard time finding a place we could park.

After bringing Mom back to the home, we continued on and arrived at Mystic Lake Campground in Prior Lake, MN. This is on the South West side of Minneapolis and quite a nice campground with cement pads and close to a lot of things. We wanted to be in the Metro area for the weekend so we could see the kids when they were off from work.

Saturday morning we went first to my daughter Coleen’s house and then went to Bill’s daughter Laura’s… It was so late by the time we left Laura and Dave’s that we stopped at the grocery store for a bit and came back to our place, saving the other daughter’s visit until the next day. Sunday we went to Cheryl and Raleigh’s with a big bucket of chicken and all the fixings where we spent the afternoon. We had a great day with them and granddaughter Shelby.

When we got home we had a call from our friends Jim and Carol that we had met in Sioux Falls. They had arrived at our campground and would be here for a few days. We made arrangements to have dinner with them the next night

Monday we started out going to Ikea and the Mall of America but first we stopped at a Kirkland store to see if I could find replacement for a candle holder that got broken during our travels. We didn’t find one but we did find a Verizon store that we went into to look at upgrades. Bill has been with AT&T for his phone service for several years while I have used Verizon. He is so disgusted with his lack of signal that he wanted to go on my plan. He still has two months to go with AT&T or pay the termination fee but he wanted to look anyway. It turned out that we bought our new phones and now have gps service on them so if we go for a hike, we should be able to find our way back. He will continue to use his AT&T for the next two months as his primary phone but they gave him a temporary # for his Verizon and when he cancels the AT&T they will transfer his old # to the new phone. We are both having fun learning the new text messaging, navigation and all the gadgets. By the time we finally got out of the store we grabbed some soup at Panera’s and came home to take a nap. That evening we went to Timber Lodge with Jim and Carol and had great walleye. I had forgotten how good it was there. Jim and Carol had the prime rib and theirs looked just as good as ours.

Yesterday was a day of getting things done. I found a place to get my hair cut and I am having a hard time trying to decide if I like it or not. I have had a perm for so long and now it is all cut off. I do like the cut but not the way the gal styled it so I will have to play around with it for awhile.

Today will be another work day. I have the sheets in the washer and will do more laundry after they are done and I do intend to cook a nice home cooked meal for us tonight. Our friends Jim and Carol left this morning on their way back to Michigan where they still have a house but we will be seeing them in a few months at the Montana Owners Rally in Goshen, Indiana. We will be in the Metro for a couple more days and then head north towards Duluth for the weekend to see more family and friends. We will come back to St Paul on Monday for awhile while we try to figure out where we want to stay for the summer….

Later……………..

Jun 10, 2009

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