On the Road Again…

“On the road again, goin’ places that I’ve never been, seein’ things that I may never see again, and I can’t wait to get on the road again

Willie Nelson

The humans and I finally exited the DFW area on August 23, 2019 and are off for new adventures. Well, we went about 30 miles in the rain and we stopped at the KOA in Denton/Sanger. The humans needed rest and I of course was ready to eat. We liked this KOA, especially the pond, which gave me some time to think about our future travels. With the help of the inspirational kitchen towel seen below (thanks to Momma Dog’s sister, Lisa Krueger for this thoughtful and timely gift)-I came to the realization that we are happy campers-even though sometimes there are tough days.

To celebrate our “on the road” status, the humans enjoyed beef kabobs for dinner-and I had some of that delicious meat. And to make things even better-there were smore’s cooked on our little grill.

We took many walks at this KOA, and took the obligatory sign pic and even saw a partial rainbow and some pretty sunsets.

On our way to Wichita, Kansas we traveled up familiar I-35. So far this has been our most traveled route. Upon our arrival in Wichita we parked at USI-RV Park. The people were friendly and we liked the little park on north 33rd Street. We enjoyed our visit from Connie and Scott Luty (college buddies of the humans) and I even got a few extra pats. Connie considers me “famous” and even gave us some home-grown tomatoes!

We had breakfast with Dana Smith (sister of Big Dog) and planned to head north towards Nebraska. Unfortunately, the engine would not start and thanks to the owner of the RV park, we regained power after tightening the battery connections within 30 minutes or so of discovering no power. A few hours later, as we cruised up I35 (actually I was snoozing), the humans heard a big bang and the next thing we knew the glass window on the entry door shattered into tiny pieces and began to fall away. Fortunately this was the outside window pane, and we stopped and called Geico and moved on. In retrospect, Big Dog and Momma Dog think either a bird or a rock hit us. The bad news is that this type of window will have to be manufactured, shipped and installed -in about six weeks!

The other bad news is that after the window broke, the door lock somehow jammed-and the humans and I could not exit the RV to survey the damage from the outside. So Momma Dog jumped out of the exit window in the bedroom, caught her watch on the window sill, and subsequently cut and bruised her hand. She was able to open the door from the outside and dot the road with a bit of fresh human blood.

We loved our RV Park in Kearney, Nebraska! It was clean and quiet and the weather was in the 50’s. We had a windshield view of a pretty pond and took a morning walk next to a corn field that had a sidewalk for us. Momma Dog really wanted to pick some corn-but Big Dog talked her out of it.

On our way to Eagle’s Rest RV Park in Chadron, Nebraska (which was full of mosquitos and not very impressive), the humans took the opportunity to eat their favorite Nebraska food-Runzas. We were able to park in a church parking lot near the Runza Restaurant, buy delicious peaches and pears and a Rocky Ford, Colorado cantaloupe from a nearby produce stand, as well as picnic in a shady spot nearby. This stop felt like a blessing after the trauma of the previous day.

We found ourselves in Rapid City, South Dakota at another KOA. After discovering the sewer hose was not long enough to reach the sewer, Momma Dog’s phone fell from her pocket and was crushed by Tana’s back tires as Big Dog backed up.

The humans encountered another interesting RV issue-the control pad for the leveling jacks would not light up and thus the leveling jacks would not go down to stabalize Tana. After many phone calls, taking apart the control pad, and crawling into the basement compartments on their backs to find the control box-they were not able to fix the problem but learned alot about their new multimeter, Atwood leveling jacks, and the challenge of diagnosis and treatment of a new issue for Tana. Apparently these ongoing problems are common in RV’s and can either bring a couple together or break them apart. So far, my humans are sticking together-although I do hear some interesting growling and barking from time to time.

The next day my humans left me on guard duty, rented a car from the KOA and headed into Rapid City for phone replacement at Verizon and a walking tour of the downtown. Their claim to fame is “The City of Presidents” and there is a statue of all the presidents, except the current one-who shall not be named in this blog, because he apparently does not own a dog.

The humans loved downtown Rapid City. They tried South Dakota beers (and food which featured bison) in a historic firehouse, walked through “Art Alley,” and found an amazing sculpture of a Native American woman among all the male presidents.

Our KOA was great, with a garden and a fun dog park. They also served pancakes and the cook brought Big Dog the “trout special” which was a pancake shaped like a fish and Momma Dog received a fancy rose pancake-and she gave it to me!

One day the humans left early in the morning to board a bus for a cowboy breakfast, driving tour and chuck wagon dinner. I missed them, but took a glorious nap and guarded our home on wheels.

The next stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial. Momma Dog was touched by the story of Korczak Ziolkowski and his family and will remember that it is okay to take a very long time to get things right.

The tour continued with a tour of Custer State Park, Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. The rock tunnels were VERY NARROW! They came home with stories of seeing bison, antelope, and Big Dog even fed popcorn to a bunch of burros.

Our last night in Rapid City brought delicious tacos, a camp fire (not my favorite thing) and a beautiful sunset.

We packed up, left North Dakota and drove to Devil’s Tower, also known as Bear Lodge in Wyoming. I posed with my humans who were amazed by this laccolithic butte, composed of igneous rock. Native Americans consider this area sacred, and it rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River.

We then had a long and very bumpy ride through Wyoming and Montana and North Dakota. We saw fields of sunflowers, corn, wheat and LOTS of round hay bails. Finally we made it to Medora, North Dakota. We rested and then the humans had a fun time at the “Pitch Fork Fondue” and Medora Musical.

We visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and are thankful for all his conservation efforts. His personal story is interesting and he certainly loved the west.

So the Bison is a very important animal and the humans have a new appreciation for this animal. Did you know the bison was recently named as the United States mammal? And did you know that Momma Dog and Big Dog sampled some bison stew while they were in the Dakotas?

We are headed to Bismark and beyond. We are happy and healthy and the humans continue to be planning new adventures.

Well, thank you for reading this lengthy travel blog! Please post your comments if you read to the end.

Kind regards, sniffs and woof-MAGIC