The Long Bumpy Ride: Dublin, OH – Custer, SD

We have traveled 1327 miles for Dublin, OH to Custer, SD.  We made three stops at Knoxville, IL, Welcome, MN and Presho, SD.  Along the way we took in a couple of traditional tourist traps which we had previously ignored, The Corn Palace in Mitchel, SD and Wall Drugs in Wall, SD.

 The Corn Palace

Wall Drugs

Custer’s Gulch RV

Spent only 4 nights here, as the park was already booked up over the week of the 4^th.  We spotted the below group of big horn sheep, ewes, as we passed through Custer State Park on our way in. 

 The following are a few shots of the sights in the park.

At one time these burros were used to carry visitors to Harney Peak from Sylvan Lake.  These rides are no longer available and the burros are now allowed to have free run of the park.

Fort Welikit RV
After our 4 day stay at C’s gulch we relocated to Fort Welikit RV about 4 miles closer to town for 3 nights.  We have done more traveling than we would like since we left Houston and are now enjoying our week of staying put.

Took in the July 4^th parade along main street in Custer.  Parade started with a B1 Bomber fly-over followed by fire trucks, tractors, etc.  Nice but it just doesn’t measure up to the Dubois parade.

Dublin, OH – Alum Creek State Park

Finished our maintenance at Spartan Service Center on Tuesday.  Other than planned maintenance the only item found during the Spartan chassis inspection was a torn ball joint rubber boot.  Of course to replace the boot we needed a new ball joint.  Also had the alignment adjusted (went to Alaska last year).

 We’ve gone 1750 miles since leaving Houston and needed an RV wash which we took care of this morning.  Had to do a little volunteer forestry work to keep the DataStorm happy but we are online.

Plan to be here through the weekend for a visit with Kathy and Tony Ricci.  Will be heading west on Monday towards Denver with a few days stopover in Custer, SD.

Below are Kathy and Tony Ricci friends and former neighbors from our Louisiana days.

We had a great time visiting several sites in the Dublin area.  Spent one day at the Dawes Arboretum (see above).  We stopped by the airport in Urbana for lunch.  Always an interesting experience watching small planes fly in and out as we had our lunch. 

There is a small museum at the airport. Currently a WWII B17 bomber is in the process of being restored by volunteers. As an added bonus one to the 9 currently operational B17s was on site for tours and flights. We took the tour which was interesting. No wasted space in these machines. Just enough room for the crew, machine guns and bombs.

Below is the B17 available for touring.

Below is the current condition of the B17 being restored.

 

Charlotte, MI –Spartan Chassis Service Center

Now at Spartan Chassis for what should be routine maintenance.  We will spend the night in the customer parking lot.  Hope to be headed towards Dublin, OH for a visit with our friends and former neighbors Kathy and Tony Ricci by at least Thursday.

Elkhart, IN – KVH Motor Fell Off

Left the Fog Doctor in Searcy, AR early Wednesday and drove to Pendleton, IN just north of Indianapolis.  Long day but we able to make a short drive to Elkhart on Thursday to the satellite repair service.  Turns out the dish motor used to adjust the dish elevation had fallen off its supports and the cable used to adjust the azimuth partially came unwrapped.  Assume six years of pot holes and the Alaska roads encountered last year took their toll.  I don’t think the technician spend a full 30 minutes to find the problem and make the repairs.  Since a new dish would run around $1600 we consider this a very good trip.

Current best guess at a schedule:

Plan to spend the next few days exploring the Amish country before heading to Charlotte, MI for some routine maintenance at Spartan Motors.

Buggy headed for town near Shipshewana

Buggies At the Bank

And At the Grocery Store

Ice Cream Maker Powered by Antique Gas engine

Ice Cream Maker Powered by Wood Burning Steam Engine

The Steam Engine

The Fire Box

Searcy, AR – RV Fog Doctor

We spent last night in Texarkana.  Today we had the RV Fog Doctor repair our front driver side window.  These are double pain windows that had started fogging up between the pains.  Tomorrow we head in the direction of Spartan Chassis in Charlotte, MI.  Our appointment is not until Tues next week so I expect we will do a little site seeing on the way.

RV Fog Doctor at Work

Grapevine, TX.

Fri 8, June: 
Leaving Houston for the summer.  First stop is Grapevine, TX.  Will be spending the weekend at Vineyards CG to visit with our daughter Ginger.  As luck would have it, Robin our other daughter (expecting our first grandchild in August) is in Dallas this week on business.  Will be great for all four of us to be together for a short visit.