Two Months, Two Thousand Miles

From the time we left Sandollar RV Park in Rockport TX until we drove into Beaver Dam yesterday, almost two months have passed and we've added another 2,100 miles to the bus-house odometer. We spent time in the Hill Country of Texas, lingered at Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, found history and adventure in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, did some family tree research in Iowa, and finally rested for a week on the banks of the Mississippi River in Southwest Wisconsin. Along the way we camped at four Corps of Engineers campgrounds, one State Park, two County Parks, and four RV Parks. We explored four State Capitols and visited a series of museums and historic sites. Of the 11 places we camped, we stayed for 5 days or more at 7 of them. Of the 2,100 miles the bus-house covered, fewer than 200 miles were on Interstate Highways -- and by far most of that was in the Texas Panhandle.

This leg of the journey was closer to what we're finding to be our ideal travel mode -- drive less and stay longer. No hard rules, but something like drive a hundred miles and stay a week. Not always possible but you sure do become more intimate with a place if you're able to stay more than just a day or two. Oh, and stay off the Interstate Highways if possible.

We left Grant River COE near Potosi about 10am yesterday. Wanting to try a route we hadn't taken for a few years, we went north to Lancaster and Fennimore, then turned east on US-18 to Dodgeville and Madison. We skirted around Madison on the south side, caught I-90 for a few miles to pick-up US-151 northeast to Beaver Dam.

Since we'll be here with family for the next few weeks, I wanted to top off the fuel tank, which we did at a small truck stop in Columbus WI, just a few miles south of Beaver Dam. They have a truck scale there and I've been wanting to get a recent "load report" -- to see how well we've been doing in keeping the bus-house trim. We have a GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 32,000 lbs. -- 20,000 on the rear axle and 12,000 on the front. With a full 105 gallons of fresh water and a full 100 gallons of diesel fuel we scaled out at 19,700 on the rear and 11,060 on the front.

As I said, we'll be here in the Beaver Dam area for the next few weeks. We have a couple big family events to attend... a 60th wedding anniversary and a wedding, and then in June, Dar's high school class reunion. And there's a couple big "to-do" lists that I'll be working on too.

Better get busy...
T