Sept 30 - Another Month Fades... Falling Leaves and Cooler Air on our way West

Sign on trailer seems to indicate at least
it knows where we're going.

Motivated by a ticking deadline to get the rental trailer returned before additional charges are tacked on an already hefty bill for a 32 year old well-used trailer, we bid adieu to family in Beaver Dam and hit the road about 8am on Monday. With the exception of a few showers as we traversed Minnesota, we had reasonable weather for enjoyable travel.

My objective is 500 miles each day, give or take, so we could complete the journey to the PNW in 5 days... even allowing some time for a little factor-fudge (the no sugar added type).

Not a lot to report from Monday's drive... all Interstate all the time... and no stopping for anything other than the normal fluid-exchanges. We pulled into Cabelas in Mitchell SD about 5pm (and almost exactly 500 miles), found a little nearby joint for dinner, and settled down for the night. During the night strong east winds jostled the little camper, but we got a good night sleep.

This morning, Tuesday we woke to more wind, a little rain, and we hustled to get moving by 8am. Once again, a day of Interstate Highways and little else, but the weather was the thorn in our big toe all day. The early tail wind turned into a head wind with a vengeance, rain, heavy at times, low clouds and low visibility, the normal heavy truck traffic... even gaining an hour didn't do much to lift my spirits. But despite all that we did eek out nearly 480 miles and we're in a nice camp with improving weather. Things are looking up.

A word about the camp:  we stayed at Red Shale NFS CG in the Custer National Forest not far from Ashland MT on our way to Wisconsin in July. Since it happened to be in the right spot at the right time during our return trip too, we took advantage of the situation.  In case you forgot, here's what you get... a very un-congested small but rustic facility, it has three things going for it in my book:  few other campers (tonight, only one), a strong Verizon 4G signal, and it's absolutely free of charge. What's not to like.

Cabelas in Mitchell

crossing the Missouri

camp at Red Shale

Finally...

Now that we're almost ready to head back to our Pacific NW home, I've reached deep down and mustered up the motivation to finish my backlog of posts from our trip to Wisconsin in June and July. They're done.

The main effort this week is to get everything ready to head back west again early next week. This will be a quicker trip... we'll be moving with alacrity... whoever he is. Don't want to incur any overage charges on the U-Haul Trailer.

Itchin' to get back on the road.