26May 2015 by Lboll No Comments

Alaska Here We Come!

Traveling

We are sitting in a beautiful Corp of Engineer Park in Valley City, North Dakota on our way to Alaska. We left Minnesota at 6:30 this morning for our Alaska adventure. We are so excited! But along with the excitement always comes leaving family. We had a wonderful six weeks in Minnesota. It was filled with necessary things such as dentist and doctor’s appointments. And then there were the fun times with family and friends. Over the last years we have meet so many great people during our summer stays at Dakotah Meadows so it is great to revisit them when we return. They have stories to tell about how they survived the Minnesota winter in their RV or those that go south we share tails of our travels. And…

20Mar 2015 by Lboll

North to Ohio – Spring 2015

Traveling

I’ll start this blog with how I ended the last one – Joe and I are celebrating today as we do every day that we have together. We are thankful for having this opportunity to enjoy each other, seeing this beautiful country, for our health and the health and wellbeing of our children and grandchildren. That said we send our prayers and ask our friends to send their prayers for our bother-in-law, Tom, who is have some very serious heart issues at the present time. God be with him and his family. As we traveled to Ohio we spent several days in two of Louisiana’s beautiful state parks. Our first stop was at Lake Claiborne SP in Homer, LA. Absolutely beautiful park full of very large pine trees with…

29Jan 2015 by Lboll

Texas

Traveling

We ended up staying in the Dallas area until January 12th. The weather was rainy and a little chilly and we weren’t in any hurry to put things away or set-up in the rain. Our goal was to head south to the Gulf with a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at a Corp of Engineer Park in Georgetown. Jim Hogg COE Park was great. We had a site overlooking Lake Georgetown and it was very quiet until the weekend. The park filled up with families for the weekend even though the temperatures were a little on the chilly side. Kids don’t seem to care as long as they can be outside playing. By using Trip Advisor we found a fantastic Tex Mex restaurant called Dos Salas. …

05Jan 2015 by Lboll

Winter/Christmas/Minnesota

Traveling

January 5, 2015 – I’m sitting at the table watching our friendly campground coyote and trying to stay warm. After coming back from five days in Minnesota in the bitter cold I shouldn’t and can’t complain about the weather in Texas but I will for just a second. It has been darn cold here. Yesterday we had a high of 37 and today it should get to 40. In a few days they are predicting an overnight low of 14. I think it is time to move out of the Dallas area and head a little farther south. As we made our way into Texas from Louisiana we were fortunate to stay at two very nice Corp of Engineer Parks. I guess because it has been cold, both parks were…

11Dec 2014 by Lboll

Mississippi/Louisiana

Traveling

As in my last post I will say again that Joe and I have so much to be thankful for and we remind ourselves every day. As we travelled along the gulf coast in Mississippi and Louisiana it was apparent just how fortunate we are. Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005 and the devastation it left behind was still apparent along the gulf coast in these two states. We stayed at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland, MS which sits right on the gulf. Waveland was 97% destroyed in 2005. As we drove from Waveland to the town of Bay St. Louis we were amazed at businesses that were still in ruins. Many stilts were standing where houses use to sit on top of them. We did a little research to look…

26Nov 2014 by Lboll

Thanksgiving – 2014

Traveling

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for. We are presently at a Corp of Engineers Park, Twiltley Branch Campground, in Collinsville, Mississippi. The temperature is 60 and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. We are sitting on the shore of Okatibbee Lake watching the fisherman out our back window. There are very few people in this gorgeous park so it is very quiet. We will enjoy our view and the quietness for the next five days before heading farther south. We left Crossville, TN on Nov. 21st after a nine day stay at a KOA waiting for our slide to be fixed. So much wasted time when you have to get the warrantee work approved first. First the dealer has to get…

13Nov 2014 by Lboll No Comments

Fall colors/Ohio

Traveling

Joe and I just put on our long johns and wool slippers and are watching it sleet. We are warm and safely off the road and are thankful that we aren’t in the cold and snow of Minnesota as most of our kids are. We have had the privilege of travelling in the Fall of the year and watching the spectacular color change as we have moved from state to state. Starting off in Minnesota just as the leaves started to change, then into Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and then Ohio. After leaving Ohio a few days ago we drove through the beautiful state of Kentucky and have settled in Tennessee for a few days. The colors are coming to an end but the drive through the hills of Tennessee was…

14Oct 2014 by Lboll

Iowa – Fall 2014

Traveling

So Iowa won out! I have a wonderful husband who always gives in to my wants. I had my heart set on visiting the Amana Colonies in Iowa but with the delay because of the truck we didn’t think we would head in that direction. But Joe said it didn’t make any difference in distance going to Zach’s in Ohio so off we went to see the Amana Colonies. Our first stop on our way to Amana was a beautiful Corp of Engineer Park in Johnston, Iowa, on Sayerville Lake. So many of the COE campgrounds we have stayed at as we travel are treasured fines. Of course, the people who live close to them already know that and book them for the weekends. For that reason they are hard…

07Oct 2014 by Lboll

Minnesota – Summer of 2014

Traveling

I should be writing this from Amana, Iowa but alas it was not meant to be. We had reservations in Iowa starting September 23rd, said our good-byes to our kids and thought we were off to the land of the Hawkeyes but our truck had other ideas. We had been having issues with an engine light coming on for about a month and had it in and out of the dodge service center several times thinking we finally had it fixed. But it wasn’t to be. The day before we were scheduled to leave the light came on again. One more time to the dodge dealer ended up with us leaving it for 8 days. Thankfully they gave us a nice little Jeep Compass to use but also grounded us…

03Aug 2014 by Lboll No Comments

Grand Marais, MN & Family

Traveling

We parked our coach at Dakotah Meadows RV Park in Prior Lake, MN on May 8th and stayed put until we headed to Grand Marais on June 13th. Anyone that knows us knows that Grand Marais is a special place for Joe and I and our kids. We started camping in Grand Marais in 1973 with our oldest son, Eric, then 18 months old, in a borrowed canvas pop-up. The brakes went out in our 1971 Chevy Vega as we came into the town and we had to order new brakes that were shipped to us on the Star Tribune truck from Minneapolis. Our intentions were to stay overnight in Grand Marais and then go into Canada. I am a big believer in things happen for a reason. We were…