We hit the US border about noon on Oct 20 and after a few of the required questions we were asked to pull over for an inspection by the Agricultural officer. They checked our dog food, the food in the fridge and pantry. We have learned from personal experience and reading other blogs to take as little food over as possible and keep it in the original packaging. He took a package of brown rice which was imported from India which apparently is a no-no. Everything else was ok and we were on our way. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and we made it to Summit, SD. Checked into a small RV Park which had nice level sites with easy access although at $44. was a bit pricey for an overnight stop.
The next day things started off pretty much as planned. We had switched out the Rogers SIM cards in our iPhones and replaced them with the Roam Mobility cards. We couldn’t get any service in our campground however as soon as we hit the highway we both had phone service. Our first scheduled stop was Watertown, SD to see the Terry Redlin museum which houses over 200 of his paintings plus personal memorabilia. Admission is free however they got their pound of flesh from Lori by way of the gift shop. If your not familiar with Redlin, he is a famous wildlife and landscape artist who grew up in Watertown (He just passed away in 2016). We have one of his pictures and have always been impressed with his work. His pictures are so realistic and his use of colours make his pictures so warm and inviting that you feel like you could take a step and be right in the scene. The building is quite impressive and a must see if you are by this way.
We stopped in Sioux Falls to get some gas and thats when I made one of those decisions that causes me to question my intelligence. We missed the turn off to the Flying J but saw a sign for a BP station. It seemed a little off the beaten path but it looked like a truck stop although somewhat dated. Upon reflection I’m sure it was built before the Interstate was put in and the canopy was not built for todays rigs. I new it was tight and pulled in slowly. Thats when I heard the crunch. I needed about another inch of clearance. What ticked me off, other than my own stupidity, is that they didn't have any signage stating the clearance of the canopy. I managed to negotiate my way out without any further damage. We got out to take a look and the shroud for the front A/C was cracked but didn't look too bad. We continued on to the Flying J to fill up with gas. That was the second mistake. Should have taken the lawn chairs off the back ladder and climbed up for a further look. Somewhere out on the Interstate the shroud flew off onto the road. I saw it in my mirrors and luckily it came down and didn't hit anyone. So 2 stupid mistakes and one lucky break all in the space of an hour.
On Friday night we pulled into Nebraska City and got the last spot at Victorian Acres Campground, courtesy of a cancellation a few minutes before we pulled in. Very nice spot and at $33. a better price than at Summit.
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| Laundry facility at Victorian Acres. Very cute |
We left the next morning for Guthrie hoping to make it in by about 5:30. A long day but a few mistakes along the way resulted in us not getting in till about 7:30.
Lesson #1 - I set the GPS up to avoid Toll roads. That meant we avoided the Kansas Turnpike but ended up on secondary highways which was a bit more indirect and lots of small towns requiring us to slow down. I realized what I had done and changed the settings and we were soon on the Kansas Turnpike making up for some lost time. For the untrained in the ways of Toll roads they do need better signage on how to enter and pay for the tolls. I won’t go into details, due to extreme embarrassment, but I did end up trying to enter the Turnpike in the exit lane. Stupid is as stupid does. At least thats what Forrest says.
Lesson #2 - Topeka seems to be our Achilles Heel when it comes to running low on gas. 2 years ago we were on the Turnpike and on fumes by the time we came up to one of the Travel Centres. This year we by passed a couple of truck stops thinking we had lots of gas and then we were down to 1/4 tank and no gas stations coming up on the GPS. We ended up turning around and going back into Topeka and searching for a gas station that would take our 54 feet of truck and trailer and with clearance of at least 14 feet. Finally found one. It was tight but managed to manuvere in without hitting anything. Back on the Interstate and about 10 miles further down the road we came to a large truck stop. If we’d kept going we could have saved at least an hour backtracking and looking for a gas station. We have subsequently discovered a setting on our new GPS that finds Truck Stops. Much more suitable than looking for gas stations. Ain’t travelling fun!
We finally made it in to Guthrie and have booked for 3 nights. Time to unwind, buy some groceries, find a new shroud for the A/C before we get some rain and put these little challenges behind us.
More on Guthrie in our next post.
Later
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