Friday 6/18 through Wednesday 6/24

Friday 6/18 Pierre SD

We left the Sioux Falls South Dakota Walmart early morning so we could miss the winds that were going to show up in the afternoon. We landed in Pierre South Dakato in another Walmart. We had lunch in the RV then headed into town because we had seen on the net that they were starting Oahe Day's that night. We found the park where some things were happening and talked to the local police, that were in the park. They said come back at 5pm and that is when the parade was starting. The major events were taking place on Saturday so we passed on the parade.

Saturday 6/19 Pierre SD & Bismarck ND

We figured the park would be crowded on Saturday for Oahe Days so we showed up at 9am. The only thing that was going on was people were practicing the "cornhole tournament toss" and some vendors were setting up their tents. Lucky for them, or us, we had just missed the 5k/10K run walk, because Dave and I would have joined in and more then likely won. :) Corn hole toss is like throwing bean bags in the a hole on a board but instead of beans the bags are filled with corn. They also had a float race at the harbor but we never found the harbor. When driving by the State Capital we saw there was something going on there so we parked and checked it out. It was their Capitol Centennial. They had entertainment, tours of the Capitol, a motorcycle and old car show. After the free lunch we headed back to the RV and got back on the road again. We ended up in Bismarck, North Dakota in another Walmart. Out of the South and into the North. We set up there then went driving around. Ended up seeing their State Capital building and nothing like South Dakota's their's was plain and boring even the Governor's mansion was boring.

Sunday 6/20 Cottonwood RV Park Glasgow Montana

We were going to go into the Walmart (Bismarck) and someone (an employee we guessed who was leaving) said they don't open until noon, we just laughed and kept walking. He yelled again that they don't open until noon and we looked around, there were cars there but no one was going in or out. So we went back to the coach and finished packing up then I drove the car over to the front door to see for myself and sure enough that Walmart is only open from 12 noon to 12 midnight, very strange. We got the car hooked up and hit the road. Since leaving Iowa we have just about been on 2 lane roads, seeing the countryside that most people don't see. When flying in a plane you look out the window and see the different colors and shapes of the land below you, well we are seeing it as we drive, very amazing to see. Driving into Montana is different from ND and SD but very much the same. Open, different colors, more cattle now, it's just every state is different. On one section of the road there were so many little animals that kept running on the road, and as far as I could tell we never got any. When we stopped for fuel Dave got to talking to someone and said they were Gofers, 1000's of them are all over. I believe I ran over a snake, not on purpose but as you are doing 65mph it is kind of hard to miss something that is right in our way. Dave managed to brake for a wild turkey, he said it would have left a dent in the RV. When we got to the RV park in Glasgow, no Walmarts, too small of town. We needed full hookup anyway, to dump, fill fresh water and do laundry. I went walking around town in the morning and when I stopped at the light I looked down and my legs were covered in black bugs. Needless to say I have bug bites everywhere. When Dave was washing the wind shield his ankles got ate alive.

Monday 6/21 Havre Montana

When we left Glasgow the weather wasn't looking that great so we were hoping to make it to the Walmart in Havre, MT before the storm hit, NOT! We had lighting all around us and the rain was coming down so hard and fast it wasn't easy to see out the window. Two lane roads and no where to pull off to so we had to keep going. It lasted maybe 10 min. but it seemed much longer. We finally made it to Havre Walmart and set-up. Luckily we got there when we did because it seemed like every RV, trailer and 5th wheel decided to do the same thing as us. That night Walmart looked like an RV Park, good thing they had closed at 9pm, this Walmart is 9am to 9pm. We toured around town, which didn't take long, and stopped off at the Elk's Lodge. Sat and talked for a little while and asked if there were any good restaurants in the town, wanted to take Dave out for dinner for Farther's day and didn't get a chance to on Sunday. They told us about 1 but it is closed on Monday and one guy mentioned that if we wanted a good steak go to Andy's Supper Club, which we did. The Steaks were hugh, they could have easily fed 4 people, but they were 28.00 each. With your dinner you got, bread sticks and crackers, relish tray, salad, spaghetti, garlic bread and baked potato, so really the price wasn't bad at all. I told Dave we will eat all the other stuff and bring the steak home and eat it for the next 2 days, which we did. That night, after turning off everything, I was walking into the bedroom, where Dave was sleeping and I hit the wall with my toe, I don't know how I didn't wake him with all my crying.

Tuesday 6/22 Columbia Falls, Montana

Still driving 2 land roads this time we were seeing Antelopes and Deer, Dave did manage to hit a bird, or I should really say the bird hit us. The GPS led us to the Walmart but the Walmart was closed. We had to pull over and try and find another one, which we did, the old one had moved. When we found it there was just no way we wanted to stay there, right in the middle of a shopping mall and the RV's that were there were only "C" classes, very small, so we decided to stay at another RV Park, Columbia Falls RV Park, which was very nice and a new place. We setup and then went shopping at Costco and just looked around town.

Wednesday 6/23 Still in Columbia Falls

You know it stays light here until 10pm, really strange, makes for a very long evening. In the morning we packed a lunch then headed out for touring around Glacier National Park. What a beautiful drive, the water falls were amazing to see. We couldn't do the entire "Going to the Sun" drive because the road is still closed because of the snow but we took it as far as we could. Dave got many pictures and will have to work on him to get them posted. After visiting the visitor center and checking out the small towns there we stopped at a picnic area and had lunch. When we got back to the coach we decided to go to the movies, so we went and saw Karate Kid. Pretty good movie, we had no complaints.

Thursday 6/24 Wenatchee, Washington

Todays drive was way too long, don't even want to get back into RVing if all we do is drive all day. Anyway, the scenery was beautiful again, and we have stopped off at Walmart, in Wenatchee, WA. There is a man here, parked, with his 2 dogs, a small 5th wheel and looks like he is staying for awhile. This Walmart must want the RVer's because they even have an outhouse in the parking lot.

6/14 - 6/17

6/14

We finally got out of Adventureland RV park around noon on Monday. We were having problems with our electrical so Dave had to fix that before we could leave. On our way to Eagan, MN we saw a sign for the Spam Museum, so we went a little out of our way to stop and see it. This time on our travels we are not rushing and if we see something that catches our eye then we are going to stop and see it. We got to the Spam Museum at 4:30pm and it closed at 5 so we didn't have a lot of time to see the whole thing. We did the walk through and then purchased some Garlic spam. We got to the Wal*Mart in Eagan and set up camp. Since we got in so late, for us, we ended up eating out at a place called Old Chicago, what a great restaurant. We shared Italian Nacho's and a pizza, great food.

6/15

Tuesday we drove the RV over to Ikea, across the street from Mall of America, they had parking for RV's and trucks. We then walked the MOA for the next 3 hours. I know people say it can take a day or more to get through the whole place but Dave and I aren't shoppers so we just walked and checked everything out. Lots of rides there but a bit costly, to much for us anyway. While there we saw a Casino shop offering all kinds of things, plus, they had an RV park. We decided to stay another couple days so we headed over to the Casino.

6/16

The weather was nice so we decided to go to the Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, MN. Wanted to see what it was like to go to a amusement park without it raining. :) They had just about the same rides that Adventureland did plus a lot more. Some of those rides are just crazy, their water park is up and running too. I just heard that the rain is still coming down in Altoona, Iowa and now the farmers are worried about flooding, thank goodness we left there. I don't know when Adventureland will ever finishing putting in their water park.

Dave went up and brought the amusement park tickets and had gotten 2 seniors for 15.99 each. MOA was going to cost us about 85 for both of us, no thank you.

6/17

The drive from Shakopee, MN. to Sioux Falls, SD was a short drive, 4 hrs., but winds the whole time. Dave looked like he was constantly making a left turn. We got set-up in another Wal*Mart then headed out to visit the falls. They have been having so much rain, the week before, that the falls looked so dirty from all of the run off. All the lakes we kept seeing along the drives have been very full. I feel for the farmers out here in SD. too even their fields are under water.

6/9 - 6/13/10 Last Iowa Post

On our day off we went to Winterset to see the house John Wayne was born in and then toured around the "Bridges" of Madison County. It started pouring rain for like 1 1/2 hours, driving back to the RV Park you couldn't see 3 car lengths in front of you. I was driving on the freeway with my flashers on, unbelievable. Work has been slow and when the rain comes it comes in buckets. It seems to pour either late at night or 1st thing in the morning. The amusement park has been closing early every night, 8pm, instead of 9 or 10 pm. Saturday, Dave gave notice that we were leaving here on Monday, today. Our electrical quit working and that was the straw that broke the camels back for Dave. With all of this rain and our awnings not up our coach is leaking, electric quit, ants in coach, physical labor for $7 an hour, this place just isn't worth it. We are heading out and going to do some site seeing now that we are out here. 1st stop is Mall of America, will keep you up dated on our travels.

Did get a call from my doctor last Friday and the calcium in my blood is high. She said I couldn't wait until next October to have it checked, so we will have to stop somewhere and sit for awhile to have this checked out. The possibilities could be a tumor in my thyroid. Will keep you undated.

June 4th - June 8th

June 4th - Friday

Dave got a hair cut then had an appointment with a Chiropractor, his left shoulder blade is really bothering him. They took x-rays and want to see him 3 times a week for I don't know how long. Work was busy until around 4:30pm, that's when the school buses all left. Boy, I sure don't remember our schools taking us to amusement parks when I was in school. Marilyn came by later and asked if I wanted to work a double on Saturday, Ferris Wheel Assist, I said sure. She then tracked Dave down and he got a double shift too, working Space Shot.

June 5th - Saturday

In the a.m. I assisted on the Ferris Wheel which was fun. Work was slow though for a Saturday, the weather report said rain all day, but it didn't happen. On my p.m. shift I was still in the Underground. The rain finally hit, rather came down in buckets, about 5:30 p.m. which we then really became busy. Since we are in a covered building we don't really know what is going on in the rest of the park. They had closed down all the rides but ours, so everyone ran to us to get our of the rain plus ride a ride. 20 min. later the rain stopped and the sun came back out. The rest of the weather was fine until we closed at 10 p.m. We had started work at 9:40pm and got off at 10pm, long day but we both felt fine, won't make a habit of doing that though.

June 6th - Sunday

When we went into work we got our new job assignments which starts on Monday. Dave got days off cover, which means he goes to a different job everyday covering for the people that have that day off. I got G-Force no big deal until when I went on my break and looked at the sheet again. I had to be the operator on G-Force. For one thing I don't know how to operate the ride, and I never wanted to be an operator only an assistant. The worst thing of all was the operator has to speak into a mike, which I don't like to speak in public. Glenn trained me for the ride, Sunday night, and I let him know I wasn't happy at all. He said "Oh Jeri" you can do it, if I really don't like it come see him later and he would see what he could do.

June 7th - Monday

Started the new ride, messed up a few times when I tried to start the ride and speaking wasn't fun either. My assistant was new too, so he couldn't help me any, his name was Jerry too. Luckily it was a slow day and by the end of it I was doing pretty good. We did get some rain around 6pm but those people just won't leave the rides no matter what.

June 8th - Tuesday

In the morning we went to the Casino for the breakfast buffet, just can't beat that $3.50 price. It holds you just about all day too. Another slow day and I still had a couple mess ups on starting the ride but the people are really understanding and just said no big deal. Jerry was off so I had another new assist that hadn't worked the ride so I had to train her. Around 7pm it started raining a little, it would start, stop, start, stop. At 7:40 Dave comes over to my ride and said they are shutting everyone down. My ride was full, all of a sudden now I know why, and no white or black shirt people had told me to shut down so my ride was still going. As the ride was coming to a stop and I was talking to the people, in the mike, a maintenance man had gone in back and shut my power off, boy was I pissed. When we were walking out I let Kirby, a white shirt, know how pissed I was. He said they were short handed and just didn't make it to my ride to let me know, I said "I have a phone at my ride" just rude.

Dave's working Raging River, Dragon Roller Coaster, Inverter, Outlaw as Operator, CIA (come in anyway) they will figure out what to assign him, then on Sunday he is driving "Molly the Trolley". It goes from the Hotel and the RV Park to the amusement park.

May 29th - June 3rd

5/29

Went to the Farmer's Market and Costco in the morning.

Work was busy, after all week long when it had been slow. My ride, Red Barons, had some really heavy kids and after helping a few I finally had their parents come in and lift their kids, getting to old to lift those heifers.

I had 1 girl in the front of the plane and her little brother in back. After the ride ended her brother wanted off and she wanted to stay. Since, at that time, I had enough planes to cover what kids were in line I let her stay. When I started the ride I heard this scream and crying, I thought it was on the Space Shot, then realized it was the girl so I hit the stop button. I went running over to her and so did her mom, her leg was out straight and I was asking her what was wrong. All she kept saying is I want my mom, I unlocked her seat belt and her mom took her out. I asked what was wrong, when they walked by me and her mom said she had a spider on her leg, I didn't see anything, but her mom said she is scared to death of spiders. Boy, sure made my heart skip a beat and added some more new gray hairs to my head.

Dave said his day was busy, they had the people who took the stupid pills that day. When the people were told to get off and step to the left, they just step to the right, they kept having to stop the ride, which gets very old for them. Plus, not to mention the toll it takes on your shoulders, the sky ride is very hard work.

5/30

Sunday we got our new ride assignment for the following week, Monday through Sunday. I was going to the Underground, a very dark, old mining story about Bad Bob, not a fast ride just up and down in the dark. Dave was going to the Convoy, which is a little kids ride that has 6 very small big rigs that go around the circle 4 times. Parents can sit on top of the big rig if they want, boring.

Anyway, Sunday's work day was busy again and by the end of the day, which was at 9pm a very long day, Dave had had enough, he was ready to quit. His shoulders were killing him, the arthritis was so bad and he was really hurting. I messaged his shoulders which helped, and I kept telling him tomorrow on the kids ride you will get a break.

5/31

We started our new rides, it was a pretty slow day for a 3 day weekend, very surprised. It was nice because we had time to learn our new rides. Not like it took Dave long to learn to run the kids truck ride and it didn't take me long to learn to assist on the Underground.

6/1

Talk about another slow day, on my ride we have 2 assist's and 1 operator, the ride office called our operator and said the assist's have to relieve each other for our breaks. So I'm on the operator's side, so when I leave he/she does the unloading by him/herself. When I cover for the other side they still have to cover the unloading side. Really no big deal it was very slow.

Dave, was of course very slow, he is on a little kids ride.We started work at 2pm, he was given his break at 3:30pm for 1/2 hour, and then had to work until 7pm, on a very slow day. When I walked by him, he was at the end of his break and was very unhappy. I said give it awhile, this is only the 2nd . We ended up closing 10 min. early because we had one hell of a thunder/tornado storm going through where we were.

6/2

Wednesday, another slow day, nothing to report.

6/3

Yea! our day off. In the morning we went and picked up our fixed awning's, that go over our slides, then went into the amusement park. I must say they have some different rides that we have never been on before. They were great rides too, Disney and Magic Mountain need to add them, a lot of fun.

Talked to Kim and Madison on Skype this afternoon was fun, Kim's belly is getting so big. Madison's talked to us and Toby kept jumping up to look too, to cute.