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While I was taking a Steve a thunder storm blew up and it really rained hard for about 45 minutes. I got most of the mud washed off my rig and guess what I went for a walk after the storm and no mud. It must be a miracle. It's 10:30 now and there is another thunder storm pouring water on my rig but not as hard as the first one. I walked up to the trading post to check the laundry out. It's workable but typical ranch. Not the most modern or nicely laid out arrangment. It'll do. I'll give it a test tomorrow. Congratulations Sue. I hope it will bring you happiness for many years to come.

Here I am on the Colorado/Wyoming state line on I-25 at the Terry Bison Ranch. This is a big place. I haven't had time to look around so I can't complain about anything as yet. The Campground is just a big field with some current bushes in rows (Full Hookups) they do have a boondock area. Not very many trees but this part of the country has always had a tree shortage. It spit rain about 1/3 of the way down here but this place seems high and dry. There was a cute little cowgirl checking people into the campground. Right down my alley! It only took about half a second to convince me I was going to stay for a week. They have Free Wi-Fi and it seems pretty good. The cell phone also has 4 bars and the campground has one bar. The Brass Buffalo Saloon. They have several differt stores but I haven't checked them out yet. The Check-in is in the trading post. (Tourist trap) Which also has minor Camping supplies and some food supplies. I'm a little tired from driving so I'll check them all out tomorrow while I do the laundry. They have a Dinning car on the Train that runs for a Sunday Lunch ride. The ride is $10 and the lunch is $10. They also have a 2 hour Ride-N-Dine which is a 2 hour train ride then they come back and Dine at the restaurant. The Breakfast ride is $65, Dinner Ride $70 and if you don't want to eat the ride is $60. I may take the lunch ride. 2 hours is a little too much for me unless that little cowgirl is sitting beside me. LOL. Right now I'm going to take a Steve. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It just couldn't wait. I got the mail I was waiting for and I'm going to pull out in the morning but while I was reading my mail it started raining so now I've got the MUD BATH to contend with again. The mud here is the stickiest darn stuff I've ever seen. I'm wondering if I can send some to Jeri to be washed away in all that rain and some to Dave C to dry out in all that wind and dust. Nah, I wouldn't wish this stuff on anybody. Fortunately I've got most of the work done getting the rig ready to roll and when I roll in the slide I'll have a stip of fairly hard surface to walk on in the morning to complete the job. The contractor showed up this morning and tried to break up the clods in the strips between the pads. About all he accomplished is getting a bunch of that muck on the pads so now I'll be tracking it into everywhere I walk. If I ever come here again I'm going to use the FAM CAMP at Ellsworth AFB. It's only about 4 miles from here and it looks pretty nice. Paved roads and all the sites are on cul-de-sacs. (Large circle drives with about 4 sites on each cicle) They are planning on expanding and putting in some pull-thrus sometime this year. $20 a night as opposed to $58 at KOA for full hookups and only a couple blocks from the Base Exchange and Commissary. Tomorrow I hope the be tracking in Buffalo dung instead of this sticky mud. I'm hoping I can get into that Bison ranch. They go into a reservation only mode and jack up the price during Frontier Days in Cheyenne. That starts the last two weeks of July. The Frontier days actually start on the 23rd in town.

Dave C. is so far out in the toolies that his watch doesn't even have ticks. Sunday, A pretty lazy day. I went to Ellsworth AFB to the Base Exchange and bought some better shoes and still got the narrow soles I was hunting for and for half the price. A day well spent, just like my money. I hoping my mail comes tomorrow so I can leave Tuesday Morning.

I got my campground books out this morning and started looking for campgrounds that are a little different to break up the monotony. I found one on the Colorado, Wyoming state line called Terry Bison Ranch. From their web page they have a little of everything there. I think I'll stop there and splurge for a week or so. Maybe I'll get my laundry done finally. They have train rides through the Bison Herd, Trail rides on Horse back. Private pond fishing, A top notch restaurant (so are the prices) and a few other things I've forgot about already. I probably won't take part in any of the activities except the restaurant but I do enjoy watching others enjoy themselves. I'll stock up before I leave hear so I have plenty of food on hand and be able to stay out of that restaurant a little bit. Buffalo Burger's anyone? Of course I may change my mind about 16 times before I get there too. 92 yesterday but a 20 mph breeze made it bearable. It looks like more of the same for today. I may drive down to Custer St Park to get used to the Buffalo. The last time I was there, I got stuck in a herd walking down the center of the highway for over an hour. I opened the window to Photograph and pet them on the way by.

The last time I was in that area the earwigs ate all the rest of the bugs and drank up all my cranberry juice. I went to Junior High at Clover Park High School just south of Tacoma, WN The Earwigs ate the school too. Change #14863. I've about decided to go south from here. (Rapid City) I want to Visit Pie Town, NM in late August. Many of my friends from the Slabs stay there in the summer. It's pretty high ground and there is a Free county park there that has no time restrictions. I also like the area just west of there in Alpine, AZ. I want to go there and see what the big fire did to the areas I like the best. I think they escaped un-harmed but I don't know for sure. I especially like the area around Luna Lake. Very high altitude and lots of Elk running around. Bear too but they can leave without bothering me if they like. Dave C.-- Do you know if that Los Alamos fire is North or south of town and which way is it burning (Southwest to Northeast I presume) I want to know what areas might be in the smoke plume. Did you get you plumbing all done?

I just pulled into the America's Mail Box Campground in Box Elder, SD (Rapid City for you old timers) The construction here seems to have stopped but it's still a mess. The drives the contractor put in are already messed up with where large heavy rigs sunk in. All the construction equipment is gone but there are still piles of dirt and such here and there. It they consider this finished they should have the book thrown at them. My mail hasn't had time to get here yet so tomorrow I'll pull on down to Custer and stay in Custer St Park if I can get a site or go on into town and get a commercials spot. Then next week I'll drive back up here with just the truck and get my mail. That will give me time to figure out where I want to go next. After all the bugs and mosquitoes in Mitchell I scratched all night and am still scratching. I've got a good notion to head for the New Mexico Mountains and hole up till winter. I'll bet I didn't sleep over 2 hours last night from the itching. Now that I haven't got anywhere to go and nothing to do when I get there I don't know what to do with my time. I guess I'll just be stuck with playing with cowgirls.

Things are a lot calmer here in Mitchell except for the gnats. They are trying to eat me up. I think I'll go on to Rapid City tomorrow and check on my mail. then make a loop up into ND and MT for a couple of weeks and come back to Rapid City and check mail again. In that time I'll decide if I want to head for the NM mountains or over to the WA and OR mountains and come back through NV and AZ. I know one thing. I'm heading for the high ground somewhere, this heat and humitity is getting to me. Especially the Humidity. Right now I'm inclined to head for northern New Mexico and that good old 12 percent humidity where all that I have to worry about is nose bleeds from my nose drying out. I don't like this sitting inside with the AC blasting away just to dry out and get away from the bugs. Deet don't seem to faze these gnats and with the wind a fogger isn't ineffective.

I cranked up the 2008 Model T and headed out this morning planning to go down thru Wisconsin. When I got into Duluth at the I-535 ramp off I-35 to go across the bridge I tried to get into the right lane to take the exit. Some gal in a passenger car was running along beside me on the right side. I'd slow down and so would she, I finally squeezed her a little then backed off and it got her mad. She shot past me and I pulled in behind her. Then she slamed on the breaks. I darn near flattened her out but she hit the gas again and took off. When I got to the ramp they had it blocked off with construction and the lane ended. So I had to get back in the only lane left which was the I-35 lane. By this time I'm about to boil over. (Me not the truck) I could have taken the next exit and gone back north to try it from the other direction but I just poured the coal to it and headed down I-35 then took MN 23 down to Sioux Falls, SD. That's the way I went up there. I had planed three over night stays going down through Wisconsin but as hot as I was under the collar I just kept driving till I got to Mitchell, SD. I burned about $260 worth of gas today. I guess I'll stay here a couple of days to make things even out. I'll call all my mail places and have them send the mail to America's Mail Box and pick it up when I get there. It's a good thing I wasn't using Steve's Flux Capacitor or I might have over shot the Left Coast and ended up out in the middle of the Pacific.

If I can't play with fireworks I guess I'll have to refraim from playing with Jeri. LOL However she never blows a finger off it's always my head she's aiming at. My GG Niece flew back to Columbia, SC this after noon and I'm leaving in the morning. Right now I plan on going south through western Wisconsin and crossing the river at Red Wing, MN then taking I-35 down to I-90 and go west from there. How many times I change my mind on the way is anyones guess. I got to keep the jello stired up you know. I've got to get somewhere to do laundry and clean up and to get my mail but I'm thinking I may want to head across the plains rather fast to get back in the high altitude and dry air. This humidity is killing me. Today was a scorcher. 88 and high humidity. I sat by the fan most of the day.

JERI: Chalk is stone just well chewed. JANICE: Better watch out with lessons from me my second lesson is usually "How to carve FINGERS 101."

JERI: I don't know that I'll be in Washington for sure I'm just stiring the jello and thinking what is possible. I've already changed plans a little. Now I'm thinking about going down through Wisconsin then turning west on Hwy 60 and run over to I-35 back in MN then take I-90 back to Rapid City, SD. I would then stay in that area long enough to get all my mail and to put this trailer back together after all these rough MN roads. Then make up my mind from there to maybe go up to Roosevelt NP in ND then over into Montana to take in Glacier NP and from there into ID, WN. OR, NV, AZ and NM staying in the highter eleveations on the way except for NV which is a little hard to find high elevetions in. I'll drop in on everyone near my route and drink up all their cranberry juice and eat up all their spaghetti. I bought a MN parks pass when I stayed at that MN park on the way up here and now all the parks are closed. I should take it to court and demand a refund. However we are not missing much to have MN parks close they are lousy. If they lowered their price to where Minnesotans could afford to use the parks they would earn enough to keep them open. They soak you $28 bucks to stay in a lousy park.

Here it is the one'th of July already. So I've got to start planning my trip back west. I was going to go down through Wisconsin and stop by my sisters old house and see if any of her brood is still around that area but I decided that would take me into the hottest part of the nation going back to NM. So I think I'll head back through ND, MT and might even hit ID and WA. Then stay inland and go down through OR, NV into AZ and back to NM. Now If I could just make alphabet soup out of all those state abreviations I wouldn't have to fix lunch.

The owner mowed the pasture back as far as the pond so we all took a walk back there to see what it looked like. We saw a deer and found the trail that goes to the rock quary. While we were back there all 7 horses decided they would come out and join us. At first my GG niece was scared to death of them and kept hiding behind me. She finally soften up to them and reached around me to pet one on the nose. Then she stepped up beside me but when all of the came over to be petted she got behind me again. She is doing a lot better now and isn't too much afraid of them. I had fun teasing her and I got a lot of exercise walking around the pond and the length of the pasture. We had a nice dinner of 2 inch thick pork chops in sourkrout that was first browned in the frying pan then baked with the pork chops. Boy was it good and just as tender as it could be. With meals like that it is going to be hard to leave here.

Jeri, I have a trucker antenna hooked to a Wilson SOHO amplifier and that amplifier is hooked to a Wilson SOHO antenna inside the trailer which rebroadcast the signal from the trucker antenna and picks up the signal from any phones or air cards in the trailer. I run my computer on the air card and use the phone at the same time. I don't have to hook up anything when I want to call or use the computer with the air card. you could use any amount of devices all at the same time because the amplifier is just working as a repeater amplifying the signal coming in and the phone signal going out all at the same time. The only drawback is the inside antenna must be at least 20 feet from the outside antenna. That limits where you can have the inside antenna mounted and the closer it is to your work area the better. P.S. My Wilson amplifier decided to start working again. Water must have gotten into a cable connector then finally dried out again.

Well I took the tour of the big megopolis of Two Harbours this morning and got some LP gas and stopped at their super market. They have a nice big Supermarket. Now that I'm back on the farm it dawned on me that I didn't get gasoline while I was there so now I have an excuse to go back again. The weather has been nice since I got here. I'm a little afraid to mention that but mid 70's and sunshine isn't too bad for day time temperatures and the night are in the upper 50's and lower 60's. The humidity is a little hard to take after staying in the desert all winter but I guess I can stand that for a week or so. You guys stop feeding those Doctors and RV repair shops. The more they get the more they want. Next thing you know the'll be knocking on my door.

I'm at my Nieces house about 20 miles up the North Shore of Lake Superior, They are renting a farm. House barn and all. It's a beautiful place the owner comes about once a week and takes care of the lawn and gardens. My niece is having a ball feeding the horses carrots and apples. The groceries don't last long with her here. Tonight we sat and talked untill after 10. Tomorrow they have a big trip planned. I think I'll tell them to go and have fun. I need to run into town (Two Harbours, MN) and get some LP gas to keep my frig going and take the chill off the trailer in the mornings. My Wilson amplifier quit working for some reason and I only get one bar on the phone out here so surfing is mighty slow. But at least I'm not on a diet of Vanishing Cream.

Lazy day today. I cleaned up a little of the muck and mire in my trailer and stained a cane I've been chopping on and that's about it. Now I'm going to take a shower and sit here and twiddle my thumbs the rest of the evening. The pull out in the morning and head for my Nieces place in Duluth. She lives way out of town on a farm so I may find that I have nothing but Vanishing cream to put on my cereal every morning. If you don't hear from me you'll know why and you can expect to hear from me again after the 4th.

Right after I posted that comment on the forum, I went in the bedroom and pulled a two hour Steve myself. Now it's bed time and I'm raring to go but not to bed.

Not to worry Steve, I'm camped right on the Mississippi River and it don't look as big here as it does in a dry year down there. While we were at the Sand's a couple in a canoe came zooming down the river having a ball. And, are you sure that was a Tornado and not that Flux Capacitor going nuts. You better put some stop leak in it's grid leak resistor.

Hey Steve, Hi Five on getting Bessy Bus on the move again. If you need any lessons on sitting in your chair and getting everyone to stop and talk. I'd be glad to give them fist hand but you must supply the Cranberry Juice and come forth with that Ice Cream Machine. Linda and Dave Sands just left for home. We went to the restaurant and the meal slowed the talking a tad but not much. Tnen we went to their place. They have a nice spot on the Mississippi. They showed me around their place but that didn't slow my gabbing very much either. We took all the roads that I might have to take when I leave. I still talked. Then we came back to my place. I got then trapped inside then got out all my carvings to brag about. I don't know about them but I had a very nice day and guess what, I'm not talking to myself this evening. Too tired. I'll probably use tomorrow to clean some of the mud out of this trailer from Rapid City and get ready for boonedocking in my nieces back yard. Where are all those cowgirls when you need one? They must have all gone to Dave C's house to see the new Tourist Trap.

Well, I'll be heading on up to Linda and Dave's to try and break the bank at that dinner I haven't eating for a week now so I should be pretty hungry. LOL The sun did show it's smiling face today about noon And the temperature got up to 81. With all the humidity here it felt like about 95. Funny but in the desert I'm still wearing a jacket at 80 degrees. Here at 75 degrees I'm sweating. I haven't unhooked the truck since I got here so I'm all hooked up and ready to roll in the morning. All I have to do is put a few things away inside and take off. It's only about 160 miles up to Linda and Dave's so I should be there fairly early tomorrow. The radio said something about 101 being closed where it runs into 25. 101 is the hwy Linda and Dave live on but I can't find any where on the map where it runs into 25. I'm thinking they are talking about some place down where the Minnesota River crosses. I won't be using 101 to get there tomorrow but I will be using 25 as I plan to cut cross lots and use 12, 24, 37 and 25. I'll be crossing the Minnesota River on 23 near Granite Falls. I haven't heard of any trouble there so I guess I'll just be playing it by ear as I head across 12. Carol A: I find that most towns that depend on an Historical event to keep them alive are about dead. I didn't like Vicksbury either. You better get out of the deep south before we have to ring the sweat out of you to keep you from drowning

I love those Applebee riblets but they stopped making the southwest salad I usually get when I eat lunch there. But they have an apple pecan salad that is pretty darn good also. I just started raining down here and the weather man lied. he said no rain for Minnesota. Oh well if I ever find a weather man that don't lie I'll take him down to Dave C's tourist trap and put him on display. We did pick up a few campers today, we have about 10 in here now. It's been a lazy day I took a 2 hour Steve. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Steve, you were supposed to teletransport the ice Cream over here not me. I went for a walk around the park this afternoon. It's empty but I found out why the train sounded so loud. This is a long skinny park and the train track runs right down the center of the park. Man they must really hate campers to build a campground on both side of a railroad track. There is a small pond here with bass and bluegill in it and there are brown trout in the river. They brag that they stock it twice a year. Man We stocked the river every week in the resort I lived in, in North Carolina. The fish are all caught within 10 days of stocking in most places. Dave: that's what you should do. Dig a hole on your property and advertice that you stock it twice a year. No, On second though you'd have to stock it with flying fish as strong as that wind gets there. Is that why they call it a fly rod? Is it for catching flying fish?

sorry for the double post but I have all kinds of wierd thing happinging because of a weak signal.