After breakfast, dressing, and walking the dogs we had a problem to deal with. The RV House batteries were not holding a charge. Steve tested them and decided they weren’t good anymore. So we drove the RV to the NAPA store in Deer Lodge Montana, where Steve disconnected the batteries and we took them inside the store to be tested. We took in all three batteries. The two house batteries were shot , but the engine battery was fine. Let me tell you, the guys in the NAPA in Deer Lodge were none too friendly. In fact they acted like it was a hardship to test and sell us batteries. I mean we paid them $176 for two batteries. You’d think they would have treated us a little nicer. This took about an hour then we got on the road again. There are two passes that are a little memorable on I-90 - Homestake Pass near Butte and Bozeman Pass. On one of them, the truck speed is 25 mph and there is a big runaway truck ramp. These are always a little unnerving to me. You never know if you are going to make it to the top and then when you go down - you pray the brakes work and you don't go too fast! We stopped at Big Timber and planned to eat lunch, but the cafe there was closed. So we ate in the RV and kept moving on down the road. We stopped for the night at Billings KOA. And so much for people not traveling, this RV Park was packed! There was barely room to breathe between each RV. In fact when we pulled in, the RV next door, had to move a vehicle so we could park. Since we were tired, we ordered pizza to be delivered to the RV. We carefully walked our dogs - because many people had their dogs out and some were not leashed. We walked over to the Yellowstone River and admired its beauty. Montana sure has some nice water!
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| Horse we saw on our walk |
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| Sun in smoke |
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| Looking north at RV Park, smoky view |
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| RV Batteries |
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| The Continental Divide near Homestake Pass |
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| Mountains near Bozeman, MT, still smoky |
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| Barn near Livingston, MT |
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| One of the many Pronghorns I saw today |
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| Big USA flag Billings, MT |
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| Deer and autumn color greeted us at the Billings KOA! |
Tuesday, Sept 15
We got up a little earlier and got started earlier. Steve drove all the way to Spearfish, SD. We stayed at Chris Campground. We have stayed here before, back in 2017 or 2018. The people who own this campground are really nice. And they only take cash or check. They don’t do credit cards. We explored Spearfish when we were here previously and it is a really nice area. We just zipped through town this time though. We had trees that blocked our satellite dish, so we just watched some DVDs.
Bridge at Crow Agency
Display at Buffalo WY Visitor's Center
Weird Rocks that looked like bison from a distance
Coal Train
Barn near Sundance, WY
Sundance WY - Black Hills of SD
Airplane on a pole
Tipi
We arrived in South Dakota
How about this? A leg lamp in the front window of an RV!
Wednesday, Sept 16
We were up fairly early today and on the road by 9:30 AM. Steve drove and drove. We pulled off at Murdo, SD for gas and could not find a place to park to get lunch. So we kept driving to a small town and had a Peanut Butter sandwich and fruit at 3:00 PM. We were back in the central time zone. We arrived in Mitchell, SD about 6:00 PM. The first site we tried had trees blocking our satellite signal - so we asked to move. Then we were able to get satellite service and we got all set up. We unhooked the pickup and went through the McDonald’s drive in and got our supper. We wanted to get a satellite signal, because we needed to let Steve rest a bit from all his driving. And this is about 250 or so miles from the Winnebago Factory at Forest City, IA.
Area near Spearfish, SD
Two of many signs for the famous Wall Drug
Long Valley, SD
Field of Canola?
Maize
The next pictures are of the Missouri River
Thursday, Sept 17
We got up and around rather slowly today. Most of the day we took it easy and recuperated from the drive. We picked up lunch at Arby’s and I fixed Chili for supper.
Friday, Sept 18
Again we were up and around slowly. We had breakfast and lunch. When afternoon rolled around we went downtown and looked at the Corn Palace. It has quite an interesting history. It was worth checking out. Next we went out to Lake Mitchell. The weather was lovely and we enjoyed being outside touring around.
Just a Bison and a Hereford outstanding in their field!
Corn Palace
Inside the Corn Palace
Lake Mitchell, SD
Saturday, Sept 19
We got around and after walking our dogs and unhooking the utilities, we were on the road again. We left Mitchell, SD and drove to Blue Earth, MN. We have been on I-90 since we left Deer Lodge, MT. There isn’t a huge amount of traffic on this super slab, not as much as I-80. While Steve was driving, I watched OK State Football on the phone and kept Steve informed. We had booked a spot at the fairgrounds here in Blue Earth and it was very nice. We had to unhook and back in but that was no problem. We got set up and relaxed a bit. Later we went for a walk up to the park where the Jolly Green Giant is located. There is also a Harmony park. It has a lot of outdoor chimes and some drums. There is a nice paved bicycle path around the fairgrounds and possibly the town. There is also a post that has bicycle repair tools attached in case you need to fix your bike while you are riding. And it also has an air pump. Very Handy. This is a really nice, clean place and I could see us spending a few more days here at some point. I made chicken and vegetable soup for our supper.
We entered Minnesota today! A new state for us.
Flowers by our campsite
The Jolly Green Giant!
Harmony Park
Bike Repair tools
Sunday, Sept 20
After getting dressed and having breakfast we walked the dogs. We walked around the fairgrounds. They have preserved some old buildings and they are interesting. The grass here is soft and the dogs just love to roll in it. Next we got our pickup attached and drove to Forest City, IA. We arrived at the Winnebago Service Center not knowing what exactly we were supposed to do. But lucky for us some guys explained where to get water for our fresh water tank and then just go ahead and park the RV. Winnebago has electric outlets so you can plug your RV in. So we completed that and put up the satellite dish. Steve defrosted the refrigerator and we watched football.
These are some buildings we saw displayed at the Blue Earth, MN Fairgrounds. We saw them on our morning walk!
We entered Iowa today
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