Sculpture in WI

This is a post from the past...when we were in west central Wisconsin this summer, we stayed in Baraboo, and got to visit an amazing sculpture garden just off highway 12 south of that town. I cannot remember the guy's name, but he collected a whole bunch of scrap iron parts, and welded hundreds of fantastic fanciful sculptures. Some were like 30 feet tall!!! Some were painted, some not. Some were small, like 12 inches tall, some moved, some were like wind chimes on a huge scale. And it is free! Here are a few photos.

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License Renewal

Ellen' South Dakota driver's license was going to expire on her birthday, Feb, 4, 2012. We decided we did not want to be in South Dakota in February!!! Fortunately, she could renew 6 months before or after her birthday, so we pulled the Excel to Tea, SD, 10 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, where the DMV was.

To get a renewal license, one needs several documents due to the strict regulations put in place following 9/11. The scary part is South Dakota did not fully comply with the Federal Regulations until 2009!!!

Further, to renew the SD license as a 'full time RVer', one needs a receipt for one night's stay in the state. After Ellen filled out a form and got to the window, the clerk informed Ellen that the receipt from the Red Barn Campground her name was not on it! So, back out to Tea to re-do the receipt!

All was good then, especially having lunch afterwards at Applebee's.

Frontier Days, Fort Dodge, IA

Wahoo!!! Frontier Days is an annual celebration of Fort Dodge. All kinds of stuff going on here, with music, a Lone Ranger Impersonator (no Tonto) on Silver, Lots of vendors selling everything from fake dreamcatchers to snakeskin belts to skunk hats--kind of like Davy Crockett's coonskin cap but black and white. And this interesting covered wagon with this frontier doggy riding shotgun.

Oh and thay had an old tyme speling bea, too. Alec Pendry and I participated on Saturday, and each of us got a ribbon--he an honorable mention, and I earned a second place finish. I missed 'proselyte', and I missed it badly. It was somewhat uncomfortable standing up and trying to visualize the spelling of a given word, and then vocalizing it correctly. Hadn't done this since 6th grade!!! It was kinda fun, in a weird sort of way.

Now where can I hang this ribbon in the RV?

Gowrie and Fort Dodge, IA

Erin getting ready to make her move as Mason and Jaiden look on

We have been in the Gowrie and Fort Dodge area for a couple of weeks now. We had been in Washington visiting daughter Heather's Family. Had a great time there.

We have managed to play a few games of Catan with Erin and the kids. I think Erin is hooked more on the game than I am! And Jaiden loves it too. Good players all.

We also have seen some soccer games, and music programs, and a couple of funerals too. We squeezed a few days in at Minneapolis, seeing daughter Jenn's family.

We took Mason and Ethan to Kung Fu Panda II in 3D. Wow, this movie was beautiful. The 3D effects at times were amazing, but the Chinese landscapes and architecture was jaw dropping!

We are staying at friend's Alec and Charlton Pendry's RV spot Alec fixed up for us. It has been great to catch up with them too. The weather has been soooo different than what we had in AZ. Clouds!!! Rain!!! Humidity!!!! yuk.

Marilyn is to my right

I did get to go to an art teacher retirement deal this week at Olde Boston's downtown Fort Dodge. Marilyn Olivari from Rockwell City was celebrating her 'freedom'. She had taken my position at Fair Oaks Middle School five years ago. She looked great and was truly excited about retirement. I am amazed I have been out of work for 5 years!

I took a month off

Well, I have been off the blog, and I feel pretty guilty about it. It just seems that so many things have come up and so many people have been a part of this last month, that once I got out of the habit, there was no way I could get back to it. All rationalization aside, I hope to do better...

First off, our Ford F 450 was indeed taken care of by Jim Click Ford's Service Center. The warning light came back on a day or two later, and we took it back in to Tucson the day after. They were able to run diagnostics on it and found our thermostat was not functioning, so they replaced it. NO PROBLEMS SINCE!!!!

We made the big long trip back to Iowa, spending several days in Moriarty NM getting some work done on our Excel. RV Sales is the largest seller of Excels nationwide, and their service is awesome. We had several little things fixed and some others that were 'big' repaired as well, most notably our large slide. It was fine until we were fixing to leave and when we went to pull the slide in, it broke!

Another day sitting at Moriarty, but that was okay, because we were right next door to Howard and Melita Robinson. Howard and Melita have become great friends, as we met a year ago at Smith Center, KS (we were both getting some work done on our rigs). We also spent some time with them in Tucson, where they winter.

The trip back was fun, and fine...even though it cost over $800 in fuel! The truck ran great, we boondocked a few times to save some $...even in Terrible's Casino in Osceola, IA. I was able to restrain myself, and did not enter the casino boat!

More news to come....

Not the best news

We are spending the day at Jim Click Ford in Tucson, AZ. Our F-450 has had a warning light go on twice in the last 2-3 weeks, indicating 'reduced engine power'. I had taken it to Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista, and got to sit around for 3 and a half hours, only to have them say we have no idea what happened.

Here in Tucson the tech sounds much more knowledgable, and told us that we might not be smart to travel pulling our 18000 pound fifth wheel until the problem is diagnosed and resolved. Not what we wanted to hear, but I can just picture us going up a mountain with 83 vehicles behind us when the power goes out!

I will keep you posted. The tech said to try and drive as many miles as possible to hopefully have the warning go on again, and then he could trace the source. He also indicated the tech in Sierra Vista must have downloaded and lost any information that could lead to a diagnosis.