Working our way West

The bakkie and Skilpad now look as if they have been on the road for a few days. Frank particularly hates dusty roads, and the campground for Wednesday night was a good few miles down a really dry dusty road......... The Interstate 90 West was such a bad road that the screws holding the microwave in place landed on the counter and we found a screw for the screen door on the step too - small repairs. This is our first trip in this rv and there are bound to be little niggles to work out. We passed a camper that had been done up and had the website almostwillie.com all over it - The guy driving looked a tad like Willie Nelson and the picture he had stuck on the back looked like him too! We passed rather quickly as it looked like the wheels were going to fall off - or at least he had one verrrry bad spring! He looked quite happy though....and definately quite a character just merrily croozing along the highway. And then we stopped for gas and the bakkie nearly escaped! When we pulled out of the gas station we went through a particularly bad dip and Frank saw the front of the bakkie in his rear view mirror - not good! She had broken one of the pins holding the towing outfit onto the bakkie and was trying to escape! Fortunately there was a turning lane right there and we made good use of it. The bar was really badly bent and so we took the other side off too, drove a llittle way down the road road in separate vehicles and parked. I stayed with the rv while Frank went off to get it all straightened up again. Fortunately he was not gone too long and we were back on track about an hour later. Maybe the bakkie knew we were headed into long boring roads? While I waited in the rv, I had three wireless high speed connections available - but not one of them would tie me on! It was terribly frustrating, to say the least. This side of South and North Dakota is ummmmmmmm - flat and not many "oh look there!"'s happened at all! The camera sat on standby most of the day and we were rather please to get to the Turtle River campground. We took the bikes out for a ride and quickly discovered that there were hills here after all and were very thankful for the airconditioner when we got back! It had been too hot in Chattanooga to ride for about a week and we were definately out of practise. :-)We left the campground fairly early this morning, wanting to get out of the Dakota's and into more interesting countryside. We had wanted to see what it was like up here - now we know! Yes, Debbie, tell Tom we are now in 'warp 9' and headin' out - looking for Scottie himselft to beam us outa here! The road is pretty good and there are little white butterflies all over the place. There are mostly wheat fields and cattle farms around here now and the wind is blowing us around quite a bit. We are driving on the #2 state road just a few miles south of Canada. We passed through the little town of Rugby, which is the geographical center of North America. And Devils Lake was big and pretty. There certainly is not a whole lot of anything around here at all! The roadworks all across this state is incredible - it goes on for miles upon rattling mile. There are more dead skunks than live ones and their smell attaches itself to Skilpad and stays quite a while too.. We got briefly excited at some hills and then, after about 5 minutes, it was all flat again. Every now and again the fields turned yellow with the sunflowers all hunting the sun - that was really pretty.We are pushing quite hard to get to Glacier Park. We have seen what there is not to see on this side and want to move on now. People are staying well away from us and the rv - lots of looks, waves, horn honking and thumbs up - but as soon as we park anywhere and are accessible, everyone has something else to do. At least they are being affected one way or the other. A major point of all of this was to 'get to' people, to make them think. In some way - its working. One couple with an Alaska tag passed up waving and giving the thumbs up sign - maybe we will bump into them again when we get there. We are stopped for the night in a small town called Havre, Montana. We took the bikes for a ride to the local grocery store about two miles down the road and stocked up just a little. We cannot carry too much on the bicycles! Now sitting and enjoying a bottle of South African wine that a customer of ours gave us, with a good Frank-warmed lasagne. We should reach Glacier Park tomorrow evening and will hang out there for a day or three. Then it's up and over the icefield parkway, Banff National Park and to Alberta Canada to meet Penny! I cannot wait......... The days have passed in a blur with very little high excitement so far. I think we are still both realising that we are out here again, no schedules, no work - just the road and us and everyone riding with us. We cannot wait to get to some mountains! Thanks for all your emails - I promise to answer them all whenever I can.That's me for the night... Love to all Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXxxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com