From the Great Lakes to the Badlands

 June 15th-19th, 2014 Days 16-20

Our Trip so far.....

These past few days have been mostly spent traveling.  Norm drives and I spend my time on the computer.  I would never last much more than an hour sitting around without something to do.  I have been listening to computer tutorials, writing the Blog, and I was trying to get a jump start on my book that I usually create for our coffee table after our trips are over.   I spent hours designing the pages and moving the first two blog posts over to the book, adding photos, etc, and then they disappeared. Poof!  When I went back today and they were gone again, I just wanted to cry.  Maybe it is not meant to be. I wonder why/if I am just wasting my time.

We had serious doubts when we drove up to Roxy Supper Club

The first day, our 12^th wedding anniversary, we traveled to Oskgosh, Wisconsin and stayed at Hickory Oaks Campground.  All of the restaurants with unique menus were closed on Sunday, so we had dinner at Trip Advisor’s #1 choice, called The Roxy.  Well, let’s just say that when the waiter suggested that if we wanted something better than French or American Fries we could substitute cottage cheese or tomato juice, we laughed and agreed that this did not qualify as our special dinner.

The next day we arrived in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  Pettibone Resort RV Campground was a lovely place right on the Mississippi River. The river flowed both in front and behind us since we were technically on an island. I wondered about the signs warning of flood danger. We quickly set up in a lovely spot. We decided to just stay put and enjoy the surroundings, but unfortunately the bugs were so bad that we could not comfortably sit out by the water.  That night there was a severe thunderstorm watch and lots of warnings of floods.

A GoogleEarth Birds-eye View of our campsite on left hand side.

We got up the next day and got an earlier than usual start.  We drove right toward “ the eye of the storms” ( well, that is a little dramatic perhaps ).

We arrived at Adrian Campground Municipal Park in Adrian, Minnesota where we planned to stay for 2 nights.  Norm found out that golf, which he planned for the next day, was out of the question because it was Men’s Day. There was nothing else to do here, so we made some calls and decided to head toward The Badlands a day early.

When I stopped into the office to see about doing some laundry (no underwear left, so it was time) the camp host casually said “ yes, yes, you better be ready for another evacuation tonight” in that unique mid-western lilt.

“ What?” I exclaimed.  “ Evacuation from What? “

“ The floods” she states, as if it would be obvious.

“What floods?  We are in the middle of miles of fields!”  I am remembering all the water on the campground and the mud, so perhaps she is not joking.

She then told me multiple tornadoes touched down the night before within 5 miles of them, the sirens had gone off ( she confessed she was deaf and didn't hear them ), and the police and fire department came around giving folks 5 minutes to GET OUT and run to the fire station up the street.

Well, that is all I needed to hear for my Girl Scout preparedness training to kick in!  I got back to the RV and told Norm that more tornadoes are heading this way tonight.  He answered with a non-verbal “ That’s nice, dear.”  I, on the other hand, leapt into action.

I got a bag and packed it with medication, passports, wallets, cellphones, iPad and their chargers.

Now Norman’s daughter was currently in the middle of labor having Norm’s 1^st grandchild, so we HAD to have the phones with us.  ( she had a very healthy baby boy 7 lbs 2 oz. around midnight ).

The New Family - Norm's daughter had a healthy
baby boy 7 lbs 2 oz.

I found the back-up drives to the computers and packed those too.  Sweater, some nuts in case we got hungry in the shelter, and my prescription glasses were all set by the door.  I was all packed, so if this RV ended up in Kansas, nothing of importance would be lost. My Girl Scout Leader would be proud!

We tried to watch a little television, but only the emergency weather programming came on talking about the tornado’s  that were touching down everywhere. Not being familiar with the state, we really had no idea how close they actually were to us, or how much danger we were in.  

The newscaster reported that a couple of people died the day before in a motorhome.  Great.  I was getting really nervous, so we shut off the TV.  Norm, in his “casual “ way, went to bed in his usual attire.  Nothing. Emperor's clothes.  He was surely going to slow down our evacuation if he needed to dress!

 Norm was snoring away, while I watched spectacular  light show off in the distance. This much lightning reminded me of 2007 when the tornado ripped through The Villages. 

Finally, around midnight, the storm seemed to have passed, and I learned the baby was born.  I got my pajamas on ( I was still not taking any chances should the storm come )and finally got to sleep. about 1:30.

June 19th, 2014  Day 

We woke up in the morning with the sun shining, the birds singing, and happily realized we would live another day.  I happily unpacked our emergency bag.  This will be our longest driving day, so we left by 8:30AM

Driving across Minnesota was amazing.  For awhile.  Miles upon miles of farmland. Farmhouses, barns and silos in varying degree of disrepair.  Many were falling down and abandoned. When we crossed into South Dakota, the size of the farms were tremendously larger; the farmhouses were mere specks on the horizon, and the fields stretched on and on as far as the eye could see.

After bypassing the interstate for  a smaller, more “intimate”  two lane road, we were rewarded with miles upon miles of farmland, graced with NO other traffic, the thump, thump, thump of the pavement and absolutely no place to pull over to rest.  Now it was not a problem for me since I can get up anytime and use the restroom, but for the driver it was a problem.

We know some people that trade driving positions while cruising at highway speeds, but Norm and I have not mastered ( nor even tried ) that irresponsible circus feat. That skill might come handy if the driver has an ill turn or, hey, perhaps if nature calls.
  

A few horses seen from the road

We finally found a hotel parking lot where we had lunch, and tried to relax our jangled nerves.   The thought of another 100 miles of that road was depressing.

Thankfully, the road soon smoothed out for a quite a while.  Then The Badlands snuck up on us.  One minute we were looking at more farms, then suddenly and stunningly, the sweeping stark beauty came out of nowhere. Our mouths dropped.  Wow. We are here!

Oh my gosh!  We are finally at The Badlands!