Travels With Miranda

I just renewed for a third night here at Dakota Magic. If I really just wasn’t in the mood to drive, I would have gone anyway because I know that that’s just an excuse for not wanting to face the border crossing.

But I’m being really productive and making good use of my FHU, so I can justify another night. This morning, I defrosted the freezer and washed it and the fridge, then made an inventory of the food on board. I found bacon! It will be demolished shortly when I go make lunch.

It looks like it might rain, but if it doesn’t, the next project is the cab.

Besides that, I need to put away yesterday’s laundry (almost dry, YAY), wash out Neelix’s litter box, and then I’ll be good to go. There’s really nothing to do now to prepare for the border besides making sure I don’t have any illegal food on board, have a full alcohol inventory (one Texas beer that I am saving for the first crazy hot summer day), and that I know how much I need to declare.

I hope internet in Saskatchewan will be decent (although I will settle for existent). I get a very low signal in North Dakota, so I keep getting disconnected. I might not have found the connection in San Antonio to be so bad had I remembered my online experience in North Dakota last spring.

Dang, I really should have packed up and moved yesterday, even though I was insanely busy. It’s been one of those mornings where I cranked up the furnace, went back to bed, and wished I could have stayed there all day.

With the wind chill, it feels like it’s below freezing out there. I’ll give it another couple of hours and then head out.

I was going to take on water, but have decided not to at this point to lighten the rig a little, something I have never felt I needed to do. I’m also going to dump the tanks for the same reason, although a good rinse of the black one will have to wait until Hankinson. I am keeping a few jugs of potable water on board for cleaning up.

I’m also going to wait as long as possible to get gas, again to reduce the load. It’s windy out there!

I’d like to be settled in Columbus by 3:00 p.m.ish so that I can catch a 4:00 p.m showing of Iron Man 3, which would let me get home early enough to make a good dinner as I need to start bringing down some of my stores.

I checked the rules for going back into Canada and I don’t think I will have any issues with anything on board (like pork chops and ham), but I am going to keep everything in original packages. Citrus is always tricky, so last night I juiced the rest of a big bag ‘o limes into some pretty dang tasty limeade.

It’s boggling that it’s May 4th and the weather is still like this, with no end in sight. Last year, spring sprung and stuck on April 23rd!

I’ve edited my post about the drive to Kansas because my bad luck has had absolutely nothing to do with the fine folks at Cramer Tire in Midwest City, OK.

L suggested that I go get the flat tire looked at today so that it could sit overnight and we could monitor the pressure, plus it would cut down on the Wednesday stress. Great idea!

He fortified me with a blueberry pancake and bacon breakfast and then we slooooowly motored over to Wiechman-Bush Tire.

A tech came right out to look at my tire and would you believe my dumb luck: there was a HUGE hole in the sidewall! He says that the only explanation for that is that I hit something on the way here. He believes that the tire was good and that Cramer did right by me. It was just one of those bad days on the road. He promised to replace the tire with another used one, move the outside tire (the worst of my six) to the inside, and mount the ‘new’ tire on the outside, and that my rig would be ready in a couple of hours.

L and I went off so he could show me a good place to get gas. We then stopped at the U-Haul place where he gets his propane tanks filled to find out if they fill motorhomes (yes).

Next, he suggested we stop in his favourite thrift store, which was great since I was able to score some badly needed sporty summer skirts for just a couple of bucks a piece.

There, I made the most hilarious thrift store find of my life:

I am in Kansas and that is a pair of ruby slippers!

Back at L’s house, he took out his computer to show me a free state campground on the way north. I have five days to kill before I meet PJ and her hubby near Omaha, so the idea is to stop at that campground for a few days before pushing on to Stromsburg and its city park.

We’d just finished do that when my phone rang with news that the rig was ready. L dropped me off there and had a look at the tire. He is very happy with the one that was put on. He headed out to an appointment and I went in to pay the massive $39 bill. No, that is not a typo. That sound you hear is relief.

I then got gas and headed back to U-Haul on Seneca. I hadn’t noticed that the entrance was quite steep and I scraped the bottom of my tow bar getting in. The exit was even worse, so I ended up backing across the lot to go back out the way I came in, but at as much of an angle as possible. I still heard some scraping, but not as bad as when I came in.

Now, I’m back in front of the house. My birthday boy got roadsick, so I’m glad that I procrastinated on cleaning the bedding since I would have had to redo the job. Once the laundry is done, I’ll be ready to hit the road again. I’ll leave fairly early tomorrow, get supplies in Salina (Sal-EYE-na), and then check out the lake.

I just got off the phone with L in Wichita to confirm that I will be arriving tomorrow. He would like me to arrive mid-afternoon so that I can join him for his dinner plans, so that means I’ll pull out of here around 9:00 or 10:00.

The gas here is super cheap ($3.19) so I’m going to fill up before I leave. The gas station is awkward to get around, so I’ll do that before hooking up. Then, it’s off to a Flying J north of OK City that has propane. I checked it out with Google Streetview (what did we ever do before that?) and it looks like a good in and out even with a long rig. I’d also like to find a place to have air added to my tires. I checked the pressure in Dallas and it was on the low side of okay. I’m hoping that adding a little will help with the gas mileage a bit.

The big question mark tomorrow is the Kansas Turnpike. I checked out their toll calculator and as long as Miranda is a class 2 vehicle (ie. two-axle vehicle) despite her size and that combined with Moya the rig is class 4, I’m all set and will have my $4.25 in cash ready. That amount is not worth trying to detour around the turnpike!

I’ll be parked on the street in Wichita, hence why I want to arrive on a Friday as I’m less likely to be disturbed by The Law over a weekend. L says that there is at least one more rig parked on the street and that he gets along with his neighbors, so I should be fine. I am going to go into more of a stealth mode than I did in Dallas, leaving the curtains down to hopefully mask the fact that I am residing in the RV. I checked the Wichita ordinances and it looks like street parking an RV is okay, but living in one on the street is not okay, so stealth mode is definitely in order.

There are a number of good overnighting options north of Wichita, so I should be able do the ‘spend the day at a rest area, drive a short distance to an overnighting place’ routine for the rest of April until my budget resets itself. I’ve already borrowed way too much into May’s budget, so I really don’t want to put any more gas in the rig until the calendar changes. And with the weather being what it is, it’s good to have a reason to take it slow. May 7th is when I’ll put the pedal to the metal and drive decisively to the border.

I’m overwhelmed by the response I got to my last post. Thank you very much everyone.

I was supposed to pull out this afternoon, but I’m much too tired to do so. Ms. Cinnamon happens to have the day off tomorrow, so we’ll get me onto the street late morning, after rush hour.

Today, we’re going out for lunch then will run a few errands, after which time I’ll finish packing and dump so that I have nothing to do after but get a good night’s sleep.

Later today, I’ll post about our outing yesterday.