City Slickers

We spent about 3-1/2 weeks back home in Virginia, but left there on October 21 for the 1,200 mile drive back to Sioux Falls, SD to pick up the Ciaowagen and continue our travels. The Ciaowagen had all its ills treated while we were gone. Among other things, they fixed the motors on our slide out, which broke back when we were in Yellowstone. Finally, some room to spread out!

It always takes a couple of days to get things unpacked and re-arranged when we've been away from the RV, but we're now back on the road.

During our time at home, we got in dentist and doctor appointments and attended Doug's 50th high school reunion up in Pennsylvania. We also helped our son Sawyer move out of his apartment because the landlord was not addressing ongoing mold issues. While Jeannette was helping clean the kitchen prior to vacating, a cast-iron skillet got knocked off a shelf and landed on the big toe of her right foot, breaking the bone into four pieces. That will cut into our hiking till late November, as she's stuck in the footwear below in the interim:

As a result, we've decided to spend the two months before we return home again for the holidays visiting cities in the midwest. We spent much of the spring and summer in national parks, and not much time in urban areas, so this should change things up for some variety.

Fall came to South Dakota while we were away. RVing is primarily a summer activity for many people (at least as far north as we've been), and as a result the campgrounds are much less crowded.

This has allowed us to get into some state and municipal campgrounds that are usually completely booked during the summer. These campgrounds provide a lot more breathing space between campsites, and the cost per night is usually $20 or less. In contrast, private campgrounds can range anywhere between $35 and $80 per night depending on location.

With fall in the air, it's also getting cold (down to freezing on many nights). The Ciaowagen has a built-in heating system, but it tends to gulp down propane and it can be a pain (and expensive) to get our tank refilled. To cut the cost down but still stay comfortable, we've been relying on our friend "Mr. Heater" (yes, that's the brand name) running off the kind of portable bottle you use with your outdoor grill. For those of you who may be concerned, it's very safe and we have a carbon monoxide alarm inside the RV just in case.

Our future itinerary is fluid, but our plan is to head south and try to stay ahead of the encroaching cold. We left Sioux Falls after two days and are currently in Omaha, Nebraska for about a week. After this, we think we'll do weekly stays in Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, and Little Rock, and see what else suites our fancy.

Many of you have told us you appreciate the photos we've been posting in our blog. We can't promise sights that are as spectacular as we visit these cities, but we'll try our best. Keep watching for future postings.