Runnin' Against the Wind

 Before I left South Dakota, I played with my food again.

This is what you get making cottage cheese...

When you use a gallon of milk making cottage cheese, you get about three quarts of whey, and a quart of cottage cheese. For some of us it brings back a nursery rhyme: Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey... only I didn't have to worry about any spider.

Here are some other meals I whipped up for myself while Carol was in Wisconsin.

NEW YORK STRIP STEAK WITH A 

WINE/CREAM SAUCE

CABBAGE ROLLS WITH A 

PAPRIKA CREAM SAUCE

As you can see I did not starve while Carol was gone.

Besides hitting tourist traps, I did accomplish more maintenance on the truck and trailer. The weather in South Dakota can be tricky at times. I held off washing the truck because of rain, and when it looked like I was good to go, I washed the truck... and it rained a couple of days later. The rain is sneaky in South Dakota after a vehicle is washed... it sneaks in during the night when people are sleeping peacefully, knowing a mission was accomplished... only for that person to wake the next morning to a dirty truck again. I should have known better with construction happening on two sides of the campground, and dust blowing in from everywhere. Between the dust and rain, the truck looked diseased, with spots everywhere.

In the final days of my stay at Ellsworth I prepared for travel by experimenting with several varieties of jerky. Beside the chicken jerky I made earlier in my stay, I sliced up a New York strip steak, chunk style, and marinated it in a flavored balsamic vinegar (no pictures). My next experiment was with "maple" flavored SPAMⓇ...

It had a firm outside w/a soft chewy inside, and tasted pretty good too. As I told Carol when I txt'd her... eating them was on the line from Lays... you just can't eat one.

Also during the last few days I had a flashback to living in El Cajon just before we left. Tyler had bought a used utility van and started converting it into a his own little travel van, what we call a Class "B" RV in the Rving world.

His van like I said, was a utility van, so it did not have all these windows. I thought it would have been neat to have him camping near us for a day or two.

My body experienced something it hasn't experienced for many years...

I shaved off my beard and mustache in support of Eric. Since he doesn't have his facial hair, I thought I would walk next to him in my own way. It is likely I will grow my beard back faster than he will; I can't do anything about the top spot.

SNOWBIRD ON THE RUN...

Well, here it is time to move on out of South Dakota, on another windy day... but no rain... and I thank God for that.

Since I had new tires put on the trailer, the shop instructed me to stop around 50 miles and check the lug nuts to ensure they were all tight. I did as they instructed, and this is what was near me at the stop...

Imagine yourself hauling one of these, a wind turbine blade. There were three of them at this parking lot. By the way, this is still South Dakota.

If you look real hard at the blurry sign, you can read "Welcome to Wyoming"; South Dakota was doing road work right up to the state line, and it was a one lane road for 100 yards.

Nothing exciting happened going through Wyoming. I did stop at a rest station that was just down the highway from the campground Carol and I were originally suppose to stay at. Its a good thing I cancelled that stay, and opted to continue to Colorado. No sign for entering Colorado, a semi was in the way.

Here I am at my first of two stops in Colorado.

I had hopes of leaving the trailer attached to the truck, but the site was so unlevel I had to raise the trailer almost six inches above the hitch.

The park is not too bad, just in the middle of nowhere...again. I can really pick 'm.

This is part of their playground here. There is also a climbing dome, swings, climbing fort with a slide, and tables. The playground separates the tent campers from the RVs. They also has a pool, laundry, and lousy WiFi.

I left this campground with a sour taste I my mouth; I spent about a half hour a day cleaning bird poop off the truck.

With my fine experience done, I was off to the second Colorado stop. The journey was great weather wise... the roads were a different story. All I had to do was travel down I-25, 180 miles, and I would be settling in again for a couple days. Like I said, the roads changed that storybook drive. They were so rough in several areas, I ended up with a sore back, achy muscles, and an atrocious headache.

Anyway, I made it.

I have done it again... middle of nowhere.

It is a large park, the long term ("livers") are located at the back end, and the rest of us are up by the freeway. If I didn't crop the photo, you would see much of what you see around the campground already. The nice aspect of the park... the sites are pretty level, so I kept the trailer and truck connected during my stay.

I can tell the weather is changing. While it was in the upper 40s here in Colorado, Box Elder was was already in the mid-30s. Last night there was a frost advisory for Pueblo area, and only lasted until I was ready to leave.

Out the gate, and down the road I went on I-25. If Hell had rough roads, I bet this one leads to the front gates. There were a couple areas that weren't too bad because they recently re-did them. The wind decided it was time to kick up again, but it was predominantly a cross wind, which did provide for some nice photo opts.

CLOUDS BLOWN OVER THE MOUNTAIN

It wasn't all mountains, there was open prairie too...

MY OVERNIGHT ROOST

I left this place early in the morning... about 7:00am. From here to there...

3 1/2 hours later...

I'm home, Carol is still in Wisconsin, but she is due to arrive the next day. When I say arrive, it was 11:30pm... at Roswell International Air Center.