It's been quite the learning curve ,fun, sometimes uncertainty, always loving my new journey and this faithful rig.
I've been traveling east via northern US as have never done this route:
Highway 2 through Montana with gentle undulating hills reminding me of ocean waves, prairie scenery with vast grain fields and rare trees, the big sky.
Sometimes I wanted to name the road "the way of the crosses". for m,any miles, there were hundreds of little white crosses in memory of those who have lost their lives. I once counted 12 crosses in 25 miles. Why so many? The road didn't seem dangerous but I was concerned. While stopped at a museum and tourist info, I was invited for pie and coffee as they were celebrating "thrashing" season. The grain harvest was mostly finished and it was a good year. I asked about the crosses and was told that most were young people driving while intoxicated, on drugs, or suicidal. Most of the accidents happened at night and the crosses were erected over several years. it was very sad.
The grain fields were a beautiful golden, yellow colour with areas of green, red, or brown mixed in. Autumn is such a beautiful season.
There were train tracks along much of the highway with frequent long trains carrying containers ( makes a lot more sense than having each container hauled by a semi on the road) or , more often, oil from the oil fields in northern Montana. I passed several of these fields and was told later that the oil was produced by fracking. A local explained how it's not nearly as dangerous as many people think, that there are already cracked rocks in the earth and all they do is create more cracks so that the oil can pool easily.
He said this work was done a couple of km below the surface and that they have not experienced any adverse effects.
It's always valuable to hear both sides of an issue in order to make good decisions.
That night (Sept 27) I stayed in Harlem, Montana. It wasn't as exciting as I expected!
On into North Dakota and as I headed east, more trees became visible and sometimes I could see small mountains on the horizon.
I camped at small campgrounds, a truck stop and at a walmart parking lot. Campgrounds are good for hookups and wifi. The other choices are free but no hookups. I need hookups only about once a week to fill my fresh water tank and dump the grey water ( from sink or the shower) and black water tank (sewage).I can use my batteries for electricity (the solar collector helps) and the propane for heating and cooking.
My RV has a monitor panel to show me how much battery power I have, how much liquid in each of my tanks and how much propane I have. I also have smoke, CO and propane detectors which are a great safety feature along with my fire hydrant.
After filling with gas at one truck stop, I moved the RV out of the way so I could have my lunch. Suddenly the propane detector went off. I smelled some propane and went outside, opening all the doors. It kept going off so I got worried and called the roadside assistance. The tech there told me these detectors are very sensitive and could go off parking too close to a big rig which I had done.
I then went to move the RV and noticed that I had also parked right beside the propane dispenser at the gas station...daaaaahhh!!
It was fine after that.
Driving so far every day means I have to fill up daily and it has been an adjustment to fill such a large tank. Luckily gas is much less expensive in US, costing between $3.19 to 3.45 a gallon so far.
I haven't figured out my gas mileage yet.
The hookups took a bit of learning. At the first campground, I couldn't find the electrical outlet and had to get someone to show me. I also tried to fill my fresh water tank but had some problems.
I then remembered that I had 2 water inputs and it worked with the other one. I must find out the difference.
The owners manuals have come to good use so far!
The best source of information have been the truck drivers.
They have been very helpful and gave me many tips on best roads to take, the bridges to watch out for ( whyknot is 12ft high and some bridges have less clearance)
2 days ago, while parked at a Walmart, I got a memory foam to put on my pull-out couch so that sleeping is more comfortable.
Initially I had wanted a permanent bed but found that style of RV had much less room inside for the same length. making up the bed at night is not a big hassle and I'm loving having extra room.
Yesterday, I reached Wisconsin and found a very nice campground: "Stoney Creek" in Osseo.
What a pleasure it's been to have wifi and laundry facilities!
Today I hope to get to Michigan and then get back to Canada via Detroit. I'm late leaving here so will probably have to stop before I get there.
A big problem has been the phone. Roaming charges are $1.75/min
I was so eager to get on the road, I didn't have time to sort out the phone. I'll do that before I head south in late Oct.
I had expected to use pay phones, only to discover they are becoming very rare due to everyone having cell phones.
whyKnot is handling extremely well on the highway.
Now to have some lunch and hit the road.
ps not sure how to post the photos yet.....
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