Ben's Blog

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 6

Ben — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:11:00 +0000

I got up at 5am, hoping for a 7am departure. Sunrise over the badlands:

This is the last trip where this arrangement will work. They are getting to be too big. Wake up!

Mechel and Baila do their Little House on the Prairie imitation:

Surveying his domain:

We finally pulled out at 7:45ish. [...]

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 5

Ben — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:41:00 +0000

The schedule called for us to start out from the Fort Pierre National Grasslands, so we were about 200 miles behind schedule. But no matter, because today was the day we would start seeing the good stuff!

I took the SUV to the Kia of Sioux Falls. They did a vacuum check, refilled the A/C refrigerant [...]

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 4

Ben — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:57:00 +0000

Sunday morning was muggy. The schedule had us leaving Walmart in Beloit, Wisconsin, and driving to a dispersed camping location in the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. The planned distance was 670 miles, a long day of driving. Unfortunately, we were 364 miles from Beloit, so our total drive would be 1,034 miles, definitely too much [...]

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 3

Ben — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:57:00 +0000

Shabbos was nice. It was a hot day, but the RV was plugged in (as it would have been had me made it to South Bend) so the A/C was working. We went for a couple walks to check out the campground’s marina and playground. The campground is 99% seasonal, meaning that the residents bring [...]

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 2

Ben — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Last night I learned that there’s a certain science in selecting an overnight parking spot at Walmart. For example, don’t park next to the dumpster, because it gets emptied at 4AM. Grr.

We got on the road at a reasonable hour. The plan had us driving 386 miles from Clarion, PA to South Bend, Indiana. We [...]

2010 Summer Vacation, Day 1

Ben — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:24:00 +0000

I started planning the trip in June. Here’s what I came up with:

As planned, the trip was 18 days and would cover 5,291 miles, with 76 stops along the way. I was intrigued by the idea of doing a 3 week trip mostly without staying in a formal campground. Our camping would either be [...]

18 Days of summer

Ben — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:04:00 +0000

We just got back from an 18 day RV vacation. We left on 7/22, and returned on 8/9. There’s much to be posted, so this is just a placeholder.

Here we are on day 11, camping on public land across from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. We were at least a mile from the nearest people:

Welding!

Ben — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I recently bought a Harbor Freight flux wire welder. Here I am fixing the snowblower:

(Insert maniacal laugh here)

Still more RV modifications

Ben — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:56:00 +0000

I made some modifications in anticipation of our upcoming trip. I modified the plumbing, replacing the water tank low point drain with a fixture that allows a garden-type hose to be attached. This allows the RV to be filled through the bottom, eliminating the need to open the RV so that the fill hole can [...]

Family kayaking, Baila’s first solo!

Ben — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:12:00 +0000

We kayaked the area north of the Haverstraw kayak launch. It was Baila’s first time with her new Perception Acadia Scout. It’s the same model and color scheme as Mechel’s.

Here’s Baila paddling (Mechel is in the distance):

Unpacking:

The paparazzi:

Bubbe with Baila:

A train went over the bridge [...]