Saturday, 9/23/23: Had breakfast and gassed up before we left Glendive, got away around 9 AM. We'll lose an hour to the time zone change today, so expect to be on the road about nine clock hours. As it turned out that was about right, we got to Barnesville Minnesota just a few minutes after 6 PM. GPS said it was just under six hours of driving, but that's if you average nearly 80 miles an hour. By the time we take leisurely dog walks every couple of hours at rest stops, we don't average much over 50 I would guess. Weather was wet at least half of the way there, and in this part of the country, they work on the freeways extensively during the summer because of the harsh climate during the winters. We would hit 10 miles of open road, and then 5 miles of construction. That repeated, and repeated, and repeated. Set up Saturday night the 23rd in driving rain. We were both totally soaked by the time we got all of the utilities set up, Internet satellite up, chairs safely under the awning for tomorrow. Gloria got within about 1/1,000,000,000th of an inch from a pickup as we rounded one courner toward the blind setup. Thank GOD the owner of the truck was in his RV. I knocked on the door and asked him to move his truck -- He was pretty much No big deal. It's my work truck and I hit a deer yesterday.... Ok! The Park Host was also noticing our arrival and he directed us toward the correct spot, which was BARELY labeled.

Plus all the inside things that need to be done. But all in all, we've got departure down to about an hour and a half now, and arrival down to about an hour. We're pretty happy with that!

Sunday morning 9/24/23 and early afternoon we spent a couple hours just spiffing inside of the rig. Looks great inside! Smells pretty good too as Gloria has got a chicken breast cooking with delicious spices intact! Starlink Internet wouldn't connect last night, so we had to use our cell phones as a hotspot to continue watching The Morning Show on Apple TV. We like it tremendously, if you haven't seen it, check it out! Got back on the roof and pulled the Starlink internet satellite down, and it looks like the only failure was that I had the cord plugged in about 98%. The last 2% made it work. Yay -- Good learning for the next setup!

Weather was pretty crummy for most of our stay in Barnesville, Minnesota, which would span September 23 - 25. We didn't even take the scooters off of the rack on the back of the RV. We got away by about 7am on September 26th, en route to Madison, Wisconsin. Feels pretty good that we are still RIGHT on track to meet with our reservations in New Hampshire October 10 - 20.

All the way to Madison, Wisconsin we would be in and out of pretty heavy rain. At just under 500 miles, this was our longest leg yet, and after stopping at the local Costco just northeast of Madison, we didn't get set up until just after sunset. We were done and ready to relax by about 8pm Tuesday, 9/26/23. It's been an interesting several learning curves now that we have experienced numerous instances of various things: We know how to FIND and then navigate truck stops for diesel, interior stores, and nearly always an attached restaurant. We've set up and taken down now about 5 times each. Our Departure Checklist and Arrval Checklist are TREMENDOUSLY helpful in getting those processes reduced in time. And yeah, with two Rottweilers the dog hair is pretty prolific -- We know exactly where the broom and battery-vac are stored at all times. We even have a DeWalt battery-run electric blower that is great for getting the last few %'s of hair and grit cleared from the front driving area and steps up into the rig. And finding dog parks at Interstate rest stops is pretty common. Not just places to let them do their business, but actual fenced areas for them to run a bit off-leash.

Wednesday 9/27/23 was my first ride to an Amazon locker to pick up a few items we had on order. As I am typing these keys it is Saturday morning 9/30/23 at about 10:30 local time just north of Madison (Central Daylight Time Zone), and I have been to the locker two times. It was about a 30-minute ride each way, each time, and yesterday the weather was lovely (finally!) for the trip both directions. Leaves are beginning to turn here pretty much in earnest -- Please see some of the pics I took en route to the locker and back.

Our son Aaron's girlfriend Nadine flew out to Madison yesterday for a festival they throw every year to honor local chese makers and similar crafts. Wisconsin is America's Dairyland, right? She had this trip planned for some time, and it was great that our paths could cross so easily. We found a local bar that does Karaoke on Friday and Saturdy nights, so we Uber'ed there on Friday night the 29th, and she met us at about 10pm. Always a fun time with Nadine - She is a delight! Was great to catch up on home news while being around 1,500 miles from home.