Northward, HO!

Sunday p.m. - Idaho Falls, ID
Finally got of out Utah. Not that I have anything against the Salt Lake City area - in fact, it would be a pretty place to live in, even if you weren't Mormon. It's just that after 3 weeks of looking at the same campground, we were ready to move on. City RV parks have many of the same drawbacks as living in a city apartment or hotel. It can be noisy at night (the RV park was surrounded by railroad yards - every morning at about 5:00 a.m., this one train came through blowing it's whistle. I know it was the same train - I got to know his toot - not like any of the others!)

Margaret came back safely Thursday evening to her new home. Even though she was glad to get back from D.C., the "trauma" of a new home, not being able to find anything, and the weariness of a week of heavy-duty Red Cross work, took it's toll. We moved up the road Friday (all the way to Brigham City, UT - about 60 miles) with a stop at the RV dealer to obtain a missing key to the motorhome deadbolt (they didn't have it). The roads were / are bad with lots of construction. The motorhome had lots of noises the truck didn't have. By 3:00 p.m. she was ready for blood - mine.

We spent Saturday "arranging" stuff. As I mentioned, there's lots of storage space in the motorhome - just different in size and location. By the end of the day, we were both pretty tired and Margaret was back to the "I'm going to kill something" mode.

Saturday night we got a good rest. Sunday a.m. we moved to the Wal-Mart Super Center and did some major shopping. This was good therapy for Margaret! Mostly groceries and a few odds and ends for the motorhome. Although we brought a lot of the RV accessories from the trailer, there were a few "unique" things for the motorhome. So now we're set - I think.

While in the Wal-Mart parking lot, I located the source of major "road" noise. There was a rubber bumper in the door frame (between the screen door and the solid door) missing. As a result, the screen door frame was slapping the solid door with every bump and dimple in the road. Very noisy while under way - which did nothing to calm Margaret's nerves. After a quick fix with some felt pads from Wal-Mart, we headed north towards Pocatello, ID.

The road in Idaho was much smoother which helped reduce internal motorhome noises. If you never driven a motorhome, every cabinet, window, glass, dish, possession you own, is right at your ear and a source for "Now what was that noise?". I'm sure you get used to it, but at the moment, it's trying.

The good news is that the "little" Cummmins diesel engine pulled every road grade encountered without any complaints or down-shifting. With the truck and trailer combo, we experienced the need to down-shift whenever we hit a moderate grade. We learned to live with it, but it added to the stress of driving in hilly terrain. In addition, the motorhome is easy to drive. Margaret should be "well enough" tomorrow to give it a go.

Our current plan is to head into West and North Yellowstone park tomorrow and see some of the sights we didn't get to with Carol and Ryan, including Yellowstone Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and Mammoth Hot Springs. We're looking forward to being back in the retired tourist mode.

More later.
Thanks
Wayne