The Presidents in Stone...

It has been a bit since my last entry...

We left Minnesota and headed for the west.  What is west of Minnesota?  Why the Dakotas of course.  In the South Dakota is Mount Rushmore, which Heather and I have never seen before was our destination. 

We followed the route through field after field of huge sun flowers.  It was a great drive and very picturesque.  We arrived at our destination of Horse Thief Campground just at dusk.  The weather was cool, clear and just perfect to sit and "watch the trees grow."

Speaking of trees.  This area of South Dakota has the same issue we have had for the past several years in Arizona with the bark beetle.  I gets under the bark of the Pinion Pine, rings it and the tree dies in just a season.  It is standing with nothing but brown needles completely dead.  I am told it is from the lack of moisture, so not enough sap to fight off the beetle.  All the brown in these pictures is standing dead.  It was very sad to see the forest so devastated.

We were camped about 12 miles from Mt Rushmore Memorial and 9 miles from Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota.  It was a treat to see both.  The are magnificent stone carvings that have taken years to complete. I would highly recommend them both.

We took a great 60 mile all day ride around the area.  It was almost as much fun as the the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. It was twisty city and nothing but fun. Here is a map of the route.  It was all day for all the stops and all the places to see.  There were places where you could see your rear tire as you went around the corner.   You must avoid the buffalo too.



We have since left in route for home.  Can you believe it? We have some business to attend to in Phoenix so we headed for the dreaded 114, never ending heat advisory, thunder storm warnings, etc.  Pray for our short visit to the valley and our returning to the great adventure of Life XL...

Steve and Heather

Where we have visited so far...

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Rochester Minnesota...oh what a relief it is.

We have spent the week in Rochester Minnesota and what a relief it has been in several ways.  First off as we have mentioned and many of you across the country have experienced too we have been burning up. 

The weather here in Rochester Minnesota has been fabulous! Now I do not want to start a big controversy or anything but I imagine you have heard the big head line about how "9000+ Heat records were broken in July."  Did you believe it?  Check it out for yourself at NOAA.   I counted about 40-50 maybe.  Do you suppose the media likes to sensationalize sometimes?  It has been in the 70's and 80's here all week with a few showers in the night time.  Just wonderful relief.  We actually had a chance to fire up the heater when it hit the 50's over night!

The next greatest relief is the change of scenery.  We no longer look out at the walls of the "Fall out shelter" but to some very nice meadows of the RV park we found.

 We are all by ourselves in a big ol' meadow surrounded by trees.  There is the river beyond the trees for Brodie to play in.  We have an often overhead display of a of the Canadian Snow Geese flying by. It is quite different then living on the frontage road of I-40 and watching the diesel trucks going by for our entertainment.  Check out the view out my back door. 

The final relief we have felt is the chance to meet my colleges.  This is a video of the first time I have gone to "the office" in what I would estimate seven to eight years.  I was amazed my employee badge still allowed me into the buildings after all these years.  I was even more surprised I could still find it, Not the office, my employee badge!

For those that do not know me personally, I have been telecommuting and working at home for about 15 years now.  I have a team that is spread all over the country and my boss is here in Rochester.  I have been looking forward to the chance to make it to Rochester to finally spend time face to face with my manager and others I work so closely with on an every day basis.  It was an awesome week.  I was able to spend several hours of real quality time with Kin, my manager.  It was time that can not be replaced or replicated on the telephone.  Then to add to that blessing,  I was able to meet and get to know four others that I work with on an almost daily basis.

Scott, Mike, Jason, and Brian are all members of my extended team.  They all bring different personalities and skills that I only now just realized make up the whole.  It was such a great experience to see how they work and interact with such professionalism and enthusiasm under the pressure and loads we deal with. I learned a ton while under their wings for this week.  Heather and the entire team went to lunch together on our last day here.  She was able to meet and greet them also.  Now she too can put a face to a name as I talk about many of the people I work with.  What a blessing to be on the road.

We are now preparing to head west across the northern United States.  We have some fairly important unscheduled business in Arizona so we have to make a detour.  So those of you that are in the area we will see you soon for just a short time...Lord willing.

XL living on the road and loving it
Steve and Heather

We are outta here...

You will not believe this - we are on the road again. It's time for somersaults, applause and cheers with the splits!!!!! We have been in Conway Arkansas since 7-7 waiting and praying for the right parts for our RV warranty repairs.  Parts have arrived several times, however, never the correct ones!  So one day short of a full month "we are outta here."

We were so excited when we crossed over the Mississippi into Arkansas the first time to pick up the rig.  I have to admit after the issues with parts and repairs the rv has lost some of the sparkle.  However, some of that was luster was restored by the our dealer on the final day.

The owner of the dealership made his third twenty-four hour drive round trip to Indiana to pick up everything the manufacture had said "is in."  He came back with the items promised except for the couch. He knew by looking at the couch it was entirely wrong design and about three feet short.  Every other part from this trip and in the past they given us has been the right name of part but did not match what was installed or fit our RV!  Steve went in and said,"we give up, we are ready to leave and just live with the defects now." National Traveler Rv Center, to their credit would not allow us to leave with this outstanding.  They cut us a check for the defective replacement parts costs.  All this, not knowing for sure if they would be reimbursed or not from the manufacture. They have been awesome from beginning. For any one reading I fully recommend Chris, the owner, and David from National Travelers RV Center .

We left our "Big Tin Shed" aka "The Fallout Shelter" from the dealership in Conway AR at 5:30 pm.  We drove all night long and arrived in Rochester Minnesota at about noon.  The traffic that time of morning and night made it easy.  Don't get me wrong Arkansas is actually a beautiful state we hope to be back.  We were just done with it and wanted to be moving again for a different view.  We said to one another several times throughout the night how nice it was to be "on the road again" <--- insert Willy Nelson here...

Brodie actually became quite comfortable with Arkansas.  He became the "Puppy of the Corn..."   But wait, some of you might not know Brodie.  Brodie is a West Highland White Terrier that just worships me and only pays attention (gives time of day) to Steve when I am not around.  Those who know us already know that Brodie is the king. He rides a BMW motorcycle.  He kayaks with us. He tubes the Salt river, a popular Phoenix past time. He does just about everything.  He is in national advertising and Facebook for the goggles (Doggles) he wears. He has made several national publications just for being cute...Need I say more.

Back to "Puppy of the Corn."  Brodie has discovered bunnies, frogs or toads, and mice live in the tall grass aka "corn."  The RV center is right on I-40 as it goes through Conway AR.  There is a large median that separates the freeway from the dealership and access road.  In this area the grass grows like mad as do the bunnies.  We loose Brodie in there for hours on end as he hunts them.  Can you find the Brodie in these picture?  He had a blast but never caught one.  Westies were bred to catch vermin and they will fall over before they give up.  We had to go in get him to so we could get on the road for our next destination, Minnesota.

While on horror movie themes. We switch from "Puppy of the Corn" to the next one which is "The Fog."  The drive towards Minnesota was uneventful except through Missouri and some of Iowa where we ran into a mass of fog for several hundred miles.  It was a white knuckled drive with 18,000 lbs following closely behind.  We pulled off in a rest area hoping to catch some some sleep and let it burn off a bit. We did not sleep with all the big rigs pumping their diesel fumes, puffing air brakes, so for the couple of hours we laid there or walked the dog around the lake which was there. We continued on drove all night across a few additional states to Rochester Minnesota.

What is in Rochester? Steve's boss, who he has he has only met and grown to respect over the phone.  In addition to his manager many of his team members are based here also.  We are planning to spend a week here so Steve can spend time with his boss and team mates.  We have a nice RV park nine miles away from the IBM plant in Rochester where they are all working.  More on this in future updates.

It has been 24 hours of no sleep. It is time to catch up..Night Night

Heather and Steve

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Extreme Heat Index Warning 30 days straight

We always tell visitors to Phoenix that our heat in the Valley of the Sun is a dry heat. We really don't have much humidity in Phoenix. The hot dry heat provides a good market for moisturizer sales to relieve dry and cracked skin. Fly across country to the Southern States for a completely different kind of heat - high levels of humidity packed with loads and loads of heat.

There is no such thing as dry heat in the South. It reminds me of being a kid pulling on a wet swim suit - sticky and slimy feeling of the wet suit against dry skin. In Arkansas, we have been on a extreme heat advisory for over 30 days. One might ask how we know that? From our Blog posts, we came back from the Tail of the Dragon after 4th of July.

There is a heat index reading here that we Arizona born folks don't ever have to bother with. For example, today in Conway it is 103 for the temperature but after the humidity is factored in the actual heat index is 115 degrees.
Either way,
it is hot,
it is humid, and
it is impossible to find something to do outside that doesn't zap energy and blood in your head.

Do I miss the Phoenix heat? Nope, especially my skin doesn't miss the dry heat of Arizona. But this type of heat takes it's toll quickly zapping you of fluids, drenching your clothes down to your socks, and forget any type of good hair day.

I am a water pusher - if we are sweating then we need to be drinking water. One look at us and one might think we walked through the misters at the mall but that was just five minutes in the shade waiting for Brodie to do his business. Speaking of Brodie - I have given Brodie a hair cut to relieve him of his fur coat that seemed to be holding the heat inside his little body. He enjoys laying in front of the fan and drinking ice water from his bowl but other than that it is just too difficult to enjoy a walk outside until about midnight.

Needless to say we are choosing not ride the bikes much since we ride in full gear. But this is the place to watch all the helmet-less motorcycle riders in shorts, flip flops, and beaters riding down the freeways and roadways.

We say "Hi and send our best wishes to our friend David" who is recovering from a near death experience not once but twice in one week. I guess that would be two near death experiences. First, only a week or so having the pink slip to a speed boat, David sunk his speed boat on the second trip to the lake. He has a picture on Facebook of two people floating next the the bow of the boat as the boat is sinking. It settled at 50 feet in below 60 degree water with zero visibility. David swam away with gasoline and oil burning his skin but no serious physical damage. Though the cost to un-sink a boat is costly, especially with EPA collecting all the gas and oil at the scene.

Then days later, David, fellow rider and our sweet gentleman of a friend was riding his motorcycle at 4:00 am in the morning with the normal attire of the area. Yes the same guy!  He missed the deer by swerving his bike but slammed himself and his bike down on a country road in the middle of the dark moon lite sky. He landed sideways skidding down the tarmac at 40 mph. Me and Brodie can attest to crashing at near that speed with gear on. After seeing David's skinless body, broken collar bone, arm in a sling and black eye I will stick to ATGATT. Bambi lives, David lives but David's Harley motorcycle took a hit for the team.

David even took all the skin off the tips of his fingers, knuckles, palms of his hands, forearms, shoulder and knees. Not to mention his $200.00 pair of jeans now are slashed with holes.

It is bad enough the bike is wrecked but to look at David in pain, changing bandages every few hours and unable to move his body normally - one phrase comes to mind from T.E.A.M Arizona classes quoting Motorcycle Safety Foundation - A.T.G.A.T.T.

For those folks who will never understand the sensation of living from the seat of your pants while riding, Google will help with the phrase. For those who do ride the choice is fully yours. But David is a great story of living through two near death experiences and lessons learned. Just seeing his black and blue, ripped and torn body has cemented the reason I gear up when I ride and continue to take skill building classes. David will be several weeks in pain unable to ride, thousands of dollars in medical bills, time off work, bandages, antibiotics and motorcycle repairs.

I guess love of freedom and looking cool 0ut weighs love of money and body. I have heard people say it doesn't look cool to be geared up before riding a motorcycle - I guess not riding because of the pain and suffering of road rash is cooler?

David we wish you full recovery for your body and bike. Hey, David, what's next on your bucket list?

Speaking of Bucket Lists - we can claim to have lived in 400 square feet with no breaks from each other for over 30 days and still smiling and speaking to each other. I am not sure it was a Bucket List item of ours but it could be a hard one to get through. For sure the experience of living in a big tin shed has been the highlight after The Tail of The Dragon for the month of July!

I don't think we would have made it through the entire month without the great folks that work here at National Travelers RV Center. Thanks to Don, Mickey, Chris, David, Aaron, Zack, Brandon and Linda for your conversations. We love you guys. But seriously we are really ready to get the rest of our parts and get out of here. We are ready be on our way to our adventure.

Shout out to all the BMW MOA Rim Riders of Arizona and T.E.A.M Arizona folks for your supportive calls and emails - helps more than you might know right now.
Off to get drenched in slimy sweat as we brave the 115 heat index. Enjoy the dry heat, rain and thunderstorms!
Safe riding!