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St. Paul, Minnesota

By on Oct 3, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

The capitol grounds were sprawling from one end of the street to the next. We walked in the building to a grand staircase in front of us. The inside was beautiful, with intricate paintings on the ceilings and walls. The rotunda was grand with large archways lining the halls. We peered through the gates at the Senate and House chambers… …and stopped at the visitor’s center for our stamp before exiting the building to search for a Minnesota coffee mug. FAST FACTS about Minnesota: Although Minesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” it really has close to 12,000 lakes. The largest shopping mall in the US, the Mall of America is located in Bloomington, MN. It has a theme park, movie theater, zip lines, over 500 stores, an aquarium, a wedding chapel, 20,000 parking spaces, over 50 restaurants and much more. Minnesota has more shore line than Florida,...

We Visit the Second Largest State Fair in the United States

By on Oct 2, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

We were camped in Minneapolis for two nights. One, RJ needed some time to catch up on work, and two, we needed a couple days to rest from being on the bike. Our first day in Minneapolis, RJ caught up on work and I did laundry at our KOA. After several loads of laundry, we went into town to a McDonald’s where we had better wifi. We were there the rest of the day. We had plans to go to the fair later in the afternoon but RJ got caught up with work so we were in McDonald’s till the very last possible second before we had to freaking race around trying to get to the fair in time. Around 9:30, we sped back to our campsite -about 5 miles- and grabbed our jackets before zooming over to the fairgrounds. The fair was open till midnight but they only give out tickets till 10pm. By the time we got through traffic and found a place to park, we were pushing 10pm. We made our way through...

The Badlands, A Buffalo Hotdog, A Candy Store, and A Campsite Stealer

By on Sep 29, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

We woke up to a fine layer of dust covering everything from the wind the night before. I packed up the campsite while RJ worked. Several hours later I was still waiting on RJ and his work but we finally had to leave because it was check out time. We had no intentions of actually visiting the Badlands but it just so happened that we were going right through them on our route to Minnesota.We weren’t able to stop and walk around even though we would have liked to. There was an entrance fee on the way in we could have paid but RJ needed to get to a place to work so the park ranger let us go on through as long as we didn’t stop and we stayed on the main road to the highway. The rock formations were very intriguing and full of different fossils. We rode to a gift shop right outside the state park where we got gas and a buffalo hotdog. I’ve never felt bad about eating an...

Wyoming to South Dakota

By on Sep 25, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 1 comment

I woke up and popped my head out of my sleeping bag and the crisp morning air smacked me in the face. RJ was still cocooned in his sleeping bag, fast asleep. I reluctantly got out of my warm bag and starting packing up. We headed out of Wyoming and into South Dakota towards the Black Hills. To both of our mothers: please just skip this next paragraph. Everything was going well until RJ got a little excited about the windy, hilly road and we met a cop on a curve going into the Black Hills. RJ was accelerating pretty heavily while exiting a a blind corner and right as we see through the other side, we pass a sheriff in the oncoming traffic. The cop whipped his SUV around and his lights were on. RJ promptly shart himself. We pulled over right away. The sheriff was a clean cut younger man, and he walks over with his hands perched on his belt and asked us if we had any idea how fast we were...

Helena, Montana

By on Sep 24, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

The following morning we woke up late.  It was so nice to sleep in after a couple days of going, going, going.  We started packing up while RJ *conveniently* struck up a conversation with the couple next to us.  They were heading to Northern California and we were heading through Michigan, their home state.  We each told the other what roads to take and what to do and where to visit.  After almost everything was packed and ready to go, RJ had exhausted all avenues of things to talk about and decided he had better help me. But first, he had to brush his teeth. The cool, crisp air felt refreshing as we took off.  After a stop to check the tire pressure, we took “a faster route” to Helena which ended up being a narrow road that turned to gravel. The washboard road was partially flooded and never mind that you could only go 10mph because it was so bumpy. We were certain that...

The Start of Another Adventure: California to Idaho

By on Sep 23, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 1 comment

We have departed on yet another adventure on our motorcycle! This time we are heading all the way to Maine. After working so hard around our house painting, repairing, dump runs, pulling weeds, building and installing stairs, and much more, we accomplished almost everything in order to make this trip happen. On Friday, August 25, we left our place at 11:15 A.M. Hugs were given, goodbyes were said, Mom worried a little bit more, Dad said a prayer for us, I gave Scooter two more hugs and we were off! Our destination for Friday was Boise, ID. We have some friends who live in Boise so RJ texted them to see if we could meet up and say hi.  They invited us to spend the night and feed us supper to which we just couldn’t say no to. The ride to Boise was fairly uneventful.  We stopped here and there for gas and to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made before we left home....

Summer 2017

By on Aug 20, 2017 in Life | 1 comment

Our summer has flown by! We’ve been busy working and, of course, having a lot of fun.  We were gone almost the entire month of May on our motorcycle trip and got home just in time to drive to Sacramento to pick up Nicole whom was studying abroad in Costa Rica for nine months. She is back to work at the hospital and is starting her first semester of nursing school. A day later, Sam graduated from High School. She’s taking CNA class this summer and plans to continue her schooling to become a doctor of some sort. It keeps changing… June 9th, my best friend got married and I was lucky to stand by her side and watch her sign “I do” to her new best friend. They moved 8 hours away to the beach but that just means we’ll get to take more motorcycle trips to the coast. RJ jests that we’ll never see them again. We spent many of our summer days on the lake...

Sacramento, California

By on Jul 25, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

The California capitol was the first capitol we visited which makes sense considering that we only live 1.5 hours away. We made plans back in March to visit the capitol and then go to the local Cycle Gear to pick up actual riding gear for me, since we had been riding in freezing weather without proper winter gear. Back in March when we originally left, we ended up arriving after 6pm when the capitol closes, so we took pictures in front of the building and marveled at how amazing the building. Remember, at this time, we had never seen a state capitol before, so this was all amazing and grand, and we also didn’t know you could go inside. It wasn’t until we visited the Nevada capitol that we realized we could actually go in and get a proper capitol stamp and mug. So, at that point, we knew that we’d have to redo the California capitol trip. We planned on...