TOUR AMERICA 2022, BISMARCK KOA, BISMARCK, ND

Monday, June 14, 2022

Temperature 77 Degrees, Sun and Clouds

Interesting 24 hours

I have to say, this stop is nothing like what we’re used to. It begins with the site which is absolutely horrible. I’m finding that KOA’s are either hit or miss. Some are really good, then there are those like this one that is the pits. At least the site that they put us in. I’ve ridden around the park and there are other sites that are really nice. Why we were stuck out here is beyond me.

Come now to last night. When we went to bed all was calm and there were no posted warnings about severe storms. Well, around 2 am Proton jumped up in bed and started dancing around on my feet. Yes, he was scared silly. That’s when I heard it. The roar of the wind and the pounding rain. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to close the bedroom window. I ran to the front of the rig where there was a fierce racket coming from the area of the front door. The door awning! I opened the door, which was ripped out of my hands, and saw the awning trying to shred itself into pieces. Outside I went in the melee and cranked it in. OK, round one won. But wait the main awning was out a few inches as a slide topper and it was faring no better. Inside, hit the switch and I was able to get it in. Next, I brought the slide in. OK, I believe we are safe for the time being. Oh no, one more thing I forgot about. I ran around the side and Albert (our new satellite antenna) was no longer on his table. I found him on the ground, got him disconnected and brought him inside. More about him later. Suffice to say we did not get much sleep last night.

Come now to today. We wanted to go sightseeing but the weather report indicated that there would be severe storms in the afternoon. So we made the decision to stay home. Which was probably the right thing to do since every time we sat down we fell fast asleep!. Of course the storms never materialized. Now, they say they’re coming tonight.

Well, we decided to watch TV since we now have a new portable satellite antenna (named Albert). In case you missed the past post our satellite antenna on the roof went belly up. I thought about getting it fixed, but the hassle of getting it off, covering the holes in the roof, mailing it to the maker of the antenna, not to mention the cost of shipping and repairs – way too much bother. A portable was the way to go.

Come now to today. I took Albert back out to his table and this time I staked him down real good. He isn’t going to go for another walk anytime soon. I hooked everything back up and went inside and asked Ms. Barbara to turn the TV on expecting no problems. Oh, silly boy. We had some but not all of our channels. Could Albert’s midnight jaunt have left him with amnesia?

First call was to Dish. Long story short, an hour on the phone and no resolution. So frustrating. Second call, to King the maker of the antenna. Another hour, maybe more and still no resolution. They pointed the finger at Dish. Would you expect otherwise? Third call, again to Dish. Yea, this time we got someone who really knew his stuff. After an hour of checking this and that the bottom line seemed to be that the Wally receiver was bad. OK, we just happen to have a spare one. So, the tech took the old off our account and added the new and that did the trick. We now have all our channels, we can again record, and the shows are again in HD.

Yes, it’s been an interesting 24 hours. Not to mention we’ve done no sightseeing and probably will not before we leave. There were a few places we wanted to go but time and weather is now against us. What a real bummer. This has not been our favorite stop by a long shot. We’ll not be back this way that is for sure.

On a positive note, I have a new toy Anyone recognize it? It is a garden kneeler/seat. No more sitting on the ground trying to get the blocks under the jacks nor bending over to check tire pressure. I believe this is going to make life so much easier and my back is going to be so much happier.

Time to wrap things up. I’m still dragging and really need a good nights sleep. However, if the weather comes in that they are forecasting I doubt we’ll get much sleep again tonight. Time will tell.

Thanks again for spending some time with us.  It’s always great to be able to share our story with family and friends. Comments? Feel free to share them with me. And always remember, cherish every moment of every day that God gives you and live those moments to the fullest.

Our continuing mission remains the same: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before.