Back to Lake Elmo

We checked back in to Lake Elmo Park Reserve and set up in our new favorite site (#37).  I found an open view of the southern sky and set up the new dish with a push of the button.  Made a trip to Best Buy for an external Hard Drive and we now have DVR capabilities.  Not as good as home but we now can record our favorite shows and watch them later.

Saturday was the Nelson family reunion at Beth and Sue’s house.  About 50 relatives, cousins (their families) and one aunt (Jeanette) gathered and reminisced about times long ago.  It was really good to see everyone and we hope to see many of them again next year.

Grotto

GNR was officially over on Sunday but we stuck around for an extra day or so to take a road trip on Monday.  We drove down to West Bend IA to see the Grotto of the Redemption shrine recommended by Dave & Tammy and Ted & Bernie.  The drive was well worth it as we spent a couple of hours viewing the display made entirely of semi-precious stone and petrified wood.  Bernie’s family had donated a marker there so we made sure to check it out.

Off to GNR

The Winnebago Grand National Rally (GNR) in Forest City IA was again a great success.  The schedule of events was a bit too cramped to get everything done that we would have liked to do but all in all still a lot of fun and we continue to meet super people in the Winnebago Itasca Travelers (WIT) club.  We did manage to attend a few seminars to learn about cooking and cleaning our RV.  As a member of the NetWIT group, I was recruited to give a seminar on Windows 8 basics.  It went OK and at least no one walked out on me.

GNR offered some “opportunities” to invest in the motor home.  To improve the ride quality we had new shocks installed and because I had become more frustrated with trying to line up the manual DirecTV dish I also invested in a new automatic dish from Winegard.  We now have HD TV and it lines up with just a push of the button (as long as you find a spot with no trees in the way).  We are becoming more acquainted with one of the basic laws of RVing.  If you have a problem it can most likely be solved by throwing some money at it.   

Of course no GNR would be complete without a few side trips to eat at some of the local establishments.  Right next to the grounds is a Lodge with a new restaurant.  We decided to give it a try.  Well it was under new management and the night we stopped was a “soft” opening.  It did not go well.  Only one waitress and apparently only one cook.  We don’t think either has had any prior restaurant experience.  Food was served cold, the table was served a few plates at a time over about an hour, and we didn’t get any salads or bread.  It was Ted’s idea to give it a try and we didn’t let him forget it.  We did have some good food.  Pizza Ranch, Mitchel’s Bar & Grill ($1.50 burgers), and even the food on site was pretty good.

Visiting in MN

We spent the week catching up with friends and relatives.  Doug grilled super steaks on the grill for a fourth of July dinner on the deck at Doug and Nancy’s house.

Attended church at Memorial Lutheran (our old home church).  Many new faces and some that were there when we lived here.  Later that week we went to a Friday night fish fry (beer battered cod) at Uncle Mike’s (used to be the JR Ranch).  Janice and Dennis Wenker, Dietmar Schlei, Linda and myself ate fish till we were over full.  Had a few beers to wash down the fish and caught up on what has gone on since we last saw them.  Just down the road is a local brew pub called Pitchfork Brewing.  We adjourned the eating and still had room to sample a couple of the beers brewed on site.  By then it was time to head back to the motor home.  We stepped out just in time to see the “super moon” coming up.

On to Minnesota

We packed up and headed off to MN on Sunday.  We stopped about halfway in Wausau to meet up with Bob and Julie.  It had been a long time since we had all been together in one place.

Arrived in Lake Elmo and emptied the holding tanks and filled up with fresh water.  We backed into one of our favorite sites, set up, and drove over to the Culvers in Hudson.  They had Linda’s favorite flavor that day (Andes Mint Avalanche).