Peculiar MO (Partly Sunny High 79 Low 53)
Since we are in the Kansas City area which we lived in for so many years we have a lot to do while in the area like Doctor's appointments and meeting family and friends. This is one of the very few times where we have to break out our calendars so we don't schedule things on top of each other. So our blogging will be light for the next few weeks.
We generally like to give tips on gadgets that make our full-timing lifestyle more fun like the Oxygenics Body Spa showerhead that we did recently. Now we want to tell about a product testing that did not go well, Cat's Pride Fresh and Light Cat Litter.
We are always on the look for a better cat litter and we thought we had a winner. We saw it featured on "Must Love Cats" on Animal Planet and decided to give it a try. Fresh and Light is dust free which is a big plus when living in a small fifth wheel. It is also lighter than other cat litters. The same size box of other cat litters is about 28 pounds and it is 20 pound for Fresh and Light, which is also a big plus.
So far so good but here is where our results did not match tightly controlled testing. On the show they show how it clumped better and had better odor control. Without the dust when the urine is right up against the box the litter does not clump as good as other litters. This might contribute to the biggest downfall of the litter, odor control. Because it was so light and dust free we tried real hard to like this litter but finally gave up and switched back to our old standby, Scoop Away Multi-Cat. We read the labels and it is supposed to be 99.9% dust free while the others said 99.3% or 99.6% dust free, not 100% dust free but pretty darn good and the odor control is MUCH better. We already have noticed a difference and are glad we switched back.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Peculiar MO (Partly Sunny and Warmer High 72 Low 49)
Yes, that is really the name of the town :-)
We drove through rain on part of our drive from Viking Lake State Park to Peculiar MO. The main difference we did notice though was that it was a lot cooler than we expected, it was 55 degrees when we were setting up. It was warmer than that earlier in the day when we were leaving Viking Lake State Park. It was about 190 miles and this is the route we took.
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Our usual back-in site was not available, with the rain the folks there decided to stay a day longer, so we are in a pull through. We have family and friends and Doctors to see while we are in the area so we will be here about a month. There are old standby food places to eat at along with a few new places we have to try.
We did enjoy Viking Lake State Park. The RV sites are on a cove off of the main lake and are nice. There are a limited number of full hookup sites and only a few of those are reservable but coming mid week after Labor Day and having Jo's cousin pay for the first night helped us get a good site. There are trails around the lake and it is a nice quiet park.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Viking Lake State Park, Stanton IA (Rain in the Area High 83 Low 50)
After a jam packed few days visiting Bob's family and friends we left yesterday, September 11th, and headed to Viking Lake State Park near Stanton IA to visit Jo's Aunt and cousins. We got off to a bit of a bumpy spot as our TPMS system notified us that one of the truck tires was at its lower warning level. So Bob got out our CO2 tank and filled up the tire. Of course the tire gauge had settled down to the bottom of the storage container so he had to pull everything out and then put it all back together. With the tire now in the safe range for travel we headed out. Jo's cousin Denny and his wife Peg were camping at the park so it was nice to see them as we pulled into the State Park. It was about 125 miles, here is the route we took.
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We certainly did jam a lot of activity into our short stop in central Iowa. We of course ate at some great places; pumpkin pancakes at the Drake Diner, burgers at the Zombie Burger (recommended by Bob's niece), great pasta and smoked pork chop at Irina's Restaurant, Salvadoran food at El Buen Gusto in Perry IA, and a great buffet at a nearby Pizza Ranch. We tried to go to Saraj for Bosnian food but it is closed on Mondays. On the sports front Bob was able to get the two games we were interested in. We were glad that we got the Iowa State win over Iowa but could have missed the Chiefs debacle against the Falcons. The next time we visit the area we are going to stay longer so we don't have to jam everything into a few days.
We will be just as busy the next few days as we have a short time here also but that will be fine as we are looking forward to seeing everyone here. We were able to position the Cameo on our campsite here so that the roof mounted satellite dish would work. The SatFinder app on Bob's phone really helped in our pulling forward and backing up the Cameo to get just the right spot.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Altoona IA (Pleasant and Warmer High 78 Low 46)
We left yesterday, Friday September 7th, and drove to Adventureland Campground at the Adventureland Park in the Des Moines area. It was about 230 miles but it was mostly interstate which helps on what is becoming one of our longer trips. We like to keep them under 200 miles but we have family and friends to see in the area so we went a little further.
Here is the route we took
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Our old friend our roof mounted satellite dish played a part in selecting our park, actually changing it at the last minute. Our two other options in the metro area, Walnut Woods State Park and Cuttys Resort (where we stayed at last year), both have significant trees making satellite reception difficult. Bob has a football game Saturday (Iowa State) and we both have Sunday (Kansas City Chiefs) that were not going to be on local stations. We were assured that they had spots that the dish would work and when we arrived the dish setup with no problem so we are happy campers, so to speak. It was raining and windy with temps in the high 50s when we setup so we setup in record time.
The DVR programs are set and we are ready to enjoy a few days in the Des Moines area, now if our teams can win it will be even better.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Prior Lake MN (Rain, Clouds Breaking, Not as Warm High 67 Low 42)
We realized that we still had some Maps to add to our blog gadget on the left side of our blog. Somehow we had created these Maps but failed to list them. So today we added Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico and South Dakota. Here is the map for Iowa since that is where we are heading next.
Map Channels
The "Enter a Location" search in the upper right will let you zoom to a particular area. There is a scroll bar next to the list so you can scroll down and see the entire list for the state. Bob did these maps to get around the 200 marker limit for Google Maps. Check out MapChannels.com for more information.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Prior Lake MN (Partly Sunny and Pleasant High 79 Low 52)
With temps in the high 80s and humid we decided the last couple of days to go to a movie. The first one we saw was "The Bourne Legacy".
Carrying on the Jason Bourne story but without Jason Bourne. The mad scientists are at it again and this time it is Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner that is the guinea pig. The good about this movie is that there are some characters from the Jason Bourne trilogy that are mentioned so you have some familiarity with the storyline. Plus this is an action movie so there is a lot of chases and fights. The stunt sliding down between two walls close together was pretty neat. We really like Rachel Weisz and Jeremy Renner so that helped too.
The bad is that it took a while to get going at the beginning and it lagged a little in the middle, probably about 15 minutes too long of a movie. In our 5 star Netflix-type ranking we give it 3 stars - Liked It. Not as good as any of the Jason Bourne trilogy but still a good movie and it was air conditioned and the popcorn was good.
Next we saw "Hope Springs" with Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep.
A heartfelt story of an old married couple seeking therapy from a counselor played by Steve Carrell. We laughed, we cried and we smiled throughout the movie so it touched us. There were a couple scenes that made us uncomfortable but all in all a good movie. In our Netflix-type ranking we give it 4 stars - Really Liked It.
Looks like the heat wave has broke here which must mean it is time to move to where it is hotter :-(
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Prior Lake MN (Partly Sunny and Humid High 87 Low 65)
Subtitled: Another Foodie Paradise
It has been too hot here in Prior Lake MN to do much of anything at all except go to the movies, which we will blog about later. This gives us the chance to blog about our stay in South Range WI, this time a single location is a foodie paradise.
We mentioned Kounty Quart House before and we went back a couple more times and it just kept getting better and better. Everything was a highlight from all of our visits that is how good this place is. From the Ultimate BLT with fried yellow tomatoes, to the Chicken Pot Pie, to the Reconstructed Reuben which used potato pancakes for the bread, to the Greek Burger which had a thick creamy spinach topping on a greatly flavored burger, to the Cheesesteak which used thinly sliced ribeye as the meat, to the Bail Bond which was fried yellow tomatoes on top of an arugula salad with bail pesto sauce, to the Bacon Mac-N-Cheese (pictured), everything was a culinary adventure.
Here is the Reconstructed Reuben.
Even the sides were incredible, especially the side salad and the homemade dressings. The bread and rolls were homemade, the sweet potato fries were very good. This is an amazing place. We sent an email to Guy Fieri of "Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives" telling him about this place. Added to 'Our Favorite Things! Food' is the Chicken Pot Pie and the Ultimate BLT.
We like this place so much that we will plan our travel around this area so we can eat here again.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Prior Lake MN (Mostly Sunny High 84 Low 60)
After a great week in South Range WI we drove yesterday, Friday August 31st, to Prior Lake MN, a suburb of the Twin Cities. We arrived at the Dakotah Meadows RV Park after about 190 miles. Here is the route we took
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We will be in the Twin Cities for a week and we plan to visit Jensen's Cafe as part of our foodie tour. They have lemon ricotta pancakes that are amazing and the best syrup we have ever had. For sightseeing we plan to visit the Hill House and then play it by ear. The weather looks like it is going to be hotter than we like which may curtail some of our activities.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
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