Continuing north-Duluth

After the Winnebago rally in Forest City, our next planned stop was Duluth, MN.  After 10 days of camping without sewer hookups and not being to do  any laundry, we first made a short detour south for one night to Clear Lake, IA   We had stayed at the campground before and knew it had good  laundry facilities.  If you are in the area, it is a nice place to visit.  It is the last place where Buddy Holly performed. The hall he performed in can be toured and has numerous artifacts of his visit.  Just outside of town, the crash site where he and his band perished is a short walk down a farm lane.  We visited here in the past and you can read about it here. 

This time it was a just a logistic stop and the laundry is still good.

The next morning we headed for Duluth, again without reservations.  On the way north, Anneke found a campground located on the waterfront in town. In fact it is on the grounds of a marina with a view of the famous lift bridge which is among the top attractions in Duluth.

 It is also close to the nightlife district and the highly popular pier park area. We walked to the entertainment district, which is across the lift bridge.  As luck would have it we were able to observe the bridge opening twice during our walk .If you are looking for a close in scenic place to camp, the  RV park in the Lakehead boat basin is it.

Some years back, I was aboard a 1000 foot Great Lakes freighter when we passed thru the bridge. It was quite a sight.  

Boats trains and a grand rally

As we continued north, our next planned stop was the Winnebago Grand National Rally held on the property of the Winnebago factory in Forest City, Iowa. This was to be our fourth time at the rally in the last ten years. As we traveled north, we decided to find a spot to spend one night to break the drive into two days.  We continue to try and travel without making reservations for most of our stops.  We like this method, as it gives of lots of flexibility.  Sometimes this means working hard at the end of the drive to find a place to stay.

As we headed north, we were thinking about staying one night in the Hannibal, MO area, where we have spent time before.  With the wonders of the cell phone, Anneke found a city park north of Hannibal in the town of Canton, MO.  It was right on the Mississippi River.  She called and was told that there would be no problem finding a spot on a weekday.  Indeed when we arrived, there was only one other RV on site.  Full hookups for $20 and a great view of the river next to an ACOE lock and dam.  Depending on your point of view, there were two possible drawbacks.  First, there is a railroad track right behind the camping area.  I mean right behind!  Next, it seems that entertainment in town was limited.  So we had a fair amount of townies driving by to see the river and who was camped there.  In our case, neither bothered us and we enjoyed our time there. A nice overnight spot near the interstate.

We arrived in Forest City during the pre-rally period to enjoy the local celebration called Puckerbrush.  There is food and entertainment downtown and the heritage park next to the rally grounds is open with exhibits of Iowa farming equipment and history of the area. The finale of the celebration is the parade down main street with most of the town in the parade or watching.

The rally has seminars on all facets of RVing and displays of the latest in Winnebago products.  If you have a problem with any of your equipment, many of the manufacturers are on hand to answer questions and provide service on their products.  There was entertainment all day everyday plus nighttime entertainment on the big stage for three nights.  We have been to many rallies and Winnebago does a great job with the entertainment.  

One of the favorite events is the annual car parade. Everyone turns out for this.

The best part for us is getting to visit with people that we have met over the years at rallies, caravans and along the road.  When you mingle with over a thousand Winnebago owners, it is amazing how many people you meet here that you have crossed paths with .  We parked in the View/Navion row and had a great time meeting with fellow owners of our style rig.

The only downside to our time here was the weather.  Instead of cool weather, we were under a heat warning most of the time. 

Searching for cool

After living with the excessive heat and humidity, we decided it was time to head north in search of fun times and hopefully much cooler temperatures. Our plan was to eventually reach northern Minnesota along the shores of Lake Superior.  Departing in early July for a planned four week trip.

A problem hit us right away.  After parking the motorhome in the driveway, I proceeded to open the main door to air the rig out.  The automatic step came out with what I ruefully called a happy dance.  It did this within a short period after we bought the motorhome and the motor was the culprit.  We knew that if we tried taking it to any of the RV dealers, they were sure to sit on it for weeks before returning it. We called a mobile RV tech that we had observed in a campground we stayed at locally while we were fulltime.  He came out first thing in the morning and found the problem. Again the motor had failed.  He brought the standard motor used on most two step Kwikee models.  Of course, ours was not one of those and required the less common model, which naturally was more expensive.  Luckily, they had one in stock and he returned early the next morning and installed it in short order.  I do not think it was anymore expensive than taking it to a service facility and waiting forever for them to order the part. The trip was still on.

Our first stop was to visit our daughter, Katie and her husband. She  had just been transferred to Maxwell Air Force Base for a ten month training program.  This is the closest she has been stationed to us, so it will be nice to have her relatively close for a little while.  Her sister Heather and the kids were also excited about them being close and had already arrived there before us for a visit. As luck would have it, the house she is renting has a 50 amp hookup for the driveway.  So we spent three nights mooch docking.  It was pretty hectic with some boxes still being unpacked and two kids running around, so not much in the way of pictures either. It was a great visit, but scored a big goose egg on the cool meter.

After three days, we headed out for places north.  We stopped for the night at a nice campground close to the highway in Clarksville, TN on top of the Kentucky border.  The Clarksville RV Park.