On April 1st (April fools day, hope this is not an omen) Gary and I drove to Elkhart IN to pick up our first RV. It is a 2009 Monaco Riptide that we purchased on eBay. The experience was a little nerve racking at first, we had not seen this coach in person, but Adam and team at Luxury RV made the experience an easy one. It is a new coach which means it has some glitches so Gary and I decided to shake down the coach in our return trip to MN. Unfortunately this is not the best time of year to travel the upper midwest and sure enough, we hit a snow storm. We refrained from loading the RV with water because of the below freezing temps. The first night in the Elkhart campground was a bit nippy but with the LP fill the next night we were toasty.
This is also our first time traveling with Tigger (our cat) and we are happy to report that he has been fantastic! We were both a little worried as he is shy and afraid of almost everything. Tigger has experience riding in the car but never this long and an RV is a different beast all together. The first night he was a little confused in the middle of the night and thought the mirror was a window to another room. His pride was a little hurt but fortunately that was the only damage.
Our campgrounds included:
Elkhart, nice but loud sitting near I80.
Spaulding Lake in Niles MI, very nice place with fishing ponds for kids.
Mini Mountain near Carlisle IN, large with lots of woods but not the best facility (lots of seasonal trailers) but very quite, sleeping was great in the wooded hole we sat in.
Our favorite Geneseo IL almost to Iowa on 80. Clean, next to the Hennepin Canal that connects the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. While I was writing this blog, we were listening to a pair of owl's just outside our RV talking up a storm.
Miller park on the river in the Quad Cities was empty with a fantasitc view of the river.
In Winona we enjoyed a free night in another campground on the Mississippi river, just below the lock and dam. We enjoyed a visit in Wabasha to the Eagle Center, a must see for birders.
Our final stop was at the Treasure Island Casino, not as bad as I thought. very clean, safe and access to the hotel pool, sauna and casino.
Friday morning, we were home again and Tigger was happy.
