Mary & JJ

September 16-17 - 2017 Chicago, Illinois

This week-end we spent in Chicago.
We did the “must do’s”:
    Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) – once the highest building in the world.
    Deep Dish Pizza (invented in Chicago)
    Navy Pier.
Chicago has a lot of interesting buildings and a lot of interesting people.

How about having your
wedding picture taken inthe middle of the road.

We also ran into Abraham Lincoln

And last, but not least, we met with JJ's cousin Peter,
who is in Chicago for a number of years doing his Ph. D

On the way back to the campground we crossed the border to Indiana,
to buy cigarettes ($4,50/pack($7,50 in MN)) and gas ($2,19 a gallon($2,49 in MN)) 😊 Big savings 😊

Written by JJ

September 16 - 2017 Crete, Illinois

First a practical piece of information (for those who didn’t already know).
It is possible to get an email when there is a new posting.
All you have to do is enter your email address in the box under “Follow by Email”
and then submit. You will receive an email from “noreply+feedproxy@google.com”
where you have to activate your subscription, and you will receive an email when there is
a new posting. You can unsubscribe at any time you want to.

Friday we moved to Crete, Illinois. Half an hour south of Chicago.
The Tahoe is very thirsty with the camper behind it.
We are doing about 10 miles per gallon - at best (ca. 4,5 km/liter) ☹
Gas went up 30-40 cents after the hurricanes to $2,50 per gallon (ca. kr. 4,25/liter).
It is gradually coming down again.

Lake Jewel seen from our campsite

We are still learning things about setting up the camper, and how things work. We have had a couple of close calls…

The first day we set up, we wanted to turn on the hot water heater. Mary remembered that we needed to fill the tank BEFORE we turned it on. She had made a special note of that. But we were not sure of which tank that meant (Mary thought there was a special tank, and JJ thought it was fine, since we were hooked up to water). So, we turned the heater on, and after several hours, there was still no water. We were then pretty sure, that we had ruined the water heater, by not filling an external tank. LUCKILY it wasn’t the case. There was an external switch for the water heater, that we had forgotten to turn on😊

We bought a TV for the camper. It works really well, by using an antenna, that is cranked up on the roof. We have 50 local channels today – all for free! BUT the antenna has to be put down again, when we move the camper! Yesterday, about 5 miles from our first campground, a car in front of us stopped at a traffic light, and put on his flashers. “What now”, said JJ. The guy came back to our car and informed us, that we had forgotten to take the antenna down. Not good☹ But it is nice that Americans are so helpful😊

Written by Mary & JJ

September 14 - 2017 Brodhead, Wisconsin

We spend most of yesterday getting our stuff moved into the camper and get it organized in an efficient way, so we will be able to function in a relative small space for the next 3 months.
We also bought a TV and got that installed, so we can follow the news and see if the world is still turning.

We pulled out of Birchwood, Minnesota this morning and moved 300 miles (500 km) east to Brodhead, Wisconsin (see map).

The trip went well, but there is quite a difference between driving a Peugeot 205 weighing 800 kg (ca. 1700 pounds) and the Chevy Tahoe and the camper with a combined weight of 5000 kg (ca. 11000 pounds) !!

Trump is right 😊: MAJOR investments in infrastructure is highly needed, or kidney belts (nyrebælter) have to be available at all gas stations – free of charge! 😊

It took us about 15 minutes to set up the camper when we arrived.
It takes longer to check into a hotel room 😊

Writen by JJ

September 13 - 2017 Birchwood, Minnesota

September 13, 2017 – Birchwood, Minnesota

I promised on the last blog entry, to tell a little more about our experience with picking up our camper. As I wrote, we were contacted the day before we were scheduled to pick it up. The store did not have the new tires to put on the trailer! (This was one of the 9/11 problems)

We decided to drive up there early anyway, because we were already at my brother’s house, so we could be closer to Paynesville, where we were picking the camper up. No one was going to be at home, so we could just as well go to the store.

Shortly after arriving at the store, the electricity went out! INCREDIBLE!!!!! Americans do have more power outages then we have in Denmark, but they are usually connected to storms and bad weather. That was not the case this day (or on 9/11).

We were lucky, that the paperwork was done, so we could go through that without computers. Unfortunately, the tires could not be put on the trailer, until the power came on again. We got a very good introduction to the trailer, and how to use things (the service guys couldn’t do anything else, so they had lots of time for us).

And finally, at about 2:30 (14:30), we were ready to leave. We had hoped to be on the road by noon, so we could get through the big cities before rush hour started, but that didn’t happen! Luckily, we had chosen a route with less traffic, and there were only a couple of spots, where our knuckles were white.

Home safely in Birchwood, we could breathe easy and congratulate ourselves on our new home, and a trip well done. We slept happy again last night😊

Written by Mary

September 11 - 2017 Birchwood and Dassel, Minnesota

It has been a week since we last wrote. We have been busy buying things for the camper, visiting family and friends, and getting some paperwork done. We have gotten a lot done. But not all of it has been without complications. As my sister said, "You didn't think it would all go smoothly, did you?" Here are some of the complications, we have run in to:

We found out that the plug in for the trailer lights was not working. After talking to "experts" (professional mechanics and my brothers) and hooking it up to a few trailers, JJ finally got the problem fixed :-)

On Friday, our bank sent us a mail, that we had over-used our debit card, and that they would charge us $10 (70 kr.) for each withdrawal we made over 6 per month. We had already made 12 withdrawals the first week of September! JJ WAS NOT HAPPY, that we had wasted $60/420 kr. I wasn’t too happy either☹We finally got it worked out with the bank.

Monday was 9/11 and many flags were flying half mast in remembrance
of the 16th anniversary of the terrorist acts in 2001.

Our own 9/11 was, without any comparison though, not without problems.
So many small things went wrong.

#1 – Our car needs new tabs (en slags vejskat) in December. Because we are going to be in Florida in December (they need to be bought in Minnesota), we asked at the DMV (motorkontoret) if we could buy them early. “Sure, you can”, the woman at the office said. That was until she tried putting the information into the computer. The DMV is changing their computer system – not without problems. After 3 tries, she told us to come back and try another day.

#2 – Right after the DMV, we went to get insurance for the camper. Just before we got to the office, the electricity went out. No electricity – no computers – no insurance! We could see from the traffic lights, that the power outage was local, so we decide to wait for an hour, to see if the power came back.

#3 – We went to a store where JJ had seen lighter gas, which he needed. That store was also out of electricity, but the employees said we could buy things, if we could find them and pay in cash. JJ and one of the sales personal walked around with a flashlight to find the gas. They did. And we had cash, so we got gas for the lighter!

We then waited in the car for about an hour, and decided not to wait any longer for the power to come on. We went back to the insurance company, and as we were speaking to the guy, the power came on again. So, we got insurance too!!

#4 – Just after we left the insurance office, we got a phone call from the RV (camping) store. We were scheduled to pick up the camper at 9 am the next day, but they had not gotten the tires, so it would not be ready until sometime in the afternoon. THIS DID NOT MAKE US HAPPY!!!!! (Imagine JJ at this point!!!!!) We will write more about this tomorrow.

Finally, our day started getting better after that. We arrived at my brother Matt’s house, and watched the first game of the Minnesota Vikings football team’s season. They won😊😊😊 So we were happy when we went to bed.

Written by Mary

P.S. To continue with the bad luck, I have written this blog 3 times, but have had trouble saving it, so I have had to start over each time☹

September 4 - 2017 Deerwood, Minnesota

We spent the last 2 days at my brothers' cabin (sommerhus) in northern Minnesota. It is on a hill over looking a lake. It is a quite, peaceful place to be. And beautiful - especially at sunset.

Pontoon boat

We tried a fun thing at one of the local bars. It is called a meat raffle (kødlotteri). You buy a number, and get a chance to win a package of meat. Between my brother Phil, his wife Mindy, and JJ and I, we won 4 packages of meat and 2 free drinks. The extra money goes to projects for the local Lions club. It was an interesting bit of local culture.

We are now visiting my brother Matt. There is a town celebration here in Dassel. We saw fireworks (fyrværkeri), when we came last night. Today we head out for my sister's house in Birchwood. We have been in the rural part of Minnesota until now (ude på landet). Birchwood is part of the big city area of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Written by Mary

September 2 - 2017 Paynesville, Minnesota

Just a short update on the travel trailer.
We did the test-drive yesterday and made the final decision to buy.
Now they have to make it ready for us (new tires etc. etc.).
We will pick it up on the 12th.
It is a 2011 Heartland North Country - 22FB
It may look big, but you cannot get them much smaller over here! :-)
Written by JJ

August 31 - 2017 Watertown, Minnesota

We made it safely to Minnesota.

It is busy, busy, busy.

We have gotten so much done in 3 days.

Here is our "new" vehicle. It is a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe. It is big, and has lots of gadgets. We are still figuring out what all the control buttons are, and how to use them. One funny incident that happened with that ...... We were sitting in the car, trying to figure out how the climate control works. Some how Jens Jørgen pushed one of the numerous control buttons on the arm rest, and the seat started moving forward. Before he got the motor shut off, he was very tightly squished against the steering wheel. He could not move anything but his arms. "Find the manual!" he yelled. I had trouble doing that, because I was laughing too hard:) Luckily, we got it under control.

We have spent our days here so far, getting necessary things taken care of.

This is what we have accomplished:

change the car title

get car insurance

purchase a SIM card with an American telephone number

and sign up for a phone plan

find a travel trailer

get some repair work done on the car

a visit to the bank to set up on- line banking.

The best thing, we have gotten accomplished so far is the travel trailer shopping. It also took the longest amount of time.We went to 2 dealers.

The first was one we found on-line in Denmark. We thought they had just what we wanted, even though it cost a little more then we wanted.

It was a 17 foot trailer, which was the size we had decided on last summer, when we looked around.

We decided it was too small.

The dealer had a 21 foot trailer that was old - 2001, but very well kept, and within our budget. We were really tempted by this trailer, but decided to look at another one, at a different dealer, before we decided.

That was a good choice. The next travel trailer was one my brother Phil had found. It was a 2011, 22 foot trailer. We liked it right away, and the dealer was much more helpful and willing to make a deal. We haven't officially bought the trailer yet, but we will make a down payment on it tomorrow, when we go to test drive with it. Then it will take the dealer until September 12 to get it ready for us. We will pick it up that day. Then we will use a couple of days to get it organized and ready for the road trip. We plan on leaving Minnesota on September 14, if all goes well.

Now that the most important practical things are out of the way, we are going to have time for a little relaxation and fun. We are going to my brothers' cabin tomorrow (Friday), and will be there until Sunday with some of the family. For those who know my family, it will be:

Dave and Kelli

Phil and Mindy

Paul and Ryan, plus one of Ryan's friends

We will post pictures on our blog, especially for those of you, who have not seen this beautiful place.

We are not sure, if we will be able to send the blog from there, but sometime in the beginning of next week, you should be able to see and read about our weekend.

Written by Mary