Tribute Video for our Frontier

The Big Move to Bjorn

Parting with our Frontier was like parting with a family member.  I won't forget looking back at it all alone in the parking lot as we left for Indiana with Bjorn.  Even a day later, Graeme started crying out of nowhere because he missed the Frontier so much.  But it was the right time and place to make this move and we have such great memories of our little Frontier.

The video above (click the link "The Big Move to Bjorn") is just about all the places we camped and video of us moving all of our stuff from the Frontier to Bjorn.  Of course, this video is more for us as a family to remember everything about this trip in our Frontier, but I thought I would share it anyway. :)

Our last picture of our Frontier - in the Pettibone RV dealership where we bought our 2013 Kodiak Express.

Videos!

Here are some videos that I put together along the way.  They are very random...  but I'll put them in perspective when I post them.

Here's the hail storm I was caught in on my mountain bike in Custer State Park, South Dakota.

Custer Hail Storm

This is the ride I took in Red Canyon, Utah.  This trail is 15 miles from Bryce Canyon and THE BEST single track I've ever ridden.  All told, this ride was 22 miles from start to finish - 8 miles of single track on the Thunder Mountain trail and 14 road miles to the Bryce Canyon Visitor Center.  I've cut this 2 hour 30 minute ride into 25 minutes.  If you're into fantastic scenery, single track mountain biking and 80's metal (this ride just begged for heavy metal!) than this will be 25 minutes of bliss.

Also - I've not included (except for one small part to keep it real) all the walking I had to do at the beginning of the ride.  This was an ascent of 1,500 feet in the first 3 miles.  And with an elevation of over 8,200 feet there were times where I had to sit to just catch my breath.  My Go Pro was mounted to the handlebars and then switched to my seat post.  The handlebar mount is a fantastic view of what is coming, but sometimes bouncy to watch.  Enjoy the ride!

By the way - this video has not been sped up, slowed down or enhanced in any way.

 Thunder Mountain

A neat stretch of highway in Oregon that we didn't expect.  I used my Go Pro on a suction cup mount suctioned to the sunroof - worked great!  We were on our way to Craters of the Moon in Idaho.  And yes, I set it to country music.  Shocking, I know.

John Day Scenic By-Way - Oregon

The 53rd Day

Bjorn all fixed and ready to leave the Indianapolis Camping World

Before I get to the final day of our odyssey, a little bit about Day 52...  The night before, after Bjorn's first day on the road and first night to camp in him, he needed a doctor's appointment at the Camping World in Indianapolis.  When we set up camp (at 11:30 p.m) I came across an unexpected problem when hooking up the water - leaks.  Leaks from the fitting on the outside of the camper and Lisa reported water spraying against the side of the linen closet inside the camper.  You can imagine how happy I was - no water to take a shower not to mention no bathroom for the night...  But, I took a deep breath, called the dealership in the morning and they arranged for us to get it looked at in Indianapolis, right on our route. 

Turns out that the outside fitting was missing a small screen filter the size of a nickel and the problem was solved.  Off we went and were able to arrive in Zanesville by 8 p.m.  By the way, the campground we stayed at in Zanesville, OH was supposed to be the campground we stayed in on Day 1 of this journey.  You may recall that Day 1 didn't go so well and we ended up altering our route away from Zanesville to see Uncle Chris and get that fuel pump fixed on Gigantibeast.  Pretty weird how things turn out sometimes...

The Final Day

Bjorn in Zanesville, OH

These two slide outs will give us room to grow

Our second night in the new camper (with water and a bathroom, YAY!) was bliss.  Mommy did a lot of organizing inside the camper while I did very little outside except to put a few beers in the outside kitchen fridge and do some organizing, but not much.  I did stay up until 4:30 in the morning finishing up blog posts all the way back to Crazy Horse.  Even figured out with my little night owl Scarlett how to get the TV to tune in to HD channels over the air with our antennae.  Pretty weird having a TV in the camper - we're going to need some rules about when that gets turned on for sure.

So our last day on the road started at noon.  No, not because I was up until 4:30, but more because I wanted to pass through NYC after rush hour.  It was going to be a long day - 573 miles and four state lines.  It's sad that as we crossed into Ohio and continued to push east, everything deteriorated pretty quickly.  The roads got worse and worse and drivers were worse than the roads.  It kept reminding me of how much I loved being out West - good roads, less traffic and nonsense.  Simple.  Sure, you have to drive 50 miles for groceries, but that may be better than what I was driving into... But we paced ourselves, enjoyed our last lunch picnic lunch in Pennsylvania (no pretty stream, but at least the table was clean) with one gas stop before home. 

Parking with the big boys

The Olsen's last picnic lunch - a service area on PA turnpike

Bjorn in his first cave - a tunnel in PA

A bent bumper

As we got to the eastern side of PA, it was time for our last gas stop.  It was 8:30 and New York City was about an hour away.  I pulled into an oh-so-tight gas station and filled up while the kids did their normal "pit stop" thing - a quick bathroom break and back in the truck by the time I pull the receipt from the gas pump.  Well, it didn't quite go so quickly, but I was anxious to get out of that gas station - it was busy and I was semi-blocking one of the exits.  As I pulled through I had to make a pretty hard right to avoid driving right through the convenience store - when I did that I was forgetting how long Bjorn was compared to the Frontier and as the tail end pivoted around, the last 6 inches of the trailer clipped those "pump protectors".  You know, those iron and cement filled pipes that are shaped like an upside down "U" at both ends of a gas pump to prevent someone from running right over a pump.  Lisa tried to warn me about that side of the camper before it happened, but I wasn't thinking it through entirely.  To this day, I think it was Bjorn's way of grabbing onto something to keep him from having to get beat up on the Cross Bronx Expressway, but the kids just shake their head when I say things like that.  Once I pulled clear of the pumps and looked at the damage, I felt slightly better.  Sure his bumper was peeled back, the rear stabilizer jack was mangled and he had some scratches, but everything looked reparable.  Laryssa was the only one brave enough to come back and ask if I needed some help removing the stabilizer jack - such a sweet girl.  

Darn upside down "U's" made these on the side.  Grrrrrr.

The incident gnawed at me all the way home, which lasted until 1:30 a.m.  Turns out I did a great job avoiding rush hour traffic, but night time construction on the Long Island Expressway essentially accomplished the same thing.  First at exits 40 - 43 and again out at 63 - 66.  It's funny that as we pulled through my Dad's field after traveling from coast to coast and logging 8,642 miles in the process, it was the last 150 that were the worst.  But we are safely home!  I have already dropped off Bjorn for his repairs and it will be covered by insurance - we should have him back in less than a week.  And what a journey this was.  I have said this more than a few times on the way back east that I could do this every summer.  As much as we were able to see on this trip, it was amazing the things we didn't see at each stop.  And while I was able to keep up with this blog (sometimes painfully so) and give you guys updates on what we did, there was so much more that happened that never made it into the blog.  We all kind of joked on this trip (and more than once) that two or three stops before seemed like sooooooooo long ago and most times it was only a few days before.  Camping somehow distorts time, slows it down. 

Cheers to our trip!  (and we had a great breakfast, too!)

In less than 2 weeks we'll all be back to school, but it has certainly been one of those summers that we will all remember forever.  For Maribeth, you can travel with us wherever we go, whenever we go!  It was so much fun to have you there for this experience.  I know the kids had so much fun with you on the road and off the road!  You were a great travel companion and, of course, your magic iPad helped us to make some great decisions along the way.  We'll miss you!  And Annalise will miss her traveling buddy - I saw lots of smiles coming from that second row and you had a lot to do with that.

So that's it.  The Olsen's Odyssey 2013 has come to an end.  Before school starts, I will be posting one more entry - there are a few movies that I have made along the way that I just couldn't upload due to the lack of broadband.  They will be links to YouTube, just so you know.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 50 & 51 - I think we're crazy

Last night in the Frontier - and last night signing
postcards at that dinette table

Daddy & Annalise rolling up the broken awning for the last time

So we got up this morning not really knowing what was going to unfold.  This was our day to make our final push for home – next stop, Danville, IL followed by western PA.  But first we had to meet with Mark, the salesman from Pettibone RV.  We met at 8:00 with 2 goals – double check the storage issues in the kids “new bunk room” and in the kitchen.  

If we were going to trade in our beloved Frontier, it had to be the right move and the upgrades would need to be significant enough.  We actually had a third goal, which was to get a firm trade in value.  All 3 goals were met beyond what we could have hoped for and I don’t think I’ll forget how Lisa tapped me on the shoulder in the entrance way to the master bed room and said quietly, “OK”.  17 hours before, we were contentedly camped in site #302 at Pettibone RV Resort.  Now we were making plans to arrive first thing Monday morning to transfer all of our stuff from the Frontier to a 2013 Kodiak Express. 

Everyone pushes in the rear slide - one last time

I’m still a little in shock over the whole affair, but when you’re in the Heartland where just about every camper is built, prices change drastically compared to anywhere on the East Coast.  Mark told us that he had just sold a camper to someone from Schenectady, NY – it was cheaper for them to buy from here and have it shipped back to NY, than to buy anywhere near home.

So we signed all of the necessary paperwork and made plans to finish the deal and transfer everything over to the new camper on Monday, August 19.  As most of you know, it just happened to also be our 18th Wedding Anniversary - a point that Laryssa made the night before and was positive that it was a sign that a new camper was definitely in our future.

Getting ready for the transfer of our "stuff"

Transfer complete!  Ready to roll!

We were all pretty sad to look back in the parking lot and see our Frontier so alone.  He gave us so many memories.

"Bjorn's" first gas station.  We decided to name him Bjorn since it is Norwegian for bear.

Bjorn will give us a lot more room and some great new features to make our next adventure even better!

Camped in Zanesville, OH under a full moon - pretty fitting for a bear!

So we push home tomorrow.  We can't wait to see you all again!  It's been a summer we will never forget - can't wait to share so much more with you all when we see you.  While this blog has shared our travels, there's so many small details that just couldn't be included.  Hope you enjoyed the journey!

Love,

The Olsens (and Maribeth, of course!)

La Crosse, Wisconsin - and a decision to make

For some reason, I took a lot of pictures of our camper at Ingalls.  I liked this one the best.

Annalise had to get a picture with the littlest kitten before we left.

The morning we left for La Crosse was a beautiful one.  A mist hung over the Ingalls Homestead and things felt pretty good.  Ingalls was our last "real" stop of the trip.  As we headed to La Crosse, I looked forward to some mountain biking, but our exploration of the west was behind us.  For me, I came to the conclusion that I could do this full-time.  Life on the road is full of decisions and something new around every turn.  And when I think of everything we didn't see, I know there's plenty of places yet to explore.

Lisa captured a plane crop dusting a field in South Dakota

Annalise relaxes in Daddy's chair in La Crosse

You gotta love having 3 girls and a dirty truck...

Give the kids some chalk and some asphalt -
they'll kill a couple of hours.

Tubing and water skiing on this part of the Mississippi is pretty popular

Our last “real stop” of the trip was picked primarily because I found a mountain biking area about 3 miles from camp that looked like it would have a lot to offer – difficult black diamond trails and easy-going field trails.  La Crosse, as a city, I didn’t know much about until we got here.  But now that we’re here, it reminds me a lot of Burlington, VT but bigger.  Good, fun-loving people here at the campground – the place is called Pettibone RV Resort & Banquet Hall (there were two wedding receptions while we were here) and the campground store doubles as a bar.  I don’t think that campground/bar has ever been empty – regardless of the time of day.  Yep – Wisconsonites can party with the best of them. Pettibone is also an RV dealer and had a showroom and store (where I needed a couple items for the camper).  While I was getting some supplies, everyone else started looking at all the campers.  It’s fun watching the kids explore campers – they picture everything they can do in them and where everyone would sleep.  Mommy found a couple that she liked and I ended up looking at 5th wheels - never too late to plan for retirement. :)

Laryssa works on her chalk creation

Turns out that the spare tire cover that I bought wasn’t the right color, so after dropping off everyone at camp to get ready to leave for our mountain biking excursion, I went back to Pettibone RV.  For kicks, I decided to talk briefly with the sales guy about the one camper there that would be a nice upgrade and that Gigantibeast could still pull.  I was fairly shocked at the numbers.  I wrote them down on the back of his business card and presented them to the big boss…  This was around 2 p.m. and lets just say that until we went to bed that night, there were pros and cons lists being drawn up by the kids, lots of thinking and debating and we ended up setting up a meeting for the morning, Sunday, Aug 18 with the salesman to take one final look…  But more on that later.  It’s time to ride.

Everyone stops to watch a deer that crossed the path

The place we went to ride is called HPT which stands for Human Powered Trails.  I’m guessing it’s because they don’t allow gas powered activities here, but that’s just a guess.  Turns out that for the black diamond trails, you needed a lot of human power – more than most of us had.  Our first two trails were named in Star Wars fashion: OB-1 and Darkside.  You definitely had to be a Jedi master to conquer OB-1 and none of us are Jedi masters.  And the Darkside was exactly what you would expect – smooth rolling downhills followed by evil uphills.  It was a place that was challenging for Daddy; which meant a lot of walking for everyone else.  The kids survived and once they got to the challenge park (a series of bumps, jumps and turns) they were in heaven.  A playground for bikes.  So while they played at the challenge park, Daddy went off to explore some other black diamond trails and had a blast!  Lots and lots of technical riding, careening downhills and single track – just what I was looking for.  While I did that, Lisa did lots of thinking about that new camper – and researching better deals…

I love Laryssa for this - If you can't read it, she thanked Veterans, Active Duty
& Harrison Russell Foley for their service

A bat in the firewood

So off we went to bed with lots on our mind.  In the morning we would visit the RV dealer...

The Ingalls Homestead - De Smet, South Dakota

If you ever watched Little House on the Prairie then the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota is a good place to visit.  It is the final resting place for Ma & Pa Ingalls and Laura Ingalls-Wilder (Author of the Little House on the Praire series) lived here for 5 years from 1880-1885.  It happened to be a day’s drive from Custer with the detour into the Badlands so it worked nicely into this trip.  We pulled in a little late (9:00 p.m.) but were one of only 3 campers there – and they only have room for 4 campers in the whole place.  This may go on record as the smallest campground we have ever stayed in.  

As soon as we got up the next day, the kids were smitten with kittens!  While they enjoyed all the animals at the Ingalls Homestead (a calf, a 3 week old miniature horse and a “born last night” miniature horse, big pulling horses and chickens) the kittens were inseparable from the kids.  I think there were 4 in all and I’m not sure who liked who more – those kittens followed us everywhere!  At first they found them under the visitor center, but once they became acquainted, the kittens were out and as playful as could be.

Graeme - hanging laundry like a Prairie Pioneer

But aside from the animals, the kids got to do laundry (they seemed to enjoy it a lot more than when Mommy does laundry…) make button toys, play with button toys, make rope, make corn cob dolls, ride miniature horses, sit in an old stage coach and an old wagon, ride in a miniature horse drawn buggy and go to school. 

The girls in a "Dugout" - a sod house built into the side of a hill

The kids with a newborn calf

Annalise, Graeme & Scarlett making button toys

All the kids went to school and learned about a one room school house

 

On the go round

Waterboy

The garden

A buggy ride to the windmill

Graeme rides a miniature horse

Graeme likes to get right down to the animal's level

The kids making corn cob dolls.  Very inexpensive, really.

Aren't they cute?

A covered wagon ride to school

Annalise in her school bonnet and dress

The girls volunteer to come to the front of the class.  Graeme did, too -
you just can't see him in this picture.  Really.

Graeme gets to drive the wagon

Our teacher waves good bye

Graeme & Annalise get a buggy ride

Annalise, Laryssa & a kitten enjoy the campfire

Moon over Ingalls Homestead

It was a fun day which ended in a nice campfire with a beautiful sunset.  In the morning, there were some sad kids – they certainly asked more than once if we could take a kitten home and it was the first time on the whole trip that the kids wanted to stay another night…  But on to La Crosse, Wisconsin!