Maintenance, Mustangs and Mud!

Well, we made it this far, but barely! The repairs on a 1998 RV are extensive and expensive!  Good thing we no longer have a house payment! hahaha  Yes, one must laugh or one would be loony tunes.  Both our house and one of the town homes we owned have officially closed.  We are no longer residents of Minnesota. We signed on with Good Sam RV Club and got a Florida address through them.  The mail forwarding service should work...I say should because for the last several weeks, I've been writing 7/ on all of the documents I've been filling out instead of 6/.  Why, you ask?  Because I'm numerically challenged, that's why.  Someone else had to tell me recently that I was 48 years old this year, not 49.  Hey, I'm really good at cooking pasta al dente, okay?  We all have our strengths.  So, anyway, our mail might have to be sorted by the new owners at Old Brick Yard Road for a few weeks.  

We're currently camping out in Medora, North Dakota at the southern edge of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The weeks of goodbyes to family and friends has come to an end, and now we're on our own. I really hope I like these people. Don't let this picture fool you.  This was a brief moment of happiness in a day filled with whining and crabbiness about so much walking and how hot it is! Ethan actually expressed a desire for winter.  I can not relate.

 As of tomorrow, we'll be in uncharted territory (for us).  Obviously, a bunch of people charted it before we got here, so this is pretty easy stuff.  Google tells us where to stop for new shock absorbers (we desperately need these - I'm losing fillings by the hour), and Roadtrippers points out all of the sites to see along the way.  Good Sam gets us the rest of the way.  It's a much smaller world than it used to be.  No one should hesitate to strike out.  The infrastructure in the US is here for you.

I can't say I'm feeling the adventure yet. I'm still very comfortable. All of this is so familiar. I went to high school in Bismarck, so it's not my first trip to TRNP.  I've been here at least a dozen times.  It's awe-inspiring in its beauty. And I got a special treat today.  It's not every visit that you get to see wild horses, and even rarer to see them with their babies. 

Our next scheduled stop is Custer's Last Stand in Montana. I've never been there, so maybe then this will sort of sink in a bit more, that this is actually our life now.  So far, it still kind of feels like a long road trip vacation.  Except for the repairs. That part definitely hits the reality bone. 

Speaking of sinking in (ha! Segue alert!), I am not known for my love of filth. But if you ever get the chance to sink your toes into the mud of the Little Missouri River banks, do it!  It feels delightful...to a point, of course.  And then you just want to wash off your feet.   I wonder if RVing will be similar.