10/12/2009 - Snow!!

I woke up at 5 am and immediately looked outside….too dark yet! So as soon as I was dressed, I grabbed the flashlight and went outside. I didn’t see any snow yet, but a very light precipitation was coming down. but not sure if it might be snow until it was light. By that time it was light a couple of hours later, there was the beginning of a good cover of snow on the ground in the campground.

I left the campground about 8 am and decided that I would “tootle” along slow and take a few scenic routes to stretch out the time to 10 am! I even went through Rock Elm where John Harris was buried, but there was no place to park and the snow was covering the ground in the area of the cemetery pretty good.

I ended up in Elmwood by 8:45 am, so I decide to drive to Spring Valley. Took pictures on the way, as there was little to no traffic on the road!

Heading back toward Elmwood, the snow was beginning to accumulate pretty good on the road that Betty's farm is on!….

the snow was staying on the edges of the road and working it’s way toward the middle! And Betty's driveway was already covered

I figured I better not stay too long as I wasn’t sure how my motorhome would handle if there was too much snow!

As it turned out, Betty didn’t answer the door…..her hearing is not too good and if she had her headset on for watching TV, there would be no way she’d hear me knocking on the door. So after a number of attempts both on the outside and on the kitchen door in the entryway, I decided I needed to be on my way. I left the small bag of sugar free candy and orchard apples in the entryway so she would see it when she opened the door later!…and I was off.

Well…sorta “off”! I had turned the motorhome around before I stopped and parked. When I put the shifter into “drive” and pushed the gas pedal lightly, I could feel a slight slip in the back tires. So I moved slowly so anything that happened would be “controllable”. Moving forward slowly I could feel a slide sideways when the motorhome was on a slight slant….the whole motorhome!…and the tires weren’t spinning! This was good!……good because that told me there was NO WAY I would be driving this rig in snow unless I had chains on the tires! A good thing to learn…..early!!

After getting out of the driveway, the road that took me back through Elmwood, was getting more & more snow,

so I was glad to be in Elmwood and on roads that were more traveled!….at least they were just wet. The temperatures weren’t low enough that the water on the road would freeze….and the traffic probably help!

On the drove to Menomonie, I decided to stop at the Fleet & Farm to pick up some RV antifreeze. Of course, I don’t go into stoes without shopping a little! But the really surprising thing was to run into Denny! He had seen my motorhome in the parking lot and came in to see if he could find me! I was once again reminded of “not being able to get away with anything” in these small towns! I offered to buy lunch for Denny, but he declined. After we went our separate ways, I headed back to the ranch, Circle D. One of the roads just before you get to Denny & Deb's ranch looked like this

and at the ranch, Christmas is what I found!...:)

For dinner I offered to make black beans and rice to go with the pork chops & corn that Denny & Deb were fixing. Again, I was the last one done!

Dinner in the barn for the horses was a little sad…..I knew that this would be my last night to come to the barn with Deb & feed Pedro and Brandy. As usual, I talked to them, but mostly Pedro. It was as if he knew what I was saying and he “indulged” me by letting me stroke him more than usual! How many ways can someone say how an animal can impact your heart! This handsome boy was doing the job in a big way! I will miss you, Pedro!

Bedtime was alittle earlier, but still managed to get some work done on the computer before retiring!