Minnesota – Mud, Mice & Mosquitos!

Back to the beginning

We arrived back to where we started our full-time adventure a year ago, in Nashwauk, MN., on May 12th. If you’re looking for another positive post from the Traveling Sarffs and all the beautiful locations we have seen, you may want to skip this one. No matter how many witches’ balls I have hanging in Homer, they don’t appear to be working over these last ~two weeks. If you want to read what it’s like to be in a place with really crappy weather and living the full-time life in an RV, read on……

MUD!!!!!!

We left Iowa with a temp in the 80’s. We hit Minneapolis with a temp in the mid 70’s. We arrived in Nashwauk with a temp in the low 50’s and a light rain. That’s ok, we are back in our home state and ready to set up for a couple months and see the family. We’re in shorts and our normal crocs. I grab a sweatshirt out of the car and get ready to guide Dave into our spot. Wow! They have really had some rain here this spring. I realize this as I slip and slide across the grass to the same spot we used last year. The spots in this campground are not very wide, nor is the road to get to them very wide. However, we had no issues getting into this same spot last year. I remembered we would need to clip the right side of the narrow drive to back it in, pull forward on the little hill, and then back it straight in from there. Easy, Peasy! Dave starts his backup, we clip the little side grass, and the trailer sinks 6 inches into the mud! The kayaks scrape the mud and hit the tar pad. I get him stopped and have him start pulling forward to make the tighter swing and the truck starts sliding forward through the mud on the “gentle” hill. There is nothing firm anywhere around us. We pull the kayaks out of the carrier and just toss them in the grass behind our spot. It’s raining a litte harder and the wind has picked up. We attempt this same spot another 4 times and the little dip is now so deep, we have to fill it with all our leveling blocks to even get Homer in and out of it. The truck can’t go any further down the little hill without fear it will actually either roll or sink so deep, we’ll need a wrecker to get us out. I am really feeling the chill after this first 30 minutes. We re-group and I get a little warm sitting in the truck. I’m a little muddy at this point , but it’s not bad. We decide to just pick a different spot. Out of the truck, walk the sites and pick one we think will work. If we just pull forward on the spot across from us, we can almost back in straight and direct to our new location. Easy, Peasy! and bonus, we’ll be facing the morning sun with the majority of our windows. This may be even better than our orignial spot.

Dave makes the turn into the spot across from us and we are amazed at how much of a hill he has to pull up in order to fit our length. It didn’t seem that steep when we looked at it originally, but you guessed it. It is too steep in the front for our kayak carrier in the back and so we slowly and gently just dig the kayak carrier right into the tar. It sounds similar to nails across a chalk board when you hear that scrape, just in case you wondered. I get him stopped and he attempts too slowly back up. Nope. We have dug out too much tar and now cannot backup. Maybe, if we put some blocks under the tires as we backup, maybe that will raise it enough to get it out of the tar. (Of course, we need to dig some of them out of the mud they are stuck in from the other site, first……..) Nope, that doesn’t work. Dave decides to get the drill and remove the kayak carrier itself. He gets the pin out and slowly drives forward with me trying to catch the carrier so it doesn’t smash our back window. We are now an hour and 15 mins into this debacle and right back where we started. We are both soaked and freezing and have mud all over us. Dave is frustrated and can’t believe we are this bad at getting Homer into place. We are experienced RVrs after all. What the hell is going on?????? I am back in the truck trying to prevent hypothermia from setting in, the pups are just looking at us like, what the hell? (Nothing like getting the stink eye from your dog when you feel like nothing is going right). We get out again and look over the site. At least there’s not ditch next to it this time and if it’s a little soft in the grass, we should be able to just make short back and forth turns to get it in there. We are at the 90 minute mark and after multiple slow, forward and back movements, Homer is finally on his pad. Thank God! We get him chocked and off the truck. Hit that auto level button and grab the fence so the pups can take a much needed pee. Homer won’t auto level. Once again, we are on a hill and the front end can’t get low enough to auto level the rest of the rig. C’mon! We load Homer back on the truck, move him back as far as we possibly can on this little hill, remove all blocks from the front and finally, Homer levels. After two hours of messing around in the rain, wind and mud, having to dig all our leveling blocks out of the mud, completely wrecking Dave’s shirt with stains, having our kayaks just sitting in the middle of the campground in one spot, our kayak carrier in the grass on another, we can finally get inside and set up. We have the heat started, the slides are open and the pups are back in their front window looking out at the rain.

Putting my positivity hat back on my head firmly, we learned a few valuable lessons:

1 – Never, ever, think it’s going to be easy, peasy. In fact, just remove that phrase from your vocabulary until after you are in your spot and toasty warm

2 – Even experienced RVers will run into “one of those days” where nothing seems to work

3 – Who cares if you give your neighbors a show. We actually provided a service to those sitting in their campers around us and it was probably more entertaining than watching TV for those 2 hours.

Mice

We have had 13 glorious months of living in Homer full-time. We need to perform some maintenance items on him while we are here, had to fix the furnace and buff out a couple scrapes, have added new slide toppers and overall, have had a great experience. The places we have seen and the experiences we have enjoyed! Love this lifestyle. Then, Dave opens the treat drawer one morning and you guessed it, Mice poo all through it. We have been in Minnesota for ~one week. Out of those 8 days, the sun has shown twice and unfortunately while it was shining, the wind was blowing 20-30 mph. Mice have now invaded my space and I cannot stand mice in my home. Sticks and bricks, Homer, the cabin, I CANNOT stand MICE!!!!!!!!!! We set traps and buy up all the steel wool in the area. We rip everything out of the basement of Homer, take down the “pretty” walls and start plugging every single hole we can find, inside and out. We put traps inside our kitchen drawers, in Homer’s basement and under the sink. I scrub every inch of Homer from the counters down. We catch 2 the first night and don’t see any new droppings anywhere. Better safe than sorry, we leave the traps inside Homer and check them daily. We are 5 days into this and no further signs. We got them.

I hear the little “woof” in the middle of the day. Max is heading behind Dave’s recliner to his napping place and freezes part way to his blanket. A small woof escapes him and I go to check what’s going on. I peek over the top of the recliner and see that Max is in a stare down contest with a field mouse behind Dave’s chair. Dave’s not here, he’s out running around at the cabin. CRAP on a cracker! I can’t throw a trap at it, how am I going to get that nasty little thing out of my house? I get a bowl and am able to drop it over the top of that mouse after some contortionist moves to get to it while making sure it doesn’t go anywhere else. Max holds his steely eyed stare on that mouse and together we are able to capture and dispose of it outside. Obviously, we have not gotten all the mice and by the way, how is it they didn’t show up until after we were back in Mn.? What is going on here this spring?

We do some research and discover some people recommend keeping lights on under your RV at night to prevent them from going inside. Back to the store and now Homer has pretty little lights all under him. Here’s hoping that will work…….

We have been back in Minnesota for just under two weeks at this point. We have had to run our heat in Homer, every, single, night so far. It has rained almost every day we have been here, and we have yet to be able to do any of our maintenance items we had planned. Homer still has mud we can’t clean off from our attempts to park, we have had a whole new “ick” to add to this lifestyle with a rodent problem, what else can possibly go wrong? Why did I ever ask myself that question? Don’t ever ask yourself that question………..

Mosquitos – lots and lots and lots of Mosquitos

The sun is shining! The wind is not blowing 20+ mph, we spend the day on the lake with family. It’s a perfect day and then the little blood suckers attack! They too, were waiting for that one nice day, to hatch by the millions. Not an exaggeration. They are everywhere and they are hungry. Hungry for my pups, for me, even for my husband. There’s no escaping them at the cabin or the campground. They are on the hunt for their prey and we are it. At least we have a little warmth during all this and the sun did shine for that one day. We can put up with them and cover ourselves in bug repellant, if it means we get to see the warm and beautiful sun!

Every state has their weather obstacles. Minnesota gets rain in the spring, although not this much, typically. Thunderstorms are a way to get everything green in Minnesota, but hail this size in Northern MN, is not. Straight line winds and tornados are common, but we went from running the heat to running for cover in a day. As I sit here and write this, the wind is gusting 30+ mph outside and Homer is moving all on his own. The heat is once again running. We were up at 4 AM yesterday because the storms hit us and were LOUD!!!!! Dave did his visit to the cabin to check it after last night’s storms and while it’s still standing with a few less trees around it, he says it is just plain “spooky” to be out there in this weather. I’m not sure what’s going on this year, but here’s what I am focused on right now. We came back for two reasons. Dave’s trip to the boundary waters with his family and our boys, and to inter his mom. We will be done with both those items on June 19th. My plan is to leave June 20th and escape this madness. That really is the beauty of this lifestyle. Other than our family commitments, we have no reason to stay in this state this year. Yes, it would be wonderful to spend more time with all our family, but at this point, we can just call it and head back south. We will get Dave’s shoulder surgery scheduled for this summer, and he can spend his recuperation walking a beach with Max, rather than swatting bugs and running the heat.

To sum up this experience so far:

1 – Don’t spend an extra week in Kentucky, spend an extra month if you are headed to Northern MN

2 – We love our family and will really enjoy spending time with them during the month of the July in the future, when we come back to this state

3 – You can think you’ve done all you need to on your rig, and then you’ll have to do something new. Find those holes and plug them because they are everywhere and critters will find them if you don’t

4 – It’s great to have a plan but call it if it’s not working out. After a year of mostly sunshine, I truly appreciate that I do not have to live in a “gray” state any longer.

Finally, the good soooooo outweighs the bad of living this lifestyle. Knowing we can pack up and go somewhere else, or stay if we want, is the best option for us. To be honest, spending the last few weeks in the “ick” we have seen, really makes me appreciate all the beauty we have seen, even more. I’m loading up on the bug spray and hoping to make a run over to Duluth for a blog adventure while we are here, but other than that, watch for our next adventures as we head back south and experience a summer in the heat and humidity, cuz Minnesota is just not working out this year.

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa