Getting Ready To Go 
Well, we're about to head out again. We plan on leaving by the 13th and head out to Montana. There we'll work on outfitting the RV a little better while visiting with Pat and Nancy (especially since we left in a bit of a hurry in Feb). After that, we'll head to Washington, possibly spend some time there visiting, then we'll be back on the coast like our first trip.

During our last trip we were having lots of issues with the power. We aren't really sure if it was the battery, the solar, the fact that it was winter or the laptops. Possibly a combination of everything. Joe's going to pull the solar panels off the old RV and put them on this one since there is room on the roof for them. We also really want to bring the surf boards. It would be far too frustrating to be on the coast and not be able to surf. So, he's trying to figure out the best way to get the surf boards on the RV and the solar panels mounted. We also decided to pull out the fridge. We only used it a couple times, so the space that will be created by removing it will be really nice. Also, we're probably going to get a DC cooler which will hopefully be more efficient and smaller for when we do want some cold things.

-Miranda

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Finally Live! 
After 2.5 years of work, Horse Isle 2 is finally live! We worked long and hard to finally get to this point. It seems to be doing all right so far. Only time will tell I guess. Once we put out any fires that pop up, we can hopefully start relaxing some and get out traveling again.
-Miranda


A screenshot and Joe and I in the game. (Click to enlarge)

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Apostle Islands Camping 
Joe, Sarah (a friend of Joe's) and I all went camping on the mainland of the Apostle Islands from Thursday to Friday. The weather on Friday was pretty much perfect. A nice temperature to not get too hot, but not get too cold either. Parts of the trail were very muddy though. The campsite is a 4.5 mile (so they say) hike from the parking lot. Unfortunately, it's a lot of up and down, but it was still fun. We reached the campsite around 4:30 and started working on dinner. It was really windy by the lake, so that was chilly. After dinner we hung out in the tent and played Bananagrams.

The only sleeping bag Sarah had was one only rated for 55 degrees.... Needless to say, it was colder than that. Joe kindly gave her his sleeping bag and he slept in hers. He was pretty cold most of the night.

We woke up to a chilly, cloudy morning. It got a little better as the trail moved away from the lake some. I got a few blisters on my feet the first day, but mole skin really helped that for the hike back. When we got to the swampy section (last half mile or so) it got hot! It was so weird. You could definitely tell when the breeze was coming from inland or from the lake. The inland breeze did not help one bit.

I can't speak for Sarah, but Joe and I are definitely sore.

-Miranda



Our packs during our rest.

Sarah and I hanging out before heading out again.

Ice still hanging on to the edge of the sea caves.

The three of us on our last leg of the hike.

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Back Home 
We were talking about heading home to visit people and deal with some things, but weren't quite sure when or how. We were leaning towards taking the train and staying for only a week or two. That would have required that we leave the cats with Pat and Nancy.
After much thought and debate, we decided to just take the RV home. We had to leave immediately though because the tabs expired March 1st. So, we left Friday evening, drove until 3am and stayed that night in a rest stop near Bozeman, MT. We left in the morning and got on the road again.
North Dakota was crazy! Not only was it super cold, but it was foggy and everything was covered in frost. A gas station was creepy with how much frost there was.
We ended up running out of gas about 3 miles from exit that had gas. We might have been able to get there, but it was about 1am, so we thought it best to just stop at the rest stop that we were just passing. It was 16 when we got up in the morning (9am) and that felt warm, so I don't think I want to know how cold it was while we were asleep.
Joe talked to a guy that worked there and he just happened to have some gas in his pickup. So, we made it to the exit with the gas easily. We basically drove straight home from there and got back around 7pm.
We'll probably stay for a couple months. Once it warms up we'll most likely be heading out again.
-Miranda

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Mostly Boring 
We've been in Montana for a while now. We pretty much just work. We did join a gym, so we head to the gym three days a week before lunch. It's definitely not always fun, but a great way to get exercise since we normally just sit around.
A couple weeks ago, the weather was perfect, so Pat and Tom took Joe and I downhill skiing. Neither one of us had been skiing in many many years. It was really fun. We mostly stayed on a pretty easy hill. Pat and Tom wanted to try taking us on a more difficult hill to see how it went. Joe ended up missing the turn so Pat went with him and Tom stayed with me. My hill was hard. I didn't fall at all, but I went as slowly as I could and was stressing myself out the whole time. Joe said his hill was really hard (steep) and he fell at least 8 times. We both went back to the easy hill. :) There was another one that was slightly harder at the bottom of the hill we had been going down. We tried that one and loved it. Just a little more challenging, but still possible. Of course they closed it by the time we got back to the top since it was an hour from closing time.
Around that same time, it was warm and there was fresh snow, so Pat and Joe made a snow bunny. It was sort of creepy.... While I was out taking pictures of it, Curly decided to climb up one of the posts that holds the roof over the porch area. Joe had to help him down. He probably would have figured it out eventually, but might as well be nice. :)
Other than that, it's just been work and more work. The cats are doing great. They can be pretty annoying, but, for the most part, they behave.

-Miranda

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Sorry for the out of focus photo, but that's the best one I had of him up on the post.

Joe helping Curly down.

The creepy bunny.

How I found Pickles sleeping one day on the bed.

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