Clandeboye, MB

The final drive to home was through several flooded stretches of the I29.

 We were happy to see the border.  I have to say that it is the nicest border crossing of all.  It is wide enough so you aren't trying to squeeze your mirrors through it.  The staff are professional and pleasant.  Did I say it has wide drive through lanes.  Really U.S., who is going to make a run for it in a motorhome through the desert in Arizona?  You don't need a squeeze through with an S curve in it.
There was only one car ahead us and he was gone by the time we rolled up to the stop.

Yeah, Canadian border

The Red River 

We arrived home in the early afternoon.

356 Km.

There

And back again.

10, 249 Km.

Hillsboro, ND

The snow increased as we headed north into the area hit by the storm last week.  The roads were dry and the only detours were for side roads.

Swans

At Fargo a sign said overland flooding next 30 miles. Yep, both sides of the highway.  Luckily Hillsboro was 39 miles ahead.

Camped

437 Km.

Sioux Falls, SD

We drove from Topeka KS to Sioux Falls SD today.  As of Friday, there had been several detours in place on the I-29 due to heavy flooding, and Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Sioux Falls told me they had 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground.  The wait in Topeka was worth it and we avoided all detours except for one just north of Omaha. That one added about 35 minutes to our trip.  There had been a fair amount of flooding and signs of it were readily seen along the way.  Other than that it was a beautiful sunny day with no snow in sight until we got near Sioux Falls and then just the odd bit in the shade.  

 Downtown Topeka on this Sunday morning

 Big Nemaha River

 RV park destroyed along the Platte River

Repairs to bridges on Platte River 

 Platte River

 Sand berms around gas station in Missouri Valley Iowa

We arrived at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park at about 3:30 p.m. and were happy to see it fairly dry with all services working.  Last year there was about 4 inches of wet slushy snow when we arrived and it turned into hard ice by morning so I greatly appreciate the current state of the park.  It is hard to find a park that is open this time of year and we have been able to count on this one for the past 5 years.

 Kirk and his BF

Ah, The Brave parked for the day.

581 Km.

Sunny day

Kirk and I went on a sunny but cool morning walk on the campground edge along the creek ravine.  There were Cardinals proclaiming their territory singing cheer, cheer, cheer and shining bright red in the sunlit green grass.   A Fox squirrel (Sciurus niger),  the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America, sat munching down his breakfast on a tree branch.  Or perhaps it was just a displacement reaction for those of you who took mammalogy in school.  An Eastern Phoebe has his perch on the edge of the forest on the Deer Creek ravine by our RV.  White-throated sparrows, Robins and Blue Jays proclaim it Spring.  This is a nice place to be whilst the blizzard rages to the north.  We see a pair of mallards and Canada Geese.

 Fox squirrel

Sycamore tree (white)

 Cardinal

Sycamore trees are also called the buttonball tree, due to the brown, spiky seed balls it produces each year. These seed balls grow on the sycamore tree in the winter and fall off in the spring.

Sycamore with seed balls

There was an owl hooting at night and at dawn.

Topeka, KS

We drove with a strong tailwind and then a strong crosswind.  Luckily it was a shorter day and we checked in to the rv park at noon.  We heard 2 different frog species singing last night in Perry and apparently they are singing here as well.  The staff here also say there are bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, and other varmints wandering around in the evening and early morning.  Our kind of place.  Also lots of birds.  We are going to be here for several days while we wait for the "weather bomb snowstorm" to blow itself out and melt away north of us.  Once again we are hanging out in the sweet spot in Kansas between storms around us.

Deer Creek Valley RV Park

 Happily parked in a lovely spot

 Big dog park

Freedom!

371 Km.