Finally!! When I got up this morning, there were shockingly calm winds in Summit, SD. Yahoo! I packed up and was on the road by 8:00. Only about 180 miles to go to reach my destination. The drive went smoothly for a change, and I was even able to gas up at a Love’s station outside of Fargo, ND, with the minimum amount of stress. (there’s always stress involved with finding a gas station I can get in and out of easily)
By 1:00, I was in my site at Tamarac NWR and took my time settling in. What a relief to finally arrive here. There are only two sites for RV volunteers, and they are both very nice. The staff that helped me move in told me that the sites have only been here about three years or so, and were designed as if the staff would be living here. You can tell they took some thought into making these sites.
The rest of the pics tonight are the views from my rocker in my front yard.
Both sites are located on the top of a hill overlooking Flat Lake, and in my case, a creek leading into it. There’s also lots of space between the two sites. This definitely rates just about at the top of the list of all the volunteer sites I’ve been in. Some refuges pack you in tight. I don’t need to hear the bodily functions of my neighbors. 
Besides the nice view and distance from my neighbor, the hookups are placed perfectly for water, sewer and 50 amp electric. There are also two water pipes at each site. One has soft water for use inside the rig, and the other one is for outside usage of water such as washing your rig. I’ve never run into that before. Can’t remember the last time I had soft water.
I think one of the reasons my trip went so well today was that I climbed up on the roof of the rig last night. That awning really had me worried. I took a bunch of zip ties with me. Even though the wind was still blowing blue blazes, I knew if I didn’t do something I’d be a wreck for the whole trip. I used the zip ties to secure the arm as best I could, and came down with my fingers crossed. It worked.
Then this morning, I had a comment from Paul Dahl that suggested the exact same thing. I couldn’t wrap bungee cords around it the way he had, but my fix was good enough to get me here.
As I sat outside with Emma early this evening, two flocks of white pelicans soared overhead; the spring peepers were peeping, the trumpeter swans were trumpeting, and the common loons were yodeling. I’m one happy camper tonight. 
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
