The Great American Road Trip. Day 13. Scamping in Erie, ND. Again.

Rise and shine!

We were a little apprehensive about what the sleeping arrangements would be like since Eric is 6'4" (and the bed isn't), and the baby is too young for her bunk, but it all worked out swimmingly with the Graco Nimble Nook Pack 'N Play.  It fits perfect in the middle of the trailer, with a little room leftover to get to the door if needed.  

So Eric is in the big bed and then I am on the small bed on the other side of the baby.  I think we are all able to maximize our sleep this way (or at least that would be the case if this little sweet amazing baby whom I love more than anything, didn't eat more at night than during the day).

The Pack 'N Play breaks down easily so we just set it up for sleep and break it down for coffee.

Today is a day of preparing the trailer to be livable.  So we headed back to Fargo for supplies, and then took a we-are-in-civilization-ice-cream break at Silver Lining Creamery.

For less than a $1 on top of a single scoop price you can try four different flavors. Where were places like this when I was younger?  Our choices were Rite Aid and 31 Flavors.

And there definitely were not wooden spoons with feel good messages written on them.

Kids these days have it good.

"You can't buy happiness but you can buy ice cream and that's kind of the same thing."

Ice cream DOES make me happy...

Alright, back to the campsite we go.  

We are on day two, and still the only people staying at Brewer Lake Campground!

$20 with hot showers and solitude.  It doesn't get much better than that!  We are getting spoiled camping outside of California.  There is water and trees and grass and we don't have to share it with anyone but ourselves.

The Great American Road Trip. Day 12. MN-ND. Scamping in Erie.

This baby sure makes herself comfortable really fast.

We actually wouldn't even have ever thought about getting a travel trailer if it weren't for this little one.  I have always been fine with tent camping, or sleeping in the back of the car, but after having a baby the idea of tent camping seemed like a burden, since only one of us can pack, set up, unpack.  But with the travel trailer its all set up for us so I feel like we will go a lot more often.  

Plus hotels are super pricey over summer and we have the summers off to travel so here we are, with a baby in a tiny travel trailer.

The Ruttgers are such a nice couple.  They started Ruttgers Pine Mountain Camping Resort 19 years ago.  Although they live on the property year round, the resort is only open from April until October, when it isn't too cold.

The common area, with couches, chairs, a pool table, books, and free coffee, is cozy.

The thing about Ruttgers is that it is well known among the Scamp forums so you can pretty much count on meeting other guests that have just picked up their Scamp and are giving it a try before driving to their final destination. 

I think we got pretty lucky with ours, we didn't have any major issues.  Other scampers reported janky doors, leaks, wonky screen doors and windows that weren't sealed properly (and that was just from two Scamp owners!).  Unfortunately, because they cost less than other comparable small trailers, they are known for having issues.  Luckily Scamp is really good about fixing them, even paying for work to be done at other RV shops if issues are determined after leaving the area.  Maybe a better option would be to just take more time on each one, and maybe provide better training, but it isn't my company... 

Maybe Eric should just be on a loud speaker in the factory saying, "measure twice, cut once."

We went to North Pine River Tire to have our tires aligned.  

It cost $7/tire.

Although it looks closed, employees are in there.

Inside, it smelled like where I spent much of my childhood in the 80s, in the Murrieta Machine Shop.  Like a stagnant room filled with old machinery caked in grease with layers of dust and dirt on top.  

It was quite comforting. 

For the first time in my life I am traveling without reservations for a place to stay.  It feels liberating, but strange.  We didn't want to make reservations since we don't know how far we are going to be able to go since now we are working with baby-in-car-towing-a-trailer hours.  We knew we wanted to go to Fargo (the biggest, closest city on the way to Idaho) so we could get situated and buy items that we needed for our trailer.  

I purchased the AllStays app and have found it super helpful when looking for campsites.  We found a campsite, Brewer Lake Campground, about 45 minutes northwest of Fargo, that was highly rated.  It ended up being so awesome we pretty much immediately decided to stay for two nights.

We were the only guests in the entire campground.

Since we were staying for two days we got our new Clam screen room set up so we have two mosquito-free places to hang out.

Love Scamping!

Of course this is from my perspective, I am watching the baby inside a screen room, not getting bit up by swarms of mosquitoes while setting up...

The Great American Road Trip. Day 11. Backus, MN.

Today is the day we pick up our Scamp!  We are headed now to Backus, Minnesota.  

We have 4 no-baby-break hours to go before we get to Backus.

If Minnesota is known for being the land of 10,000 lakes, then it must also be known as the land of 10,000,000 gigantic grain silos.  I have seen a lot more silos than lakes.

There is not a lot out here.

Made it!

We arrived to Backus just after 3:00 pm.  Although Scamp closes at 4:30, we found out at about 1:30 that the person who shows the Scamps upon pick up leaves at 2:00.  This would have been good to know at any other time, since we are driving from CA and would have planned accordingly.  Thankfully they were able to scrounge someone up to show us our trailer.  There were two other couples picking up their trailers at the same time, that obviously didn't get the memo either.

It is like a sea of Scamps at the factory.

This one is ours!

So exciting!

I don't think I mentioned HOW we got our Scamp.  There is about a year wait list for a Scamp travel trailer.  We were looking into used ones since we wanted one by this summer, but meanwhile put our name on a cancellation list at Scamp.  They usually get one cancellation every few months, but we needed one that fit our specific needs, it had to be a 13' trailer with bunk beds in the front (which means no bathroom).  Lo and behold, just a few weeks after getting put onto the list, there was a cancellation and our sales person, Nick, called us first (I jokingly asked him to move us to the top of the list and he did), so we became proud Scamp owners within two months of deciding it was the trailer for us.  The only catch was that the trailer was in Minnesota, and we weren't.  They do have a delivery service, for a cool $2,000 we could have had it brought to us, but we would rather put that money towards a family vacation.  And so here we are, in Backus, population of 250.

While we waited to be shown our trailer, we got to see the factory, and each step of the trailer making process.

 

Scamps are so lightweight (1,200-1,500 lbs for the 13' standard) that they are easily within the towing capacity of our Subaru Outback.

Since Scamps are fiberglass, and the main seam is on the side, they are not known for leaking.

Scamps are so so so cute.

Nick is showing us a Rolodex of his customers who have decided to participate in their gift program.  The chunk that he has within his fingertips are the CA customers.  If you choose to participate, if someone near where you live wants to look at a Scamp you are contacted to show yours.  If the person buys it you are given $50.  That being said, if you show yours to a random person at a restaurant or gas station or whatever and they buy one, you get $200.  Pretty sweet!  

We are ready to Scamp!

The tire cover on the back was a special order that Eric made soon after our purchase, which he found on Scamp Facebook group that he is a member of.  It was my Mother's Day present and I love it.

Just a few minutes away from Scamp is Ruttgers Pine Mountain Camping Resort, which has great (well earned) reviews and pristine facilities.  

 

The screen door on the Scamp is the best!  

Because Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, it is also the land of mosquitoes.  

We love Ruttgers, and we LOVE our new Scamp!

The Great American Road Trip. Day 10. SD-MN.

Today is a day of driving.  377 miles, filled with a scene that repeats itself like the background of a cheap cartoon; farmhouse, silo, heavy machinery, open land, ranch, tractors, trees, green, repeat.

Her favorite part is the 'trees, green, repeat'.

 We stopped at the rest stop right past the Missouri River to see the statue Dignity, honoring the indigenous people of South Dakota.  The patchwork on the quilt is pretty, and is made to withstand the strong winds that she receives as she stands 50 feet tall on a bluff along the river.

This little baby has never seen the Missouri River before.

There are a lot of "firsts" for all of us on this trip.

Continuing on...

Today is the last day we are Scampless!

So excited!

The Great American Road Trip. Day 9. NE-SD. Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore.

None of us have ever been to Nebraska before.  

As far as I am concerned, the silos, the train, and the long dirt road is pretty representative of the state.  We will just be passing through, as millions of people before us have done.

On our way to Mount Rushmore, we stopped at a Black Hills National Forest trailhead to stretch our legs and hit the baby reset button. 

Black Hills consists of 1.2 million acres of forested hills and mountains.

Being from Southern California, we aren't used to parking and hearing the sound of running water, so we had to go explore, until Eric saw hornets nests and we backed away slowly. 

So far so good in South Dakota!

About two hours after leaving Chadron we were at Mount Rushmore.  I didn't know exactly what to expect, except that my grandmother most recently told me it was a big disappointment.  

So my expectations weren't too high.  Haha.  

It is pretty crowded (they get about 2 million visitors a year), but there is plenty of parking ($10; your National Park Pass does not work).

This little baby has another stamp to add to her National Park Passport!

The president's faces were carved into the granite between 1934 and 1939.

I never realized that George Washington is wearing a shirt!

Originally they were all going to be clothed (no pants, but a shirt), but the project ran out of money in 1941.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln were all chosen to be chiseled into the Black Hills because they are represented the most important events in US history.

For example, Thomas Jefferson is known to be the first American to write down a recipe for ice cream.  I tried his original recipe, and turned it into a rootbeer float.  I couldn't help but feel extremely patriotic.  

Cheers to Thomas Jefferson, and the others (who also probably had very important presidential recipes).

My favorite little adventurer. 

We were super excited about visiting Mount Rushmore, after determining our itinerary and knowing we would be close enough to make it happen.  

It is fun to visit such an iconic place!