Final Weeks- Part 1

This is it. The final days. Now you can't get up in the morning going "Hey, I wonder where the Merchants are now", or "I wonder if Will's written a new blog post?" Why is this happening? It's all coming crashing down before your eyes! Nooo!!...
Ok. Hold on. You're overreacting. (I'll bet all the ladies reading this were crying.) We still have a couple more posts. And when you really think about it, all of this fame and fortune that we've been getting from you guys (ok, not the fortune part) will die down (and we really haven't gotten the fame either). It's not the end of the world. You'll get over it. So hold your horses and enjoy these last few posts. Savor the vicarious lifestyle for just a little longer...   

We left South Dakota, and traveled to Sioux City, Iowa. Sioux City holds a place in all of our hearts because this is the city where Nate was born. We have a lot of good memories in this city, and some new ones were made while we were there, and we really enjoyed the campground, which was right next to a lake.
First of all, we visited a hot dog place, Milwaukee Wiener House. We'd eaten there when we came 6 years ago, and got to know the owners pretty well. We were really surprised that one of the owners recognized us when we visited there 6 years later. We also like their food a lot, and would definitely recommend going there if you ever get the chance. 
Something else that we got a thrill out of was the 4th of July fireworks that we watched. The firefighters of the city of Onawa (it was about 30 minutes out from Sioux City) were putting on a fireworks show over the lake that we were staying near. In fact, we were able to get a perfect view of the fireworks from our RV site! We had a blast watching the fireworks show. 
Right across the lake from our RV site was a state park. This state park had Lewis and Clark style keelboat, replicated after what they had traveled down the Missouri River. It was very neat, and a few days later we, while at our campground, were able to see it in action. It's pretty cool being able to see what something would have looked like that is no longer common to see.
Something that we did not enjoy while staying in Sioux City was that we had an RV electrical problem where we were getting shocked pretty badly every time we'd touch any metal on the outside of the RV.  I'm going to write this in 2 ways. First, I'll give the long, technical explanation, then I'll give the simplified version. You can skip to the easy if you want, my feelings won't get hurt. 

TECHNICAL: A wire that was fed from the main frame of the RV to one of the slide outs had been pinched by the slide out going in and out so many times. That part of the wire insulation was worn down to the point of the actual wire being exposed, and it was touching the metal on the slide out, which was touching the main frame/chassis of the RV, which was touching the other slide outs, stairs, and a lot of other metal components that were outside of the RV. There was no "ground" that we had, thus creating a sort of "floating current". Whenever we'd touch the RV with bare feet on the ground, we'd be creating a ground for the current to flow through. After measuring the voltage coming from the wire, we found that we were getting 95 volts. We were very blessed to not have a larger current coming out of the wire. Another downside to this was that our inverter was fried in the process, and we had to get it replaced. 

SIMPLIFIED: A wire got repetitively pinched by one of our slide outs such that it wore down the wire insulation. The current coming from the wire transferred to the frame of the RV, the slide outs and the steps, making it so that we'd be shocked every time we touched the RV. The voltage that we were getting shocked with was around 95 volts, which, if the amperage had been larger, would've impaired someone or killed them. We were very blessed not to have had that problem. We also found out that our inverter got fried. The inverter, if you don't know, basically takes the electricity that's going to the refrigerator (which can't take that kind of electricity), and converts it into electricity that the fridge can use. So, of course, we replaced the inverter as well. 

So because of this problem, we decided that we'd need to spend a night or two in a hotel. Lucky for us, we were able to stay at the same hotel that we stayed in 6 years ago. Ahh, such nostalgia. 

Overall, we had a blast in Sioux City. We were able to eat hot dogs, watch fireworks, visit a keelboat, and find out some interesting facts about electricity. I'm only doing one city, because our next stop (Branson) was filled with lots and lots of things that I'm excited to share with you guys. So stay tuned, and savor the last few posts! 

Woodsman Will.

The 4th of July fireworks show.

Standing in front of Milwaukee Wiener House.

Posing in front of Stoney Creek Inn, the hotel we stayed in because of the electricity issue that was also the one that we stayed in when Nate was born.

Hanging out in Stoney Creek Inn.

The Lewis and Clark keelboat.

Posing in the keelboat.