Day 2

On the road by six a.m. with coffee in hand!!!  The kids slept in the RV so Beki and I jumped into the front and took off.  We did not hear a peep from the kids for two and a half hour until we were pulling into Chicago during the morning rush hour (not good planning).  They immediately have to use the bathroom upon where we realize that we did not receive the kit from the RV rental place with all the chemicals for the toilet!!!  Yuk!  All five of the kids start to spout off instructions, directions etc...  We for sure have too many chiefs and not enough Indians in this small traveling piece of tin!!!  They are all STARVING and need to eat NOW as we are sitting at a dead stop.  We ask if they would like to take the Harlem exit or the Cabrini greens exit and which of the 'projects' with the metal burning barrels they would like to eat at.  That quiets them down for a little while.  Thank goodness for the dozens of cookies that Aunt MariClare sent along - the kids manage to polish those off.  You would think they had not eaten in days.
Meanwhile, my legs have reached 110 degrees and I figure out that I am not having a hot flash - Beki has been driving in overdrive for the past 40 minutes and my side of the car is steaming and now the 9 volt plug ins have all overheated!  We have also banned the use of the bathroom until further notice due the stench. 
We promptly call our friendly Cruising America rep to schedule a stop in Madison, Wisconsin to fix the 9 volt plugs.  We are almost sure he hates us by now!!!  He has surely written some pretty nasty comments in his computer or blog!!!
We make a short stop for gas, food and ice and most importantly to look for the 'drop ins' for the toilet, to no avail.
Onto Madison where we spend the next hour and a half playing 'I spy' in the car dealership lobby - at least it had air and clean bathrooms.  One nice gentleman brought out lollipops for us and we think it was to keep our mouths shut.  We leave the dealership with only one plug working and head towards Minnesota.
I take over driving and as we are driving through Winona and down to one skinny lane of construction, Terry calls from London and needs to talk to me, the air condition goes out, Beki swears her feet are blistering from the heat and keeps asking me to touch them - gross.   Tim is panicking because the ipad is dying and needs to be plugged in where we currently have the GPS plugged in.  We also realized awhile back we need  the GPS at all times after getting lost in Gary, Indiana.  Calgon - take me away!  I hang up the phone, plug in the ipad, wipe the beads of sweat from my brow forge on. I still refuse to touch Beki's feet.  By the way, that was just a five minute glimpse of RV paradise!!!
Beki gets the kids to play a friendly game of silo counting.  Did I mention we have all competitive chiefs on board?  Although Minnesota is the land of ten thousand lakes, it should be the land of ten thousand silos.  Within minutes, we have all out war fare among our sweet loving children as they piercing eyes scan the horizon looking for the most silos.  You would think this was a professional sport!  We realize they do not even know what a silo is, they just want to win!  Game over - I cannot stand the screaming while I trying to drive.  
We arrive at Albert Lee by 6:30 where we again look for toilet drop ins (I still do not know what they are called)  No luck!  We find Applebees - Yeah - they actually have a allergy friendly menu - Go Applebees!!!  Peter has a meal with no worries - except for Beki and I - we always worry!  Dinner is great until the waitress asked where we are heading to.  We tell her Worthington for the night and she gets a strange look on her face.  We inquire and she tells us she would NOT stay there, it is not safe and she s from there!!! OMG!  The couple behind eavesdropping on our conversation, stand up at our table and confirm that it would not be a smart move.  After talking to them, we decide to stop in Fairmont and spend the night! 
An hour later, we are so excited to land in Fairmont and guess what? - they have a Walmart and a Holiday Inn - right next to each other - things are looking up!  The Walmart has the toilet 'drop ins' (that is actually what they are called) and rubber gloves for when we actually have to do the pump out - Gross again!  We check in the Holiday Inn and get connecting rooms.  When we walk in the rooms, one is all made up and the other one has all the bedding wadded up in the middle of the bed and it smells like PEE.  What is it about this trip and urine.  We decide we are PV ing instead of RV ing.  Ha!  We then move to two new rooms which takes another half hour.  We are thinking we will get in our rooms,  let the kids swim and go to bed. Not happening,  as the kids (with swim suits in hand)  watch the maintenance man close up the pool for the night.
After fourteen hours of PV ing, we are just happy to go to bed. Tomorrow is KOA campground or bust!