Anderson's Travelogue

2011-10-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 29th

I suspect it’s time to make a major announcement for us. Several of you are aware of our news, and some of you have figured it out. So I need to make it official and announce our good, no, GREAT news!

After five years of searching and hoping for the right match, we have found a piece of property in the Yuma Foothills that we are going to purchase. It’s been a long time coming and we have gotten very frustrated at the different properties we looked at but didn’t quite get us excited. This one looks great and Dottie has even says she likes it! We were spoiled when we looked at the first property, made an offer, and the owner pulled it off the market. Nothing has quite measured up to that one. This one is a perfect fit and fills our needs, now and future.

We are buying an RV lot that has a 616 sq. ft. casita (little house) with one bedroom, one bathroom, and a nice combined living room/kitchen. The lot is over 7000 sq. ft., has a place to park our coach with full hookups, and a covered carport with a deck on top. It has an outside storage room, about 8’X20’, with electricity and worktable already installed. It has so much potential with some work. And it will take work! It is a foreclosure owned by Beneficial Finance. It has no furniture and no appliances, so we’ll be looking for adequate

furniture to make it feel like a home. The living area is a linoleum tile floor (easy to care for) and the bedroom is carpeted. We are thrilled to be able to find it and purchase it at a price almost $30,000 below comparable properties! Our close of escrow date is Dec. 8th, but the mortgage lender is shooting to have us in the house the week before Thanksgiving. We had planned to be in Yuma for Thanksgiving, so this is icing on the cake. We’d love to have possession early to be able to spend some time on the lot and decide what we are going to do to improve it.

If any of you are interested in looking at the property, the address is 12546 E. 47th Lane in Yuma, AZ. You can check it on any real estate web page and see the photographs of the property. I’ll have a photo of the house on our web page, “lewstravelogue.blogspot.com“. So, that’s our great news!

We are still parked at the Palisades Presbyterian Church in San Diego. I am enjoying the opportunities to help out when needed and provide security for the church property. I’m able to ease the workload of many of the folks here by being on-site to open doors, lock up at night, and do small custodial jobs when necessary. It’s a privilege to be able to park here and have our own “church family” that seems to appreciate our presence. Plus, we are parked on some of the best real estate in San Diego County. Our view to the west is magnificent as we see the sunsets through Mission Valley all the way to the ocean. It really can’t get much better!

Dottie is continuing to manage through the daily routines with the help of a walker and my right arm. She participates in a twice-weekly exercise class with some of the ladies in the church and seems to enjoy getting away from me for an hour or so. I still do all the cooking, house cleaning, and scheduling and easily get frustrated with the situation, but I’m slowly learning patience with the help of our friends here at the church. We really enjoy all the activities, especially with the Christmas Season coming soon. We plan to be here for many of the special events at the church before heading north to Sebastopol for the Christmas Holiday.

We are anxious to get things prepared for the arrival of guests in our new abode, but the “hurry up and wait” routine keeps us aware of the reality of buying a new house and the many things we will have to do to appropriately entertain company!

2011-10-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Sept.14th

As we are sitting in the Customer Lounge awaiting the work on our coach to get started, I decided I need to get an update written and sent out. We are back at Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, OR to get eight new shock absorbers installed and a broken shock mount of the front end repaired. We have been here since Sunday when we left South Jetty Thousand trails preserve in Florence.

We left the Monaco Western End of Summer Come Home Rally on Sept. 2nd with our close friends, the Clarksons. We drove to through Eugene to Florence and spent a wonderful relaxed week on the Oregon Coast. Between visiting the local Fred Meyer, Bi-Mart, and Grocery Outlet, we enjoyed the rest and relaxation. We shared several meals with the Clarksons and Andy and I attempted teach the girls how to win a game of Pegs’n’Jokers! We found a small microbrewery in Florence that has only a 7-barrel capacity, but a quaint tasting room located in a very industrial part of town. The owners, a local Dr. and a lady that is an entrepeneur, opened the brewery and make their beers on the doctors acreage south of town. They store their grain in the industrial building and decided to open a tasting room to help pay for the rent. The building is a basically a one-stall garage that has been outfitted with a few sofas, a couple of tables and chairs, and a make-shift bar with stools. It’s very basic, but gives a warm feeling when you enter the room. They have four taps and a refer for varied bottles of beer, wine coolers, and some soft drinks. There are salted peanuts to munch on, but no food served in the room. Patrons can bring a pizza, sandwiches, tacos, etc. in to eat and enjoy the brews on tap. We enjoyed their Happy Hour from 4-6pm and met some very interesting local folks. Florence is a fairly small town that caters to the inland folks that drive over for the Oregon sand dunes. There are several state parks that are designated off-road sand toy locations. While we were in South Jetty we saw many trucks or trailers with quads or other sand toys being carried to the dunes. The park is a pretty park with lots of trees and a row of 50-amp sites. We chose to park in one of those sites to get satellite and enjoy the luxury of 50-amp electrical service.

On Sunday, the 11th, Clarksons left to go south to Brookings and we departed to return to Eugene for the shock absorber work. Once we arrived at OMS, we found there was only one other coach parked in the parking lot. I picked a site that was near the back of the lot since we didn’t need to be close to the service bays for several days. We then headed for Walmart to do some stocking upon groceries and supplies. With the new refrigerator it’s easy to buy the thing we need and keep them on hand. We’ve been to the local Costco, Bi-Mart, and Walmart for our shopping. I also had a couple of items to pick up at NW RV Parts in south Eugene. Northwest RV Parts is a collection of outdated parts and supplies from the old Monaco and Country Coach days. If you need a part for a coach like ours (12 years old), it can probably be found at NW RV Parts. Joe, the owner, has purchased all of the Monaco parts inventory and is expanding to a new location in downtown Eugene. Walking through NW is like walking through a kid’s candy store. You can find so many items you would like, but may not need!

Bob Vinson has assured us he will get us into the shop and out as soon as possible, which probably means we’ll be on the road by tomorrow afternoon headed for Grants Pass. Our goal is to get down to Eureka where we’ll meet the Clarksons at the Elks Lodge, and be able to spend some time with cousin John & Ruth Anderson and their daughter, Tim & Rachael Mecham. There are several attractions in the Eureka area that I want to share with the Clarksons, so we’ll have a busy weekend!

I’m beginning to get anxious to get back to Santa Rosa for a visit and then on down to San Diego. It’s been a very interesting and enjoyable summer in Oregon, but I’m ready to get back to familiar territory for a while. The next Travelogue will most likely be from Sebastopol.

Tuesday, Sept. 27th

This has been a wild and wonderful two weeks! When we finally got the coach into the bay at OMC, the techs discovered that I had three broken shock absorbers! We were aware of the one on the front, but two more were discovered and had to be repaired. Actually, it wasn’t the shock mount that had broken - it was the bolt that holds the shock in the mountings. Three of the bolts had sheared and had to be drilled out. I had ordered a set of eight Bilstein shocks absorbers from shox.com, located in El Cajon. They were waiting for us when we returned to OMC. It took a bit longer than originally expected to get the bolts drilled out, ream out the new shock absorbers mounts, and get the installation completed. The guys at OMC worked extra hours to get us completed and ready to leave on Friday morning, the 16th. We were able prepare the coach on Friday morning, get the bill paid, and get on the road by 9AM. We drove to Grants Pass, refueled the coach, and decided to continue to Eureka. It became another 300+ mile day!

When we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Eureka, we were greeted by our friends, the Clarksons, who had arrived on Thursday afternoon. Those extra miles proved to worth the effort. None of us wanted to cook dinner that night after all that driving, so we decided to check out the Lost Coast Brewpub in downtown Eureka. We drove over to Tim & Rachel Mecham’s house on Saturday afternoon and joined Mechams and cousin John & Ruth Anderson for an afternoon of college football. I picked up some pizzas and we all cheered the Univ. of Nebraska to victory over Washington State. It was a great afternoon spent with some family members that I thoroughly enjoy!

Sunday morning we awoke and drove to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Eureka. It’s the site of an old lumber mill and the cookhouse still serves meals family-style with plenty of delicious food. We had five nights in Eureka and had the chance to visit the Eel River Brewing Co., the town of Fortuna and the now-defunct Pacific Lumber Company, and the adjoining towns of Rio Dell and Scotia (where Linda Clarkson grew up). We had a great time checking out the area and sharing some of our favorite spots with the Clarksons.

When we left Eureka, our destination was the Russian River Thousand Trails preserve in Cloverdale. It’s located only 45 miles north of Sebastopol and I was getting anxious to get back to see my Mother and sister. I was also aware of the three big packages I had waiting for us in Sebastopol. Those packages were a replacement Baby George rotisserie oven, a new laptop computer to use in the motor home to monitor the engine performance, and a special speaker box that can be used with an MP3 or sport radio. There were several mail packets also waiting for us.

On the way down from Eureka I noticed that the engine was registering an unusually low reading of the turbocharger pressure. Where I normally should be able to get 23-24”, I was only getting a max of 17”. Clarksons were following us and told me the exhaust was heavy black smoke and I could feel the loss of power on the hills or inclines. There were no errors displayed and no warning lights coming on. I knew something was wrong and needed to be checked out.

About this same time, my brother in Melbourne, FL had accepted a call from the First Presbyterian Church in Daytona Beach and was preparing to move there and have an official service declaring him the pastor of that congregation. Mother wanted to send his three siblings to Florida to share his celebration, so the girls decided to go. I declined to go as I needed to stay with Dottie and Mother while Peg was gone. Because of this we left Russian River after four nights and drove the coach down to Sebastopol on Friday. Peg left early Saturday morning and we stayed with Mother and to take care of Peg’s dogs. Andy & Linda drove down to Santa Rosa on Saturday and parked at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds.

We have had a wonderful time showing them the attractions (read that brewpubs) around the Santa Rosa area. We watched the Charger game at the Third Street Ale Works, we have toured the famous Korbel Winery, we plan to visit Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Dempsey’s in Petaluma, and tour the cheese factory between Petaluma and Bodega Bay. They haven’t decided when they will move on down toward Yuma, their winter home. We plan to stay here for a couple of weeks.

I received a phone call from the Bakersfield Cummins Coach Care Service facility about 5PM this afternoon. The Service Manager has assured me that he can get me into their schedule and diagnose the engine problem and get my power back where it should be. He also guaranteed me that I won’t have to take out a new loan to afford the repairs! That took a HUGE load off my back and gave me some relief. They have the facility to stay with the coach and have electric hook-ups for us full timers. I’ll give them a five-day notice that we’re leaving Sebastopol and heading their way. They will get us in and solve our power problem. What a relief! It may feel like a new coach when they complete the work!!

So, we’re enjoying the Northern California weather, the fun of being with family members, and the anticipation of getting back to San Diego for the winter. We’ve had a wonderful summer traveling and getting some major improvements done to “our house”. As we get closer to return to San Diego, we’ll be looking forward to seeing a lot of friends and church family!

Wednesday morning, Oct. 5th

Sadly, the Clarksons departed Santa Rosa last Friday morning and headed for Yuma. We sure had a great time driving them around this area and showing them the finer points of Santa Rosa.

Last Wednesday we drove down to Petaluma and visited the Lagunitas Brewing Co. It is a local microbrewery that is known for some outstanding beers. Their IPA is distributed around the country. In fact, they distribute their ales to 37 states! We arrived just in time to take their tour. Ryan, a big 6’4” guy, gave a very informational tour preceded by a visit to their private tasting room for some samples of their staple beers. He told us of the history of Lagunitas and some of the problems they encountered with Gov’t. intervention while they were an upstart brewery. Then we were able to go into their brewing plant and see some of the actual processes. We ended up the evening with a delicious sandwich in their Brew Garden. We left Lagunitas and returned to sister Peg’s house to engage a few more games of Pegs’n’Jokers and allow the women a chance to win a game or two.

On Thursday we managed to get out to the Marin Cheese Factory between Petaluma and Bodega Bay. We sampled the cheeses and enjoyed the quiet environment around the factory. We didn’t make it in time for the tour, but it was still a pleasant drive to get there. Then we returned to Petaluma and stopped at Dempsey’s for a couple of beers. Dempsey’s is a local pub that carries quite a collection of microbrews, some made right there on-site. We didn’t have our dinner there since I had plans to fix dinner at Peg’s. We had a great meal followed by another opportunity for the girls to win a game of Pegs’n’Jokers. Not! Andy and I are still holding the winning streak intact.

We hated to see the Clarksons leave, but I knew that the Sirens of Yuma calling to Linda and she wanted to get back there. Since their departure, it sure has been quiet around here! We’ve been getting a few chores accomplished and preparing for our appointment in Bakersfield on Monday morning. We’ll leave here on Sunday morning and drive to the Fresno Elks Lodge. We plan to see Jim and Kathy Bolen, who live in Fresno. Then we’ll get to Bakersfield on Monday morning and hope we can get the engine problem resolved. Without knowing the problem, we can’t make any firm arrival date for San Diego. We’ll hope it will only take a few days and we can be back on the road. We also hope to see Ed and Cindy Walsh, who will have just moved to Murrieta from Minneapolis. Ed works for Buffets, Inc. as their head of Security. It’s been over ten years since they left California! I’m sure they’re in for a shock at the growth of that area.

In the meantime we’ve been to River Rock Casino with Mother and sister Harriet. We went up there yesterday and had a great time playing the machines. The girls gambled; I sat in the bar, sipped a couple of beers , and played with my laptop. We all gobbled up the buffet luncheon and stuffed ourselves. When we returned home by 3PM, I cooked a chicken and rice casserole for dinner and allowed for lots of leftovers. The refrigerator is reaching the point where it may need to be re-stocked once we get back to Super Wallys - maybe in Bakersfield. It doesn’t seem possible that our stay in Sebastopol will be ending soon. We’re already planning for the return trip around Christmas. The weather has been rainy and miserable for the last few days, but today the sun is shining and will allow for some outside chores. Southern California is finally getting the rain we experienced this week. It’ll be wonderful to see the sun again!

Tuesday, Oct.11th

We are on the road again - sort of! We regrettably left Sebastopol on Sunday morning with an overcast sky and misty. The further we drove inland, we experienced the sun trying to break through the clouds. By the time we hit CA-99 we were in beautiful sunny weather. Our goal for the night was to get to the Fresno Elks Lodge. We finally arrived about 3:30, parked the coach, and phoned Jim & Kathy Bolen, folks who I had worked with on the SDPD over ten years ago. They now live in Fresno and love the move they made! Jim & Kathy drove over to the Elks Lodge and brought a bottle of local Chardonnay wine to share with us. We got caught up on our separate lives over the pasty ten years. We heard about Jim’s Harleys, his volunteering at a senior home, Kathy’s volunteering at a wild animal rescue center and how she nurses these wild birds and animal back to health before re-releasing them to the wild. Then we all went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a fantastic evening getting reacquainted and sharing some wonderful memories.

On Monday morning we were on the road by 8:30 headed for the Bakersfield Cummins Coach Care facility. When we arrived around 11:00am, they were waiting for us and immediately got a service tech to look at the coach. Our drive to Bakersfield was almost uneventful - fairly level terrain and almost 9 MPG! The first thing he checked was all the piping going to the charge air cooler. The CAC is a giant radiator that carries air from the turbo charger to the intake manifold. As the air is compressed by the turbo charger is heats up. The CAC cools the dense air back to near ambient temperature before it goes through the manifold into the combustion chamber. If that air doesn’t get the pressure it needs, the fuel doesn’t burn as clean as it should resulting in a loss of power. There’s a simplified lesson in diesel mechanics.

The tech found a large hose that is connected to the CAC that had worked loose. He reattached it and tightened the metal straps. Then he drove the coach around to the dynamometer to put a load on the engine. He could only get the turbo pressure up to about 19”, less than the prescribed 23-24” that should be showing. He did more testing and found two leaks on the sides of the CAC that were visible cracks in the metal. Now we knew the cause of the problem.

There are a few options to consider. First, and most expensive, is to order a new CAC from Monaco. It would have to built and shipped to Cummins. The cost of the new Monaco CAC is $3700! Another option is to send my CAC to a radiator shop in Los Angeles that will rebuild it and use an epoxy-like material to fill the cracks. That option was quickly discarded since the heat ranges on the CAC would probably crack open those repairs and I’d be right back to where I am now. A third option is to order a new CAC from the original manufacturer that supplied Monaco with their equipment. This company will only sell to established customers and Cummins is NOT one of them. We could go through Source Engineering in Eugene (owned by two former Monaco employees - I know both of them well!). We could get the CAC built in one day, have it delivered to Cummins Sacramento, and it would be shipped to Cummins Bakersfield the next day.

The fourth option is the one we decided to try. Cummins Bakersfield has a brand new CAC that was ordered a couple of years ago and it was the wrong part for the coach. They have had it in storage in the original packing crate and it’s designed for my ISC350 engine. The tech is removing my CAC and will compare it to the new one. If it’s adaptable, Cummins will sell it to me at a discounted price to get it out of their inventory - over half of the price of a new one from Monaco! So, we’re parked at Cummins in a not-so-great part of Bakersfield, but still enjoying finding out about this town that most people go THROUGH!

We drove through Bakersfield this afternoon and went to the Sam’s Club to get fuel for the car. We also scoped out Lengthwise Brewing Co., a local microbrewery and brewpub. We’ll be enjoying an afternoon and dinner there at least one night this week.

It’s really amazing that this Central Valley area of California is usually not a destination, but a “pass through” location. As we drove around Fresno and Bakersfield, I’m finding that there are some really nice locations that could easily become home. The neighborhood around Cummins is not a great place to be - we’ve been told to NOT walk or drive the streets after dark. The gang population is a real problem and they seem to live in this area of town. But the nicer areas of southwest Bakersfield are beautiful! We saw many subdivisions with manicured lawns, wide well-lit streets, and neighborhood services and shopping centers. I am looking forward to scouting out this area and seeing what some of the attractions might be. Jim Bolen gave me the phone number of retired SDPD Motor Officer Steve Smalley, who I also worked with. Steve drove over to Cummins today and we had a great reunion. We’ll have dinner with him tomorrow night and are looking forward to be able to spend some time with him. So, Bakersfield isn’t all bad! Plus we have our own bedroom and shower in the coach. We’re very comfortable is what could be a miserable situation!

Monday, Oct. 17th

We are back in San Diego at our comfortable old parking spot at Palisades Presbyterian Church. It’s good to be “home” again and back with our church family.

Last week we had decided to go with the fourth option on our leaking charge air cooler. Cummins West in Bakersfield had a brand new one, still in the shipping case, that Lisa, the Service Tech Supervisor, remembered. It had been ordered for a Country Coach with the Cummins ISC350 engine that we have. So, Darren, our Service Tech, began removing our CAC

from the coach on Tuesday morning. I had some instructions that had been emailed to me on how to remove the CAC without having to remove the complete radiator package. Darren got started on it and had it out of the coach by Tuesday afternoon. He put the old CAC next to the new one and they were almost identical! On Wednesday morning he started installing the new CAC and replacing a couple of radiator hoses that were covered with dirty oil. By Wednesday afternoon the new CAC was in place and all of the parts were back in their original locations. He left the decorative grille off the side of the engine because he wanted to test the engine on their dynamometer on Thursday morning.

When he arrived on Thursday, he discovered the dyno was not working due to some routine maintenance be

ing done. So we took the coach out for a test drive. I was amazed at the numbers I was seeing from the turbocharger! I haven’t seen numbers that high for over ten years. Instead of 19-20” of pressure, the turbo was reading 23-24” of pressure. That means I’m finally getting more power out of the engine and it’s running the way it should have been.

As I was watching him double-check all the fittings and securing the grille, I was also watching another Tech working on a small generator. I asked Darren if there was anything I should be watching on our 7.5 KW Onan Quiet Diesel generator. He told me the belt for the water pump and cooling fan should be changed every 500 hours. Oops, I have almost 1800 hours on mine and it’s never been changed. He offered to check it our since I was in the shop and all the tools were handy. So we opened the generator housing and he removed the belt. It was shot! You could see all the cracks in the rubber belt and the weak spots. He also checked the air filter and we replaced both of those items. He fixed a magnetic contact on my steps by applying what he called “Super Snot”, a gooey adhesive that will dry, but remain flexible. He offered to check anything else that might be needed since the coach was on the rack and we could easily reach things on the underside. Everything looked good, so we brought the coach down and he completed his work order.

I had paid $19.95 to join the Cummins Power Booster Club which gives a 10% discount on any parts and labor for work at the Cummins shop. And I had remembered Monaco’s quote of $3700 for a new CAC. When the bill was presented to me, it came to just under $3700 - total! I was thrilled to get all those things done for that price. Cummins West sold me that new CAC for only $1500! I got a great deal and they got it out of their inventory. We both won!!

By noon the coach was ready to roll. I had checked the forecast for San Diego and saw that El Cajon was expecting 104 degrees! I asked if we could stay in Bakersfield for another night, and they said we could stay as long as we wanted - and to stop by anytime we were going through Bakersfield and park in their RV spots. We were able to make another Wal-Mart run and stock up on some items we needed.

While we were in Bakersfield we made contact with Steve Smalley, a former Motor Officer from SDPD that I had worked with. We went to dinner at the 420 Club, a small club that is owned and operated by mostly CHP officers from Bakersfield. Once a month they have a dinner at their clubhouse/meeting place and they were serving BBQ ribs on Wednesday night. We met Steve and his girlfriend there and joined them for dinner with a group of retired guys who were absolute characters. It was a lot of fun and a terrific meal!

On Friday morning we were up and preparing to head to San Diego. We dumped the holding tanks, refueled, and started up the Tehachapi grade toward Lancaster/Palmdale. It was warm already at 10am so we just kept on moving. We arrived in Menifee around 12:30 and stopped long enough to see Cindy and Amber Walsh. I was hoping to see Ed, but he is already working and was at a meeting in Corona. Ed and his family are special friends to us and we’ve known them for well over twenty years. Ed took a job with Home Town Buffet and was moved to Minneapolis many years ago. With all the difficulties in the economy and the changes in his company, Ed has had to move back to California. They are renting a house in Menifee for a year before deciding to buy a house here. Amber is a beautiful 19-year-old young lady who will go to college about three blocks from their house at Mt. San Jacinto College. When we arrived, the movers had just left and we couldn’t stay for long. It was a disappointment not seeing Ed, but enjoyable to be able to chat with Cindy and Amber. I’m looking forward to seeing them all soon!

We left Menifee and hit the beginnings of rush hour traffic coming in to San Diego. We arrived at the church about 3:30 and got settled in. It’s good to be back and see our “family” on Sunday morning. We’ll be here for only a month before we go to Yuma for Thanksgiving with the Clarksons. Then we’ll return to the church for a couple of weeks before heading back north for the Christmas Holiday.

Things are good! Dottie is slowing down and using her walker more. Being in comfortable surroundings helps a lot and she is familiar with this area and the environment. We hope to see our kids a little more this time before we have to leave again.

2011-09-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, August 27

Day 4 at Oregon Motorcoach Service We were up and ready for Chance to get the coach and drive it into the service bay. He needed to tighten up the water line for the ice maker and the outside water dispenser. Darrell, the cabinet maker, had to attach the wood trim and give it the finished look. By 3pm the job was completed, Chance had retrieved all the food we had stored in their employee refrigerator and placed it inside our new refer, and the coach was moved out to its parking spot for the night.

Bob Vinson told me they had run out of the filters he needed for the Annual Service, so the filters would be delivered first thing in the morning. We walked into the coach and were absolutely astounded by the quality workmanship that we observed! It was a beautiful job of adding the wood trim, matching the cherry wood, and making it look like it had been installed at the factory. Both my wife and I are impressed with their work.

Day 5 found us ready for Dave, another Service Tech, taking our coach back inside for the Annual Service. He changed the oil, changed all four filters plus the hydraulic filters, and calling me out to look at a problem they had discovered. Two of the rear Bilstein shock absorbers were leaking, and one of the front passenger side shock mounts had broken and the shock is pushing against the metal floor. As long as I’m going to have to replace the two rear shocks, they suggested I replace all of them. These are the original Bilstein shocks that have over 150,000 miles on them. Bob asked if I had ever dealt with Kaiser Brake & Alignment and I assured him that I had. However, if OMS could do the work, I’d prefer to come back and have them replace the shocks and repair the broken shock mount. He had Chance look at the broken mount, estimated about three hours of work to re-weld the mount, and told me he couldn’t get me in until Sept. 14th. I told him to schedule me and I’d get the shocks off the internet and have them shipped to OMS. I found a dealer in El Cajon, CA that sells the shocks for $85.00 each and will phone them on Monday with an order.

So the bottom line of the refer replacement was17 hours of labor (not the 28 hours actually used) for a total of $1785.00 and $137.29 in parts. The total amount was more than I had budgeted, but there was some major modification that had to be done. The finished product makes it worth every penny we spent! I would definitely recommend Oregon Motorcoach Service for any work that needed to be done. They have some outstanding techs, a great customer lounge, and a customer service attitude that makes it easier to spend your hard-earned money for truly quality workmanship!

We were done by 10:30am and able to get on the road by 11:00. We had about 47 miles to drive to Albany and get there in time to greet the other Parking Crew members as they arrived. All the Parkers arrived on Friday and we were invited to join Jon Katin, one of our Parkers who lives in Albany, at his house for a brisket dinner. We carpooled to his house, socialized, ate, and had an initial meeting to welcome the new ones and explain my expectations for the Parking Crew. It’s a great group of volunteers and we had a wonderful dinner.

Saturday morning we met at 8am and started the measuring and marking. We got the main parking lot completed and had time to rest by 2pm. Some of us met and drove to Calapooia Brewing Co. for dinner. It was a productive day and a chance to get to know each other and their working limitations. Tomorrow we will finish measuring and marking and get prepared for the rush on Monday morning.

Sunday, Sept. 4

The Rally is over and was a successful gathering according to most attendees. We were able to finish all of our marking with little or no problem, and were up early Monday morning to greet the early arrivals. Since this was a factory-sponsored Rally, there was no additional fee for arriving early. Several friends had contacted me about the best time to arrive at the fairgrounds. I told all of them to be lined up at the entry gate by 6am. We even had a group of 21 coaches that were parked across the street at a campground and wanted to arrive together so they could park together. The Linn County Fairgrounds has only 50 electrical sites, and they were to be sold on a first come-first served basis. And that would be the reason for arriving early at the gate.

Monday morning at 6:30am, I drove my golf cart to the Check-In Gate to deliver a canopy and table for the ladies that would be working out there. At that time I counted 24 coaches in line and waiting. I had set out cones on Sunday night to create two lanes for the early arrivals. Both of those lanes were full and the coaches were beginning to get close to the street, which would cause a major traffic problem for us and the Albany police. The crew for the Check-In Gate arrived at their position about 8:45 and we set up the canopy and tables. At 9am sharp we started checking in the attendees and directing them to their parking spots. Remember, all of these folks had paid $300 to attend the Rally, and now the electric was extra. Our price for 50-amp hookups was $70, 30-amp was $50, and I had an additional thirteen 20-amp hookups that I could sell for $50. I had intended to hold the 20-amp sites strictly as a backup. But it didn’t take long for the electric hookups to be sold out. So, I decided to start selling the 20-amp and sold all of them! By 10:30 all of the electric sites had been sold and the coaches were parked.

We then concentrated on getting the rest of the coaches into their spots. Due to the efforts of an excellent Parking Crew, we continued to park coaches in the parking lot all the way to 4pm. At that point I decided to let the Parking Crew secure and rest. I stayed ready to park any late arrivals and help them get situated. We left a sign saying to remain at the Gate and they would be parked the next morning. We had eight golf carts that had arrived on Friday, so I moved them to the Service truck for the Service Technicians to use once they arrived in the morning. We kept two for our use.

Tuesday morning we were up early enough for some coffee and Costco muffins. We talked about the problems from the previous day and what we had in store for us. I reduced the crew since we had only 26 of the 147 coaches remaining. We went to the Check-In Gate and found one coach waiting. The remainder of the day went very slowly. At 3pm we started taking down the canopy, collecting the cones and traffic barricades, and securing the entry area. We still had two coaches that hadn’t shown, so I was ready to get them parked if they came in late. Linda Clarkson, who headed the Check-In Gate, counted her money and balanced and I turned it all in. We had two arrivals after 5pm, so I drove the cart out and got them parked in time to join the Social Hour. It consisted of an open bar and a lot of tasty finger foods in the area of the new display coaches. The food was sufficient to act as a dinner and gave us an indication of the quality of the catering for the next few days.

Wednesday and Thursday we had catered breakfast and dinner. Our breakfasts were fantastic with home-baked cinnamon sticks that were amazing! Dinners were just as good and the catering was outstanding! On Wednesday night the entertainment was a band that really played to the audience. It was a four-piece band that had a great variety of music and there were very few people that were getting up and leaving. It’s amazing to see all the “old fogies” that were up dancing to the music! On Thursday night the entertainment was a magician and his partner. He was a bit of a disappointment after the band, but his show was only an hour giving the attendees the opportunity to return to their coaches and gather in groups for socializing and Happy Hours. The food and entertainment gave us something to look forward to for next year.

On Wednesday night, we had the chance to hear the new CEO of Monaco RV, LLC, Bill Osborn. The Service Seminar was led by five Monaco service folks and answered a lot of questions, and the seminar with Mike Snell, VP of Sales, was very enlightening. He stated that his biggest selling job is working on his wife and convincing her to move to Indiana (closer to the headquarter offices of Navistar). Monaco, like all big companies, is changing and many things from the good ol’ days is disappearing. It’s a sad fact of the economy and the new business world. Roughly 450 people will be losing their jobs with Monaco in Coburg, but there will be about 450 new jobs in Indiana.

Friday morning was departure day for us. We had reservations for South Jetty Thousand Trails preserve in Florence, OR. It is a 107-mile drive and arriving on a Labor Day weekend. We wanted to depart early to as to arrive at an early hour in hopes of getting a good parking spot. We and the Clarksons wanted to park near each other and have a site that allows satellite reception. South Jetty has a limited number of sites that can get satellite, so we were concerned about that. We left about 9am and headed south. We stopped in Coburg long enough to dump our tanks and refuel. We arrived at South Jetty about 11am and found two sites that adjoined and had satellite reception. We were relieved to find the spots after driving through this park on gravel roads that weren’t designed for long, large coaches like ours. We have enjoyed the park so far and went into town yesterday to do some shopping at the local Bi-Mart, Grocery Outlet, and Fred Mayer stores. One of our other friends, Gene & Darlene McDonough, are in the park, but will leave on Monday morning. We’ve seen the coaches of some of the folks that were at the Rally and will probably visit with them later. As I look out the window, I see a lot of trailers and coaches that are leaving. Many of them are carrying sand toys and heading for the nearby dunes. On Monday there will be a mass exodus of the folks returning home for the work week. And we’ll have the park to ourselves!

2011-09-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

We are parked at the Whaler’s Rest Thousand Trails Preserve just south of Newport, OR. We had a terrific time while we were at the Pacific City Thousand Trails Preserve. After our shopping trip to Tillamook, we drove down to Lincoln City to check out the Grocery Outlet, Bi-Mart, and the Safeway stores. After we had done our shopping and browsing, we drove to South Lincoln City to find the Rusty Truck Brewing Co. We discovered a neat little microbrewery with a restaurant attached. They served typical pub meals and had their own beers that were much more reasonably-priced than the Pelican Brewpub in Pacific City. We had their lunch special - a bratwurst sandwich with fries for around $6. It was delicious! We talked to the son of the owner who was working the bar and tables. He told us that the brewery was a project that he and his dad started seven years ago. It has been accepted by the community and they have weekly band performances along with their food specials. He was a very likable guy that spent the time talking with us and telling us about their beers.

A couple of days later we all drove back up to Tillamook to visit the Tillamook Air Museum and the Tillamook Cheese Factory and go on their tour. It was a self-guided tour that enabled us to see the massive packaging line and see how the cheese is cut and wrapped for sale. We also sampled the famous Tillamook ice cream. They had more unique flavors that we have never before seen. The ice cream was delicious and was followed by a walk to the store at the end of the tour. Of course I walked away with four packages of cheese - sharp cheddar, hot habanero jack, pepper jack, and smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese. These are some REALLY good cheeses and taste wonderful with a tall glass of ale!

Fortunately for us we went to the Air Museum before we ate our way through the cheese tour. The Museum is housed in one of the largest hangars I’ve ever seen. It was built to house eight air ships (blimps) used by the US Navy during WW2. The original hangars were made completely of wood frames with concrete bases. The hangars are nearly 200’ high and large enough for a plane to fly through them. There is only one hangar remaining as the first one fell victim to a devastating fire and was totally destroyed. The concrete arches that held the doors are still standing, but nothing else remains. The second hangar houses the Air Museum and has several aircraft on static display. There are mock-ups of the life at a Naval blimp base and examples of the work that the blimps accomplished along our coast protecting ships from the German submarines. It was a very informative museum with a short film that explained the purpose and life of a blimp base.

That was a busy and tiring day! We had a great time exploring Tillamook’s attractions. On Wednesday we left Pacific City and drove some 50+ miles through Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, and Newport to the Whaler’s Rest Thousand Trails preserve. Dottie and I have been here before, but it was back in 2003, and we don’t remember much about the park. Andy & Linda led the way down the coast and we arrived at the park around 11:30. Once we checked in and found an open site, I tried to get satellite reception through the trees. I tried both the rooftop antenna and the portable dish, but was unable to get a good signal because of the height of the trees. I finally gave up and walked back to the Ranger Station to pay for the TV cable service for two weeks. There are almost 50 channels, so we won’t have a lack of TV selection.

We are looking forward to seeing some of the attractions around the Newport area. There are several museums, some fantastic restaurants along the bay front, and a couple of microbrew pubs that will have to be visited. We’ll be here until the 20th when we head back to Eugene to get the refrigerator replaced.

Thursday, August 18

Newport, OR is a glitzy little beach town that appeals to the Coast Vacationer. On the weekends the traffic is horrible! It is a bit larger than most of the Coast cities and has a Wal-Mart (soon to be a Super Center), a Safeway, and a Fred Meyer store. For those of you not familiar with Fred Meyer, it is a big department-like store very similar to the Super Wal-Marts. Fred Meyer has a pretty good selection of groceries and the associated departments include hardware, clothing, crafts, etc. They don’t seem to be as expansive as the Super Wal-Marts, but Fred Meyer is a welcome sight in those smaller towns where Wal-Mart hasn’t made a presence. All along the Oregon coast are little restaurants that claim to have the best clam chowder in the world. Frankly, I feel they all taste the same!

We have been to the famous Rogue Nation, home of the Rogue Brewery here in Newport. Rogue was founded on the premise that they truly are rogues in the brewing industry. They are best known for their Dead Guy Ale. They have received numerous awards for some of their unique brewing combinations. There are two locations in Newport - the touristy bay front area with the Rogue Public House restaurant and Rogue Nation, the location of their brewery also located on the Newport Bay. We visited the Public House and sampled some of their chowder and chili. Both locations bring a small sample of a featured brew as soon as you sit down. The Public House caters to the tourists that walk along the historic bay front area. Rogue Nation is the brewery and also has a small, reduced-menu restaurant. We took the tour through their facility and saw the brewery and bottling plant. We joined the Rogue Nation and received a membership card which grants us a 75 cent reduction on the cost of a pint of beer. Then on Tuesdays, if you wear a Hawaiian shirt, you can get a free beer at both locations. This started with the founder attempting to add some fun for his workers and has expanded to his customers. We also visited the Rogue Distillery, a very small plant next to Rogue Nation, that is producing small, expensive bottles of spirits. They are producing two gins, two rums, two whiskeys, and a vodka. These small bottles sell for $35-40 each! We were able to get a sample of their spirits - about a fourth of an ounce - and taste the product they are making. The whiskey is very tasty, but out of my price range.

We went to the Chowder Bowl at Nye Beach to visit a small restaurant with clam chowder. It is right on the beach and gave us the chance to watch the ”tourists” romp on the sand. That seems to be the big attraction in this part of the country. Whaler’s Rest, the park where we are staying, is used as a home base for a lot of the tourists since it is walking distance to the beach from the park. We have a lot of families that are having their last “hurrah” before school starts. The park is open to the public, for a price - about $45/night, and we are seeing many cars with stickers indicating they aren’t members of Thousand Trails. Equity Lifestyles Properties who own Thousand Trails have opened the parks to the public at a premium price. I personally would never spend that much money to camp in these parks, but there doesn’t seem to be a lack of families ready to spend that much.

We will be leaving the Oregon Coast tomorrow morning. We’re going back to Eugene to get ready for the refrigerator replacement on Monday morning. I hope to have the chance to talk to Stella Shelton, the coordinator for the Monaco Rally coming next week. We have a few things to discuss concerning the parking arrangement and other minor issues that need to be resolved. We’ll stay at the Oregon Motorcoach Services location over the weekend and be ready for Monday morning. Preparation will include moving my little refrigerator from the storage bay into the coach to use during the conversion. We have a lot of sorting to do to get foods ready to move into the little refer and some of the frozen food ready to go into their freezer for a couple of days. Hopefully we will have everything done by Wednesday afternoon and can restock our new refer with food before the Rally.

Monday evening, August21

We arrived on Friday afternoon in Eugene after a beautiful drive over the ”mountains” and into the Willamette Valley. We were able to meet with Stella Shelton, the Rally coordinator, after lunch at the Monaco factory. We went over the details of the Parking Crew and pretty much laid out our needs to her. The bad news is that we can’t get on to the fairgrounds until Sunday afternoon, which really puts me in a bind for getting the parking sites measured and marked. We are going to meet with the fairgrounds manager on Tuesday morning and explain our needs for the Parking Crew. Hopefully we’ll be able to get on to the fairgrounds on Friday or Saturday afternoon.

Day 1 - Oregon Motorcoach Services On Monday morning we were up early and ready for the service techs to move the coach into the building to start the work. Almost three weeks ago we stopped here for the night and had Bob Vinson, the Service Manager, look at the coach, measure the refrigerator opening, and help me determine which refrigerator would fit. We decided a Whirlpool 21.8 cu. ft. side-by-side refer would fit easily. Chance, the Service Tech, started the removal process of the Norcold refer by removing a window on the driver side of the coach over the sofa. Once he got it out, he started measuring the empty box and comparing it to the new refer which has been here for three weeks. He wasn’t really sure it would fit without some major modification. In the meantime, we drove up to Coburg to the Monaco factory and visited with Les and Wilma Jean Alexander, friends of ours who are also volunteering for this rally. Les and I both agrees that Stella is somewhat overwhelmed by the organizing of these two rallies - this one and another rally in Alabama in almost three weeks. We discovered that they were going to Albany with Stella on Tuesday, instead of Monday as originally planned. So I phoned Stella and asked if she’d like our moral support in trying to make some better arrangements. Stella agreed, so we will join them tomorrow on the trek to Albany. We continued on our shopping spree for new tires for the Kia. We stopped at Costco and then on to Walmart. We decided to buy our tires from Walmart and get an oil change while we were there. After getting the “new shoes” for the Kia, we returned to Oregon Motorcoach Services. About two miles away we got a phone call from Bob Vinson saying he needed to talk with me. Red flags all over the place!! We pulled in to OMS and he explained that the new refer would not fit! We were sure we had made all the correct measurements three weeks ago and I knew Lowe’s would give me a hassle if I tried to return this one. His cabinet maker and service tech got together and decided they could make it work, but the new refer would stick out a little more than the original. They have pondered the situation and have come up with a remedy that will make the new Whirlpool look like it was installed from the factory. It’s a huge relief for me! So, the old Norcold is removed from the coach and the new one will be ready to bring in after the cabinetmaker does his magic and builds the support and trim for the new refer. I can’t say enough positive about Bob Vinson and his crew. Bob was VERY concerned that I would be pleased with way it would look. Of course, I’m thrilled that the skill level is such that they will be able to make the refer fit!

We went out to eat tonight since our little beer refer is full, but doesn’t have food to eat. All of our frozen food is in three brown bags and in the freezer inside the building where the employees store their lunches. The next few nights we will be eating out until we have a functioning refrigerator in the coach. Chance is taking photos with my camera so I can download them into my computer and eventually upload them to the other Monaco owners that awaiting the results of the modification. Once it’s all done, I’ll have them available for anyone to see the progress - and the challenges they have overcome!

Tuesday, August 23

Day 2 at Oregon Motorcoach Service. We awoke and prepared the coach for the crew to get it and take it into the building. When they came to get it, we left the grounds and headed to a nearby McDonald’s to get some breakfast and pick up a dozen donuts for the guys. I got back with the donuts and Chance was already working on the coach. We needed to be in Coburg to meet Stella Shelton and the Alexanders to drive to Albany, site of the End of Summer Western Come Home Rally, and meet with the fairground manager. We met them at the Monaco office and followed Stella to Albany. Once we were there we met with Chris, the manager, and began a tour of the grounds. He assured us that we could come into the grounds after noon on Friday. That was a huge relief for me as we need to measure/mark the parking lot and figure how to fit 148 coaches into the allotted space. Chris agreed to everything that we needed and was very helpful in letting us know he’d be there to assist us in any way.

Also at the meeting was Jon Katin, who has been on the MI Parking Crew before. He was a great help in bringing up potential problems that I hadn’t considered. I think we’re ready and I’ve notified the other Parkers about the news and when to plan to arrive. After the meeting Stella bought us lunch at a local Red Robin. I followed her back to Monaco and got the box of supplies for the Parking Crew.

We returned to OMS and sat in the customer lounge for about an hour while they continued working on the coach. At 4pm the coach was moving out to the parking lot. I saw Chance and he told me that the coach ought to be finished by tomorrow afternoon. He has reinforced the platform that holds the new refer, expanded the opening, rerouted water and propane lines, and Darrell (the cabinet maker) will have all the wood trim done to finish the project. If time permits and they are able, we will have them perform the annual maintenance on the engine before we leave.

Two pieces of good news today is almost too much to bear! We can get into the fairgrounds before Sunday night and the coach will be ready tomorrow - what more could a person ask?

Wednesday, August 24

Day 3 at Oregon Motorcoach Center We were up early and ready for the Chance to take the coach into the barn. We asked about a good breakfast and he recommended the Prairie Schooner, a tavern that serves wonderful food. We drove over there after picking up a dozen donuts for the guys in the shop. The breakfast was fabulous - and reasonably priced! I had a Country Skillet that was a full meal. After we ate, we drove down to Northwest RV Supply. That’s a toy store for RV owners. They have all the left over parts and gadgets that the manufacturers no longer need or use. It is THE place for knobs, switches, gauges, etc., etc., and is fun to walk around and see all the goodies. After perusing all the neat things that I really don’t need, we drove back up to Junction City to get a haircut. The forecast was for 91 degrees today so we needed to be inside with Nancy to keep her from getting overheated. So we stayed in the Customer Lounge the remainder of the day.

About noon I walked out to check on the coach. The new refer was on a pallet on the forklift and was ready to insert through the window. Chance had already rebuilt the platform for the refer and had all the wires, LP pipes, and water lines rerouted. By 4pm the new refer was in its space and mounted in the coach. There is still some woodwork and trim that needs to be completed and they discovered a small water leak in the lines to the ice maker. That will all be resolved on Thursday! I’m hoping there will be an opportunity to get the coach into the shop for the annual engine service and we can be done by Friday morning.

The new refrigerator looks absolutely beautiful in its new home! It doesn’t stick out nearly as far as we thought it would. When the wood trim is finished and the new grate below the refer for the furnace is completed, it will look absolutely outstanding. These guys have done an amazing job considering the challenge they had to overcome.

Bob Vinson, the Service Manager, told me April Klein phoned him today and asked if he could be in Albany to do some on-site installs. He explained that he may not be able to send anybody due to their current workload. There are ten coaches here filling all the electrical sites and he has plenty of work to keep him busy. I plan to take some of his business cards to the Rally to pass out to anyone that wants a recommendation. I’ll know the cost of it all tomorrow, but I’m not expecting any surprises. We shall see…

2011-08-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 3rd

What an amazing weekend that we have spent! We left the Lake of the Springs Thousand Trails park on Friday morning, the 29th, a day earlier than we had planned. The weather had turned to summer and the temperatures were into three digits. With only a 30-amp electrical supply, it was beginning to tax the air conditioners on the coach. I really hated to leave LOTS because the park is such a beautiful preserve. We could sit outside the coach in the afternoon as the sun started to set and watch the deer roam among the parking sites. One young deer had a noticeable limp on the left rear leg. It won’t be long before that animal will be food for a coyote or hit by a car in the area. We will definitely return to the park at a later time as it is one of the prettiest ones we’ve visited!

We were on the road by 8AM on Friday and headed for Redding. We were driving on some very narrow back roads with some amazing scenery. Everything in the area is severely brown and appears subject to a wild fire. We took the road slowly and carefully and finally got through Chico and over to Red Bluff where we joined I-5 and drove to Redding. We arrived about 11:30AM and heard the weather forecast on the radio. It was going to be 102 degrees! With that in mid, I decided to press on to Grants Pass. We phoned the Elks Lodge in Grants Pass and confirmed that one of the two sites was unoccupied. So it was on over the Siskiyous and to the Grants Pass Elks Lodge. When we got there, we called our friends, Bob & Sally Nason. Mary’s cell phone wasn’t working correctly and would switch us over to voice mail. Nasons phoned the motel where Mary Anderson was staying and left a message that we were in town and were going to the Wild River Pizza and Brewing Co. for dinner. When we got to Wild River, Mary was waiting for us and we spent the evening together.

The next day we met Mary, the Nasons, and some other friends at the Powderhorn Café for breakfast. We were walking in to the café and I happened to look over at one of the booths recognizing some old friends from San Diego. It was quite a shock to see (retired SDPD motor Sgt.) Perry Grossman and his wife, (retired Lieutenant) Shawna Selby Grossman. I haven’t seen them for almost ten years and it was a blast talking with them. I spent about ten minutes with them before returning to the table with our friends and family. It was a great time talking about the good ol’ days of San Diego Police. They now live in Grants Pass and offered us a place to stay if we wanted.

Seeing Bob & Sally Nason was a real treat! Bob has been through some difficult surgeries, but looks great and they are now thinking of moving into town from their acreage in Williams. We spent one night with them a couple of years ago and enjoyed the deer and the foxes that Bob has residing on his property.

We joined Mary later that afternoon at her motel room and went to Applebee’s for dinner. It was wonderful to see Mary again and we will miss a family reunion that will happen the following weekend in Grants Pass.

We packed the coach and left on Sunday morning, the 31st. We drove north to Coburg, north of Eugene, and met up with our great friends, the Clarksons. We hadn’t seen them since April so it was a terrific reunion. We stayed at the Coburg Cummins Coach Care facility for one night. Clarksons planned to leave on Monday for Pacific City Thousand Trails park and we left before they departed. We needed to go over to Oregon Motorcoach Service to get things lined up for our refrigerator replacement. I had ordered one refer that would not work. It had been delivered, but Lowe’s said they’d take it back and replace it with one that would fit. So, after measurements by the Service Manager, Bob Vinson, we headed for Lowe’s to order another refer. When we got there, we discovered that the Maytag that we liked wasn’t available for over 28 days! So we settled on a 21.8 cu. ft. Whirlpool side-by-side that was in stock and would be delivered the next day. What a relief to finally get that done!

That afternoon we drove to Albany to look at the parking lot for the Western Come Home Rally the end of the month. I took some measurements to determine the best method of parking about 200 motor homes. After spending almost an hour measuring and talking with the staff, we left and drove back to Eugene.

The next morning we packed the coach and left Oregon Motorcoach Services with a pleasant drive to the Coast. We went north to Salem, then through the foothills to the Oregon Coast town of Pacific City. The Thousand Trails park is just north of town and is a beautiful park full of trees and rolling terrain. We were met at the gate by the Clarksons who drove us around the park until we found a suitable site. We are parked across the street from them in a site that has privacy, tall trees, 50-amp electric, and satellite exposure. We are really pleased with this park and the surrounding area!

This morning we all drove in to Tillamook to do some shopping at the Fred Meyer store - much like a Super Wal-Mart. I picked up a few groceries that we needed, but am attempting to be very careful as we will need to have our refer fairly empty when we get back to Eugene. Our next couple of weeks will be careful planning of meals and some wonderful time with friends!

2010-03-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 17th

So far, it’s been a fun time at the Rally! On Monday night there was a sponsored party around the new show coaches. There was plenty of finger food and an open bar. We managed to restrain ourselves and hold off on all the munchies. But at 6PM we left the grounds and drove over to the Nimbus Brewing Co. brewpub. It’s in a commercial area just a short drive away from Beaudry’s. We got there and told the one bartender that we might have 10 people coming. By the time everybody arrived, we had 12 folks! It was a gathering of some of our old favorite friends - Dave & Marie Ostrander (and two friends of theirs), Jim & Peggy Grich, Ron & Wanda Farrar, Rick & Joann Stone, Ray & Glenda Roe, and the Andersons. The menu was simple, the beer was excellent, and the company was outstanding. We all had the opportunity to get caught up and share some excellent camaraderie!

Tuesday morning was the beginning of all the events - seminars, classes, and touring the vendor area. Dottie was able to do the laundry and I kept busy with little odd jobs around the coach. The Tuesday night catered dinner was great with the 5-6PM Happy Hour followed by dinner and entertainment. We stayed for about 15 minutes of the entertainment and went back to the coach. It was a couple of impersonators that did a mediocre job of the impersonations. I had the chance to stroll through the vendor area and find a couple if items that I can pick up.

Wednesday morning breakfast was followed by a trip to the local Wal-Mart. We went to a couple of the Monaco seminars and were brought up-to-date on the changes within the company. April Klein and Mike Snell, both Vice Presidents in Monaco, were there to tell us about the progress of the integration of Navistar and Monaco. Where they once employed over 6000 employees, there are now only 800 employees. The new engines will be able to meet the 2012 emission standards and Monaco will be slowly changing over from Cummins to the MaxxForce engines. They will be able to meet the Federal standards without having to use the urea tanks to scrub the exhaust components. It’s very painfully obvious to me that we have a gem in our “antique”, 10-year-old coach and we will keep it for a long time!

We had received an email from an old Rotary motorcycle friend, Tony D’Arcy. He now lives in Casa Grande and had a luncheon appointment with a client in Tucson. So we made arrangements to meet Tony here at the rally. He arrived about 4:30, just before I needed to be over in the dining area to fulfill my duties as a Sheriff (checking credentials to be sure the participants were actually attendees, and not free-loaders). Tony accompanied us to the dinner area and it gave us a chance to visit as I watched the entrance door. Tony stayed for a short while and then left for Casa Grande. It was terrific to see him again and have a chance to visit for a short period. Tony and I go back to some fantastic Rotary motorcycle rides through the Sierras in Northern California. After Tony left, we finished dinner and sat through a few numbers of the 60’s-era band before we returned to the coach for the night.

Tucson has blessed us with some warm, but windy days. We are conscious of the potential for dehydration and trying to keep on top of it with plenty of water. The great news is that there’s a warming trend coming and we will probably be getting some warm weather as we move east on Friday.

2010-03-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 14th

What a wonderfully enjoyable week we have spent! We spent five nights in Yuma with our close friends, Andy & Linda Clarkson, at their lot in the Foothills. We arrived on Monday afternoon to a spaghetti dinner that Linda had prepared. It was the first of several tasty meals that she prepared for us while we were there. Our plans were to stay three nights and then move on to Casa Grande for two nights at the Western Horizons park. We had so much fun with the nightly Pegs’n’Jokers games and the other activities/side trips that Andy and Linda convinced us to cancel our reservations in Casa Grande and stay in Yuma. The breezes were strong enough that we ate our meals in the “man cave” garage since their casita is being remodeled. All in all it was a wonderful five days.

We were able to go to the Arizona Marketplace (Yuma’s huge flea market) and purchase a couple of electrical adapters to replace the ones that had gotten burned while we were at the church. When one leg gets an electrical overload, it heats up the metal spade to the point of melting the rubber on the plug. I had two adapters that were burned and I was able to replace the ends with new ones and have reliable replacement cords.

Another accomplishment was getting the coach washed and waxed. Since my surgery I’m very hesitant to get up on the roof of my coach. I found an advertised service that came out to the coach, washed the roof and sides of the coach, and shined the tires. They left for a couple of hours and returned to hand-wax the whole coach with Meguiar’s wax. While they were at it, they threw in a wash job for the car. All this cost only $99!!! It was well worth the cost and the coach wax job is terrific!

We looked at several other properties in the Foothills, but still didn’t find anything that really got us excited. Clarkson’s neighbor is planning to sell his lot with a 570-sq.-ft. casita and plenty of porch/patio space. It would be a perfect lot for our needs, but it may be priced out of our budget. In talking with him, he said he’d come off his price and work with us if we wanted it. However, it would still be more than we can probably afford - or at least it would crimp our traveling adventures. Sadly, we will most likely have to pass on it.

We left Yuma on Saturday morning and drove all the way to Tucson. The rains that the desert have received gave all the short desert grass enough moisture to be green all the way. It was a pleasant change from the brown landscape we’ve seen so much. We arrived in Tucson around 12:30 and got parked with the rest of the Parking Crew. We were able to get settled in before starting work on Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning at 7:30 we had a Parking Crew meeting. We were given our instructions and location assignments and started greeting the arrivals. Since this is and RV resort, there isn’t any marking to do and we only take the attendees to their assigned site. It was an easy day with a steady flow of arrivals until 4PM when we shut down the entry gate. There was a volunteer dinner where we were able to see a lot of old friends that have worked these rallies with us in the past. We’ve had the chance to see and visit with the Ostranders, Griches, and many other close friends that we have missed over the last six months or more.

Tonight we are going to dinner to have a chance to get caught up before the rally starts in full swing tomorrow. It’s nice to be back on the move again and we’re looking forward to the possibility of another Habitat Build in Farmington, NM. The Build is still “iffy” until we get at least six coaches to confirm their participation, but we’re hoping. Since it’s in Farmington, we could be in for any kind of weather. Sorta makes it interesting…

2010-03-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 8th

The time has come for us to get back in the Travel Mode. We are headed to Tucson for the Monaco Pre-Rally to the FMCA Convention in Albuquerque. Since I’m on the Parking Crew, we have to be in Tucson on Saturday, the 13th. We’re going to Yuma to spend three nights with our friends, the Clarksons, on their newly remodeled estate. While there we hope to look at more properties and possibly make an offer on one. After Yuma we’ll drive to Casa Grande for two nights and be able to visit one of our favorite eating establishments, the Organ Stop Pizza. The pizza isn’t the best in the world, but the entertainment is terrific! We enjoy sitting and watching the 1927 Wurlitzer theater organ mastered by some incredible musicians. We will spend a few days in Tucson and then go to Valley Vista RV Park in Benson, to the Escapee park in Deming, and on up to Albuquerque. We plan to stay at the Elks Lodge in Albuquerque while we enjoy one day of the FMCA Convention and see some friends who live there.

We had planned to go to Las Cruces for a two-week Habitat Build. However, we were informed that the affiliate had goofed and didn’t have a house for us to build. So the Build has been cancelled. We are seriously considering driving to Santa Rosa, CA to visit my Mother and sister for a few days. Then we have to be in Laughlin, NV on April 12th to meet up with some other friends who will be with us at the 21st Annual Baker-to-Vegas Law Enforcement Relay. It’s a foot race relay that goes from Baker to Pahrump to Las Vegas. There are 216 teams of runners from all over the world that will compete on the race. We are going to be at one of the checkpoints assisting in any way we can. It’ll probably be two nights of dry camping in the middle of the desert. We are looking forward to the event and possibly seeing some runners that I may know from my working days.

After the B2V Run, we aren’t sure where we’ll be going. We may head slowly east toward South Dakota via Nebraska, OR we may head back down to San Diego or Yuma to get things settled there. We’re not anxious to get to South Dakota before May 1 for fear of getting into snowy weather. We could stay a while longer in San Diego and enjoy the good weather.

Just a few thoughts - it’s been an interesting winter for us. With the surgery we were parked in one spot longer than we normally do. And it’s been a very good winter season for us. There are a lot of things we’ll both miss greatly. I’ll miss the phone calls from my buddy, Homer, and the opportunity to drive him to his various appointments and errands. I’ll miss all the terrific discussions I’ve had with Bill Large while we were running errands for the church or working around the church grounds. Bill keeps me thinking and pondering the more serious things in life and God’s Creation. We’ll miss the Wednesday Bible study class and the interesting discussions that Pastor Harvey leads. I’ll miss the breakfasts with Dave Dyas and the guys on Thursday morning and Saturday morning. I’ll miss the satisfaction of being able to replace light bulbs, window panes, and toilet flapper valves in the church buildings. And I’ll miss talking with the guys at the AA meetings on Saturday nights and Monday nights. And, of course, I’ll miss our church family that offered us support and friendship while we were parked on the property and involved in the Palisades Church life. I’ll especially miss the morning chats with Janice Klick, our church secretary. These were all a part of our experience while at Palisades Presbyterian Church.

We departed San Diego on Monday morning after delaying our trip from Sunday morning. We awoke Sunday and discovered that our television had breathed its last breath. After warming up, the screen went black. We went to church and left in the rain for Best Buy where we purchased a 24” flat screen TV for the front of the coach. It continued raining all day and we decided to wait until Monday to leave. The weather forecasters were calling for rain mixed with snow over the mountains east of San Diego. We enjoyed staying home and warm in our coach.

On Monday morning we left in a light rain that continued over the mountain until we reached the desert. Once on the desert floor, we had beautiful, sunny skies and a tailwind that followed us to Yuma. Our arrival at Clarkson’s lot was a welcome occasion with a fantastic spaghetti dinner followed by a great game of Pegs’n’Jokers. Our day was complete and we are ready to enjoy a relaxing break in Yuma looking for a lot, unwinding a bit, catching up on emails, sipping some craft brews, and preparing for the Tucson Pre-Rally.

2010-01-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Friday, Jan. 15th, 2010

On a whim, we left San Diego on Thursday morning, Dec. 31st, New Year’s Eve. We drove over to Yuma and the Clarkson’s lot to celebrate the Holiday weekend with them. We arrived and enjoyed the evening watching the ball in New York fall (at 10PM, Arizona time). We opened and shared a special bottle of sparkling wine made with black currant that we had purchased in Deming, NM last year. The St. Claire Winery makes this delicious wine and it was an appropriate time to break out the wine to celebrate the in-coming New Year. We had a terrific time with Andy & Linda and enjoyed our short stay with them.

During our visit we made trips to the Sam’s Club and the Yuma Swap Meet. The Swap Meet has everything that the Quartzsite RV Show has and at a lesser price. We also had the chance to look at some more property. We found one lot that is very close to Clarksons, is a corner lot, and is “for sale by owner”. His price is way too high, but his retirement has taken a hit and we hope he’ll consider an offer from us. It’s an almost perfect match to what we are looking for so we’ll sit tight and wait.

We had originally planned to leave on Sunday, but there was a Charger game on TV (we were able to use our satellite connection to receive the game) and the weekend traffic from the desert would have been horrendous. We decided to stay one more night and left on Monday for Indio. Before we left, we all went to a local Mexican restaurant and had a great breakfast. On the way home we stopped at the corner lot and the owner gave us a tour of his property. It proved to us that the lot was what we would enjoy and could make us very happy.

We drove up to Indio and the Western Horizons Indian Waters Resort. We had a quiet site with water, electricity, and gravel. It was at the outer edge of the resort and very peaceful for our stay. We went in to the FMCA Rally each morning for the coffee and donuts, then to the vendors to see all the things we couldn’t live without. Somehow we managed to get through the week without spending much money. We did find a vendor that did windshield chip repair, so we had him fix two chips on the windshield of the coach.

Each night there was entertainment. For the four nights we saw some good ones - and some bad ones. And on two afternoons there was an ice cream social with free ice cream bars furnished by Schwann. The rally was enjoyable and we had the chance to see some old friends, including the Raes, Griches, Bahnsons, Wilkes, and Harsches.

We had to leave Indio on Sunday and return to San Diego as we both had Dr. appointments to handle. It was a beautiful drive back to San Diego. We returned to an empty parking lot and got parked and settled in. It was good to be back to our San Diego parking spot and the solitude of the church.

Tuesday I had a follow-up with the neurosurgeons and came home with a good report. Everything is healing well and the recovery is ahead of schedule. I feel good and am glad to be able to get back to work around the church.

On Friday we took the coach to Valley Truck & Auto for our annual maintenance. I had the filters and a case of oil, so the mechanic did the labor, lubed the coach, and got us back in shape. The price was extremely reasonable and it was done in about three hours. After all, the coach takes 22 quarts of oil and has many, many grease zerts to service. It’s good to have the work done for another year!

We decided we aren’t going to Quartzsite this year. With the cost of fuel and our search for a Yuma Foothills lot, we decided to hold on to the fuel cost and stay put for awhile. If something develops in Yuma, we’ll make a day trip to sign papers and get things arranged. Only time will tell…

2009-12-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night, Dec. 15th

It’s been almost three weeks since the surgery and each day just gets a little better. Last Tuesday we went to the Drs. for a follow-up. They removed the staples and checked a couple of other issues and determined that the recovery is coming along fine. I had anticipated some discomfort in the removal of the staples, but it was a piece of cake. Dr. Cueva pulled a remover out of a sterile packet and it felt as though he was simply lightly tapping the side of my head as removed all 26 staples. It was a quick follow-up and they told me I could start driving whenever I felt up to it.

It just happened that the headaches stopped the night before the follow-up. When I asked about it, the Drs. offered that I may be “over the hump” and it would only get better. I still need to take the Ibuprofen tablets three times a day and a high-powered antibiotic for another few days. That eliminates any alcohol consumption and still keeps my appetite in check. But food is beginning to taste good again, especially breakfast.

I’m still a little uneasy on my feet and get an occasional dizzy feeling if I move my head (or eyes) too fast. I’m having fun getting outside and working around the church with my buddy, Bill Large. He keeps me from overdoing and we still have fun.

We still have plans to try to go to Indio after the New Year for a motor home rally. We’re not sure about Quartzsite yet, but we’d like to go for a few days to check out the vendors and see a lot of old friends that will be there. We’re thinking about finding a spot in Yuma for the month of February to spend some time there looking at possible lots to buy. Things are still up in the air, but we hope to be mobile by the end of the month.

Once again we both appreciate all the phone calls and emails we’ve received. It’s been an interesting experience and we’re grateful that it’s almost over!

2009-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

Monday afternoon, Nov. 30

I can’t express my humble thanks for all the emails, phone calls, prayers and positive thoughts that came our way during and after the surgery! There is real power in prayer - and I truly felt it! Dottie and I have so many wonderful friends and they have kept us going through this entire ordeal. I’m going to attempt to type this out in spite of my headache and dizziness, so here goes.

On Wednesday we checked in to the hospital at the appointed 2PM hour. The Pre-Op didn’t waste any time getting me ready. They had just finished a surgical procedure and I was put on the “Git ‘er done!” list to get the surgery started. I remember being wheeled into the operating room around 3PM, but nothing after that. The next thing I remember it was 9PM and having my paper surgical gown being removed and a cloth gown being put on in the recovery room. The ladies were telling me that I am a “sweater” - the gown was soaked and I felt wet from perspiration. They rolled me in to ICU where I stayed for the next 25 hours. Every hour the nurses would come in to check blood pressure or blood sugar, usually resulting a few units of insulin. They were dumping antibiotics and pain killers into me as fast as they could. I was so groggy that I would just turn over and go back to sleep. I had a bandage that looked almost like the Phantom of the Opera - it covered my whole left side. And I was fighting numbness on that side.

The Drs. told me it was a good sized tumor and was nestled up next to the brain. Everything went textbook perfect in the surgery and last almost 5 hours. They were able to save the function of the facial nerves, but I’ve lost all sense of hearing on my left side. Right now that left ear is just numb and has no sense of feeling at all.

On Thursday night about 10PM they moved me to a room with a guy that left his TV on all night. The volume wasn’t the problem; it was the steady light all night long. I didn’t sleep well that night, either. Then on Friday morning the neurologist came in and recommended I be discharged. I wasn’t really excited about it, but after he mentioned the lousy hospital food, uncomfortable bed, plastic covered pillows, and susceptibility to hospital germs, I was ready to go. He removed the big shell bandage exposing the 25 stainless steel staples holding my left side intact. Dottie gathered up my belongings and we were off to the coach. Major brain surgery and only two days in the hospital!

Since I’ve been back I’ve done a lot of sleeping. Daytime TV can motivate a person to recover quickly, but it’s going to be a long and slow road to normalcy. I can’t lift anything over 10 lbs. for at least a month, and probably won’t be able to drive for two months. I doubt that we’ll be going anywhere until March. Getting the balance back in the inner ear on the left side will take several months. I mostly feel like there’s an axe embedded in the left side of my skull, but the heavy drugs every four hours help to alleviate that pain. I can’t move my head too fast or I get extremely dizzy.

Dottie has been wonderful taking care of me, and I know she must tire of it at times. She’s off washing clothes right now and I have a little caretaker parked at my feet watching every move I make. It’s amazing how they know that something is different. At night she tucks herself tight against my legs so she can feel if make any movement. It’s been a challenge sleeping with the C-PAP machine and positioning that so it won’t catch on any of the staples.

I want to emphasize the importance of all the emails and phone calls and what they mean to us. We have some wonderful, caring friends and those contacts meant a lot both of us. Both of us thank all of you for those thoughtful messages and all the prayers that we’ve felt through this ordeal!

2009-11-24T19:14:00.000-08:00

It’s been over a month since I sent out an update and it’s way overdue. We have remained at the church and stayed busy with all the activities and the preparation for the pending surgery.

My Mother moved up to Santa Rosa on Nov. 1st and we had the task of clearing out her apartment and disposing of the unneeded furniture and other “stuff”. It took us a while but we managed to get rid of the things that weren’t useable or could be used by others. It was a huge relief to turn over the apartment keys and finally rid ourselves of that huge task. It still feels strange driving by the apartment and realizing that she is no longer there. She was our primary reason for returning to San Diego for the winters. Of course we also have our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson to visit. But we were parked at the church for the convenience of being close to Mother and being able to visit her on a regular basis. Now our church parking has become a chance to be near our San Diego church family and be involved with some very close, supportive friends.

Two weeks ago we lost our refrigerator. It’s been going steadily for almost eight years and finally “gave up the ghost”. Leonard Howell of Howell’s RV (a long-time established RV appliance repair facility) came out and replaced the cooling unit. It wasn’t an inexpensive repair, but we placed it with a rebuilt cooling unit. Next time we will replace the refrigerator with a residential unit and be done with the problems of these RV refrigerators.

A week ago I went in for another MRI to check the progress of the tumor. Today we went in for the Pre-Op consultation with the two surgeons. I was informed by the Drs. That the tumor has grown another 5mm. in size. They asked me if I thought me hearing had digressed any. I have felt that the hearing has worsened, so they rushed me up to Audiology for a hearing test. The results are that the hearing on my left side has deteriorated to a point of total loss. It won’t regenerate, so my right ear will have to do my hearing for me. And that side shows a slight deterioration also. Since there is no concern for saving the hearing in my left ear, the Drs. have modified their surgical plan to make it easier to access the tumor. Now their only concern is to not damage the nerves that control my facial muscles.

Their plan is to make a cut from the top of the ear down around the back side, fold the ear tissue back to gain access to the mastoid bone, and drill a small hole through the bone to see and remove the tumor. They will make a small incision in the belly area to obtain some belly fat (I’ve been working on building a supply of that for several years!) that can be used to fill the hole in the mastoid bone before closing the cut.

I’ll have a total head bandage for several days and probably released from the hospital on Saturday! That means only three days for recovery time. It will be wonderful to come back to the coach and spend my recovery in my own bed. But, that all depends on how fast the recovery goes.

Dottie is nervous about the whole procedure - heck, I’m a little nervous about it, too. But these Drs. are the best in the Southern California area! They are so matter-of-fact about the procedure that put both of us at ease. I asked that they not practice their turkey-carving on me since the surgery in scheduled for 4PM on Wednesday, the 25th. I also asked that they not ask me to make a wish!!! We are putting the surgery in God’s hands and the skill of these two doctors. Think about us on Thanksgiving day as you cut in to those nice, warm, juicy, succulent turkeys with all that wonderful stuffing. I’ll be sipping ice water and waiting for leftovers on Saturday!

2009-10-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Monday, Oct. 12th

I am not a happy camper! I was working at the church today and received a phone call from Surgery Scheduling at Kaiser Hospital. They told me that an error in scheduling had been made and my scheduled surgery was re-scheduled for Nov. 25th. The was a problem with the surgeon and his voice mail. Over a month ago I had received a voice mail message from him that I could get scheduled for Oct. 21st. I immediately responded and got his voice mail. I told him “Absolutely! Schedule me for that Oct. 21st spot!”.. Apparently he didn’t get that message. In the meantime Surgery Scheduling phoned me to get things set up. I was all ready to go in next week and get this tumor removed from my head. The surgeon days he never received my voice mail and filled the slot with somebody else. So, now I get to wait another five weeks and spent Thanksgiving in the hospital recovering from the surgery. Wow! That makes me happy as a clam!

Bottom line is everything is now delayed for another month and I have the privilege of Thanksgiving dinner in a hospital room. I’m not real happy with it all, but as one dear friend of mine says, “It is what it is!”

We’re doing a lot of odd jobs around the church getting things repaired and updated. A fifty-year-old building offers some challenges to keep it running and usable. Bill Large and I have a good time working together and getting the various tasks done. It’s a good place to be if we’re going to have to stay in San Diego. Our plans will have to change a lot, but that’s the way it goes.

My Mother is moving to Santa Rosa on Nov. 1st, so this gives us a little more time to take care of getting her things packed and ready for the move. Dottie stays busy with the little jobs that are needed before the move. She and Mother have had some good times shopping together and today they visited the casino for a round of bingo games. Such is life in San Diego…

2009-10-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

We got settled at the Palisades Presbyterian Church in San Diego on Friday, the 25th. It was wonderful seeing all the church family here. On Tuesday morning, the 29th, we got a call from our realtor in Yuma telling us about a property that looked like it had great potential. We decided to make a quick run to Yuma and look at it. After confirming that Andy & Linda Clarkson had room for us, we left San Diego on Wednesday morning and drove over the mountains to Yuma. It was really wonderful to see them again after almost 8 months!

They are in the process of getting a garage built on the lot, but there was room for our coach. We looked at the property on Thursday morning and found some alterations that had been made without proper building permits. It was a shock to see some of the gross violations that existed. A propane line (rubber hose) was running through the wall to two small propane tanks in the rear of the building. There were lots of extension cords spread behind the furniture and appliances. There was also a toilet located right next to the refrigerator - talk about multi-tasking! It was an abomination of a poorly designed living quarters.

We looked at several other lots and spent some time with our realtor talking about what we really wanted and needed. We also had the chance for some great meals and refreshments with the Clarksons. It’s always fun to spend time with them and we’ve missed their company in our travels this past year.

We’re back in San Diego for a while - unless something really promising comes up. It’s only two weeks before the surgery, so I’m getting geared up for that. We also have the task of getting my Mother ready for her move to northern California on Nov. 1st. There’s lots of things to get down at the church and I’m looking forward to working with some of the guys that are spending their time up here repairing and working here.

We’re at the church, so drop on by. We have had the chance to see our son and grandson and look forward to spending more time with them.

2009-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Sept.29th

We arrived at Russian River Thousand Trails preserve in Cloverdale, CA (just north of Santa Rosa) after driving in and out of localized rain showers. It is so obvious that the Federal funds that have been distributed to the states are being used to improve highways in California. US-101 has construction all along its length and it is sorely needed! Last year when we drove on 101 it was a jar-rattling ride. Much of the highway has been over-paved and is much smoother now. The worst portion of the roadway was just north of Cloverdale around Ukiah. We still experienced some terrible roadway cracks that vibrated everything in the coach.

When we arrived we got checked in and found a site that had good satellite reception with electric and water hookups. This park is one of the prettier preserves with all the trees albeit hilly. The park isn’t even close to being full and there were plenty of choices for sites. There isn’t much in activities but we have enjoyed the peace and quiet of the park. Everything is brown in this part of the state and the drought is extremely obvious. Even the preserve is asking that everybody conserve water. We are parked adjacent to one of the restrooms, so we’re not using our shower facility in the coach.

We have been going down to Cloverdale to Ruth McGowan’s Brewpub in the afternoon for a “brew break” and enjoying their own brewed beers. They brew an IPA that has a wonderful grapefruit aftertaste, and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a small-town brewpub that has a lot of the locals coming in for their Happy Hour from 3-5PM. We’ve met several older couples that live in the area and drop by in the afternoon for a cool beer on the patio.

Thursday I went to town to attend the Cloverdale Rotary club luncheon. I really like this club - they serve wine for lunch! They are a small club that is growing slowly and had a terrific program about bicycles and the technology that has emerged in the serious bicycle community. It was a fascinating program describing the bicycles that can be purchased from$1000-$8000! Now, those are some serious bikers!!

On Friday morning, the 18th, we left Russian River and drove down to Santa Rosa for one night at my sister’s house. Both sisters were there and we discussed some of the changes that are coming with our Mother’s move to Santa Rosa. Our biggest surprise was sister Peg’s offer to stay until Monday and give her a hand sorting and tossing a lot of stuff she has accumulated. She is preparing for Mother’s move and making room for some of the things that Mother will bring with her. I was able to back the coach into her driveway and almost get leveled. We had an electric outlet so we could keep the batteries charged up.

We had a wonderful evening meal when sister Harriet and Skip arrived around 7. We all sat out on Peg’s back patio/kitchen, consumed some adult beverages, and relaxed. It was a terrific chance to talk about the changes that we’ll all experience with Mother’s move. Peg made some wonderful pizzas in her stone oven and we all just enjoyed the quiet of the back yard. We all had dogs so it was fun to watch the interaction of them and see Nancy avoid the large dogs.

Saturday morning Harriet and Skip left to go to a cabin on the Russian River. The rest of us tackled Peg’s garage and did some major cleaning. Peg seemed to appreciate our help in spite of our feeling that we really didn’t do that much. But we did get a lot of things sorted out and disposed.

On Monday, the 21st, we left Peg’s house after putting a nice gouge in her driveway from the hitch on the back of the coach. We drove south across the Golden Gate Bridge, into San Francisco, and to the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails preserve. We were hoping to see cousin Kate Nelson, but she was recovering from the H1N1 flu. We decided that we didn’t need exposure to that since we would be seeing Mother within a week. We were able to find a nice site with plenty of satellite exposure. Keith, Kate’s husband and an enjoyable guy to spend some time with, met us for lunch on Tuesday at a terrific Mexican restaurant. That afternoon we drove back in to Morgan Hill and the El Toro Brew Pub. We have been familiar with this microbrewery since they opened in 1994. Their original location was just around the corner from Kate’s house and I visited them each time we were in Morgan Hill. The father was the original brewer and passed the skill on to his son. The son now owns the business and has built a beautiful brewpub in downtown Morgan Hill. He still brews the beer at “the farm” and lives next door. He has brewed some very interesting combinations, including peach ale, raspberry wheat, blackberry ale, and his signature Poppy Jasper Ale. He also has a strong IPA that leaves a refreshing grapefruit aftertaste. We had a couple of beers and a stone-baked pizza. We had an enjoyable discussion with the son/owner and talked with him about the business of microbreweries.

On Wednesday morning we left Morgan Hill and drove almost 250 miles down the coast to the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails preserve. It’s located just over the hill from Santa Barbara on SR-154 in the Santa Ynez Recreation Area. Everything is brown and just ripe for wildfires. The road in to the preserve is a narrow, twisty road with a couple of interesting (almost hairpin) turns. It is slow going, but can be done with patience and time. The preserve is beautiful, well laid out, and has strong electric current. It gets warm enough to justify the air conditioner, but with only 30-amp electric we can run one of the A/Cs. We’re back in the woods far enough that we don’t want to drive out until we leave. However, there is a great laundry facility here and an inviting swimming pool that we’ll probably try out.

On Friday, the 25th, we had planned to go to Palmdale and stay at the Elks Lodge or the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails preserve. However, in thinking about the high forecast temperatures, I decided to drive down 101 to I-405 and straight down through Los Angeles to San Diego. I really despise the LA traffic, but we managed through with only one delay north of the airport. We had a section of 405 that we were slowed to about 15-20MPH for almost six miles. We arrived at Palisades Presbyterian Church around 3PM and got settled in. It sure is nice to be back in San Diego, BUT the weather change has gotten to me with a head cold and stuffy nose. Dottie is doing fine, but the cold is my usual San Diego killer and makes me feel miserable.

We’re already getting phone calls from the realtor in Yuma about possible properties for our home base. We’re looking at a couple but will have to make a day trip over there to really look them over. In the mean time we’re preparing for the surgery on Oct. 21st and getting everything in order.

2009-09-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Sept. 13th

As most of you have discovered by now, I have had some difficulty sending out my Travelogues through gmail. Since Verizon shut down their SMPT-client, I had to switch over to Gmail to send email. I can still receive messages using my original email address - landers at TFB dot com. So, if you send us anything, continue to use that email address rather than the new Gmail address which shows in the header of this message.

Anyway, we had a wonderful few days in Eugene, OR visiting with cousin John & Ruth Anderson. We shared some meals with them and go caught up on the family news. We also had the opportunity to visit the Monaco factory, take the tour, and see the changes that have been made in the manufacturing process since Monaco was purchased by Navistar. All the production is being done in the old Plant 17 with one continuous production line. There are almost 800 formerly employees that have been hired back and they are building one coach a day. Our tour guide was Kevin, a Monaco Salesman, who was rehired and took us on the two-hour tour. We were able to get right down with the production folks and talk with them individually. They are all very glad to be back to work. We were very disappointed that we didn’t have the time to see April Klein, Garth Herring, or even Kay Toolson. I suspect they were all pretty busy with the reorganization of the company. I did spot Enoch Hutchcraft as he was leaving the parking lot and he gave us a wave of recognition. We also saw Brian Weatherly, one of the sharpest Service Techs in the company. He was on his way home, but stopped to give Dottie a hug and tell us that there are three Service Techs working at the old Service Center in Coburg.

We left Eugene on Sunday morning, the 6th, and drove in a light rain to Florence, OR and the South Jetty Thousand Trails Preserve. We were able to get a secluded site with a good view of the southern sky for our satellite reception. We spent four nights there and visited the Elks Lodge and the Elks RV Park located four miles north of town. The RV parts store adjacent to South Jetty is closing so all their merchandise was marked down with a 40% discount. I found a couple of items that were too good to pass up, especially at that price. We had a quiet rest at South Jetty and enjoyed the peace and quiet. South Jetty Betty is still there and cooking meals. On Monday (Labor Day) she did a special breakfast and it was delicious!

We left South Jetty on Wednesday and drove south along the coast to the Brookings Elks Lodge. They had a great dinner so we took advantage of that and had dinner there. Right across the street is a Fred Meyers store and we did a little shopping and wandering. Their fuel is ten cents less than the rest of the service stations so we topped off on Thursday morning to get the last diesel fuel under $3/gallon. As soon as we crossed into California, the prices jumped up to $3.05-3.20/gallon!

Our next stop was Eureka, CA for a mini-reunion with some family members. John Anderson’s daughter has moved to Eureka from Moses Lake, WA and is Dean of Academics at College of the Redwoods. They have a beautiful home in the hills south of Eureka and several of her cousins and aunts were there to spend some time. We have had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with several cousins, eating some fantastic meals with accompanying adult beverages, and visiting some of the sights in the Eureka area. Cousin Paul Anderson, from San Jose, and I did a quick tour of a couple of the microbreweries on Friday afternoon and tasted some excellent brews. I was able to bring a few bottles back to the coach with me for future enjoyment. This morning we will visit the Samoa Smokehouse for a brunch as some of them need to start heading home. We will leave Monday morning and drive down to Russian River Thousand Trails Preserve in Cloverdale for four nights.

One of the fun things about the reunion is getting together with cousin Doug and Virginia Anderson from Mesa, AZ. Doug purchased a ‘96 Monaco Executive, almost a classic coach that was built when Monaco was really paying attention to quality and details. The coach is gorgeous with no slide-outs, but the M-11 engine and some eye-catching lines. We have had the chance to talk motorhomes and share some ideas and solutions to some of the problems of this lifestyle. I hope to get him involved with some of the Monaco rallies and social activities that we do with our Monaco friends.

That sorta brings you up-to-date with us. Hopefully this will get to all of you and not be dumped as a spam message by Gmail.

2009-09-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, Sept. 4th

I watched Steve, the alignment technician, laser align the front and rear axles and repack the front wheel bearings. He’s a likeable guy whose father was a law enforcement officer. Steve and I hit it off and had some great discussions while he was working on the coach. The whole experience at Bend Service Center was extremely positive and memorable. The guys were terrific and the price was reasonable, albeit expensive considering the work we had accomplished. I would heartily recommend the facility to anybody needing work on their coach.

While we were in Bend we had the opportunity to spend an evening with Evelyn Lerner (Aulwurm) who was in my La Mesa Rotary club. We went to her house and walked downtown to the Deschutes Brewpub for dinner. I had their sampler platter consisting of six of their beers. It was delicious! Our meals were pretty good, too. We had a great time seeing Evie again and talking about her life in Bend. She loves the area, has her dream home, and doesn’t miss the fast pace of San Diego at all.

Thursday morning the work was completed. We checked the tire pressures, filled the water tank, and headed west toward Eugene. The drive was easy, the coach handled like a new one, and we were happy. We arrived at the Eugene Elks Lodge, dumped the holding tanks, and hooked up to 30-amp electric and water. We phoned my cousin, John, and made plans for dinner.

On Friday morning I was up early and washed the whole coach. We planned to take the Monaco Factory Tour at 2PM, so we did a little shopping at the Wal-Mart and WinCo. We arrived at the Monaco factory and were led on our tour by Kevin, the only sales guy rehired by Navistar. It was painfully obvious that the factory has tightened their operation and is only producing five coaches a week. All the coaches being built are diesel coaches; all gas coaches are being built in Indiana. It was an impressive tour that took almost two hours. We didn‘t see any of our old friends except Enoch Hutchcraft. He was on his way out of the parking lot in his pickup so I was only able to yell his name and “H’lo!” He responded with a big wave. After the tour was over and we were on our way out of the parking lot, we saw Brian Weatherly, one of the best service techs Monaco has ever had. He stopped and chatted with us for about five minutes. We went back to the coach, grabbed a couple of steaks, and headed over to John’s house for dinner. We had a great time as we always do with them. We’ll be seeing them next weekend in Eureka when we join several other Anderson family members for a mini-reunion.

It’s been an interesting trip thus far and we’re enjoying every minute of it! We’ll leave Eugene on Sunday morning for Florence and the South jetty Thousand Trails park. Wish we had several of you with us to enjoy the great weather, the neat microbreweries, and the fun of traveling.

2009-09-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning, Sept. 1

We left serene parking spot near Moran Jct. and started the drive west around the south end of the Tetons and heading for Idaho Falls. There were several long passes that we navigated where the coach was slowed to 30MPH to keep the engine temperature in check. We drove through Idaho Falls and got on I-15. We passed through Pocatello and on to Twin Falls to a small county park that was listed in one of my directories. Freeway driving is NOT fun, but it is a necessity in Idaho.

We arrived at the Rock Creek Park in Twin Falls and found another great little park with grassy sites and 30-amp electric and water hook-ups. It is secluded down in a small canyon so the wind isn’t a factor. We parked the coach, had a bite to eat, and went into town searching for an ATM.

We also drove out to the interstate to check out the Flying J for our morning fuel stop. Some of them are so poorly planned that a large RV can’t drive into the RV lanes without getting stuck. We asked and got permission to pull around to the truck refueling island the next morning.

We left Twin Falls around 9AM headed for either Caldwell, ID Elk’s Lodge, or Ontario, OR Elk’s Lodge. As we drove through Boise the radio quit. Then the engine started showing some erratic battery readings. I pulled off I-84 and into a Super Wal-Mart lot to check things out. My initial thought was another alternator failure or a battery gone bad. We started the generator to keep the batteries charged up and decided to press on to Bend. I phoned the Monaco Tech Support line and they suggested the Bend Service Center at the old Beaver factory. I phoned them and told of our dilemma. Ken Carpenter told us to press on and we could get the coach looked at first thing in the morning. We arrived in Bend at 7PM after 10 hours of driving and 485 miles! The road across Oregon is NOT enjoyable. There were several spots that road construction had us stopped and waiting for pilot cars to lead us through one lane while the other was torn up. The dust was heavy, rocks were the norm (so we kept our distance from the cars in front of us), and it was starting to get warm. With the generator running, we turned on the roof air and stayed reasonably comfortable.

This morning we were up early, had breakfast, and met the Service Tech, Allan, for discussions about the problem. He has diagnosed the issue as the battery isolator, so a replacement is in order. While we are here, I’m having them fix the entry door. Many of you are aware of Dottie’s problem opening the door. There is an adjustment that needs to be made and it will be fixed before we leave. We will probably be here overnight to get the 4-point wheel alignment and front wheel bearings repacked. This facility has been reviewed positively by several folks we know so we might as well get the work done here. They have the proper equipment and their service techs have quite an impressive background. We’ll take the chance and hope we don’t have to scrub the shop floors to pay for the completed work.

We don’t know how this will affect our schedule, but Bend, OR isn’t too shabby a place to stay. There’s enough to do and see that we can’t possible get bored. They allow us to go to the coach and watch their work, so I can get lots of questions answered while we’re here.

While we’re here I can take advantage of their wi-fi connection and send out this update. Verizon made some changes and I can’t use them to send out mail. The last update just went out this morning although it was written several days ago. When we leave here, we’ll be back to cell phone connections for email, so please hold on to those forwarded jokes, etc. The wi-fi sure is nice, though!

2009-09-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 29th

After getting the alternator rebuilt and back on the coach, we went to Dale’s Tires in Rapid City and bought six new Michelin tires. They look and feel brand new and the coach rides wonderfully! We spent the remainder of the week getting tasks done on the motor home and ready to travel. On Thursday night we had the opportunity to join the Koinanians, a church group that is our age, for a cowboy dinner at the nearby Ft. Hays Cowboy Supper and Show. It was our last chance to see many of the friends from First Presbyterian Church in Rapid City. We were home early and got ready for the Friday morning departure.

Friday came early so we got up, got the coach ready to travel, and headed over to the Maint. Shop to get propane and air up all the tires. Some of the guys helped me roll up the broken patio awning and get it secured. We hooked up the car and headed out.

I had planned to drive to Douglas, WY and spend the night in a small city park. By the time we got there, it was still early in the afternoon. I decided we could press on another 45 minutes to Casper and spend the night at the Super Wal-Mart. We arrived, checked with the store manager, and parked in the outer area. For dinner we walked over to Sanford’s for a burger and some beer. It was a terrific dinner and we enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere! We went back to the coach and settled in for a night in the lighted parking lot. By 9PM there were five other coaches that arrived and parked for the night.

We got up on Saturday morning and drove over to the neighboring Flying J to dump the gray water and top off the fuel tank. Then we attempted to walk to a McDonald’s for some breakfast, but they were in the “slow moving” mode, so we left. We drove west on US-20 to Moran Jct., WY. Actually my Day’s End directory led us to a beautiful, level spot about 3.4 miles east of Moran Jct. and about 2.5 miles on Buffalo Valley Rd. This spot is big enough for several coaches to park and overlooks the Buffalo Fork River with the unbelievable, snow-covered majesty of the Tetons to the west. It is one of those spots you have to know about to find, but peaceful and quiet with a magnificent view. We cooked some brats and had a quiet 40th Anniversary dinner.
The road we drove on was full of construction and for about 20 miles we were escorted by a pilot car and 15-20 MPH. The coach got filthy with the dusty conditions, but we are here and relaxing for the night.

Our route will take us through Jackson, WY and Idaho Falls, ID. We’ll go as far as Twin Falls, ID and stay at a county park tomorrow night. Then on Monday we’ll drive to Ontario, OR and stay at the Elks Lodge. Tuesday we’ll drive to Riley, OR and Chickahominy Reservoir. Then on Wednesday we’ll drive all the way to Eugene, OR for four nights at the Elks Lodge. We have an appointment on Thursday to get the wheel alignment and front wheel bearings repacked at Kaiser Brake and Alignment. On Sunday we’ll drive to Florence, OR and the South Jetty Thousand Trails park for a few days. John and Ruth, here we come!!!

We are getting all our emails through the cell phone and it’s VERY slow. I’ve asked that all forwarded messages be held for a while until we can get faster service. That may be for about three weeks while we’re on the road. Thanks for all the cooperation!

2009-09-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 19th

We’re back at Hart Ranch - a couple of days earlier than we had expected! We had a great time in Le Mars, IA where we attended the Presbyterian United Church of Christ with Rev. Jan Christensen. It was a shock for her to see us. She recognized us as someone she knew, but you could hear the mental rolodex spinning trying to remember who we were. I finally introduced ourselves to her and she recalled that we were the ones who visited First Presbyterian Church in Rapid City for the summers and lived in a motor home at Hart Ranch. She performed an enjoyable service and we stayed afterward to visit with her in the Fellowship Hall. We left the church and visited the Welles Dairy Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor for some excellent premium ice cream..

On Monday morning when I started the coach, I saw the “Alternator Failure” light come on. I could see the voltages was dropping rapidly, so I started the generator and left it running to charge the batteries. We decided to drive all the way to Rapid City where we could get the alternator repaired. It was almost 450 miles and we arrived at 5PM. I was beat, but glad to be back home in the dry climate. We got parked and settled in. On Tuesday morning I attended the Rushmore Rotary morning (to everybody’s surprise) and rushed back to the coach to remove the alternator. Once it was out I took it to The Repair Shop where it rebuilt two years ago. I explained the situation, had it bench-checked to confirm it was the problem, and left it with them. They said it should be ready by the end of the week. We’ve made arrangements so we shouldn’t have to move the coach until Friday, and maybe later. In the meantime, I started back to work this morning and will work a few hours when needed through this week. Things are slowing down and I shouldn’t be needed for long.

We plan to depart Rapid City on Thursday, the 28th, and head for San Diego to get the medical issues resolved. For now, we’re enjoying seeing all the old friends and visiting the places I’ve wanted to see for several years. It’s good to be back home!!

2009-08-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

We're finally back to a strong wi-fi signal and here's a long posting of our trip.

Tuesday evening, June 30

We are back on the road again! We departed Hart Ranch about 9:30 this morning and headed east. We drove abut 220 miles to Oacoma, SD and Al’s Oasis. Al’s is a tourist trap right on the Missouri River. It has a combination of businesses, including a restaurant, clothing store, grocery store, gas station, and a campground. We aren’t staying in the $27/night campground - we prefer the peace and quiet of the parking lot across from the store complex and “boondock” (dry camp with no hook-ups).

We left this morning immediately following my Tuesday morning Rotary meeting. The drive across central South Dakota was smooth and it was interesting to see all the fields with freshly cut grass, windrows, or bales. In the areas that aren’t being cut there are patches of yellow from the wild mustard plants that have grown and are flowering. It’s a fairly flat drive so the coach didn’t have to work too hard. I had to fiddle with my tire pressure monitors as two of them are giving some false readings. At one point we stopped for fear of low pressure on two tires. When I removed the sensors and checked the pressures with a gauge, I discovered that the sensors were giving me some false readings. I’ll have to keep an eye on those two sensors for the remainder of the trip.

It’s been a rough few days as we have realized how many close, wonderful friends we have here in South Dakota. Last Friday I drove a van for the First Presbyterian Church to transport the attendees of the South Dakota Presbytery from a remote parking lot to the church. The Presbytery is a combination of clergy and lay people from all over the state that come together to discuss issues of importance in the Presbyterian faith. It was fascinating to meet folks from the eastern part of the state that had driven 4-5 hours to come to Rapid City. Then on Friday night Rev. Bob Evans invited us to join him, his wife Gretchen and daughter Danielle for a dinner served at the Camp Rimrock church camp facility west of Rapid City. What a beautifully serene camp setting!! Rapid Creek cuts right through the property and creates a wonderful place for youth and adults to get away and enjoy themselves. We had a terrific camp meal of sloppy joe sandwiches followed by a session where one of the newer ministers conducted a short seminar on “Limited Atonement”. He added enough humor to the talk to make it absolutely fascinating!

Then on Sunday afternoon we attended a special Rotary party put on by our female members. During the winter the club had a competition to see who could bring in the most members - men or women. Well, the men won, so the ladies threw us a party. It was held at the home of Dr. George Twitero, (a Past District Governor) and his wife, Shari West-Twitero. Their house overlooks the southern edge of Rapid City on the hill and their patio faces east where you can see the whole Rapid Valley. It’s hidden in the tall pine trees and George says he has seen all forms of wildlife in his back yard. Dr. George is also our veterinarian and takes care of Nancy for us. Plus, they are both extremely active in First Presbyterian Church. They are special friends!

We had to leave the party early because one of our Hart Ranch friends, Larry McCarty, was having his annual fish fry and invited nearly 50 people to attend. Our restaurant manager, Johnny Kilpatrick, did the cooking and whooped up a good ol’ Southern country boil. Once the shrimp, potatoes, corn, onions, polish sausage, etc. were cooked, he started deep-frying some specialty meats for us to sample. We had the opportunity to taste venison, armadillo, alligator tail, dove, rabbit, and catfish with homemade hush puppies. It was a feast to remember!

On Monday night we met Rev. Bob, Gretchen, and Danielle down at Shipwreck Lee’s for the famous half-pound Shipwreck burger and some beer. It was our last chance to see Bob and enjoy his company before we left. Before we left, Lee had me drive around to the back of the building where he slipped me three six-packs of Leinenhugel’s Summer Shandy, a wheat beer with lemonade. It’s a wonderfully refreshing hot-weather beer that really hits the spot on those hot, humid days.

When I went to Rotary this morning, I made a last trip to Jerry’s Cakes & Donuts to pick up some treats for the guys in Maintenance. We collect the aluminum cans and take them in to the recycling to cash them out. This year the aluminum prices have plummeted to .25/lb., but that buys our weekly donuts on Tuesdays. It was fun to see all the guys I’ve worked with for the past few weeks and gave me something to look forward to when we return in August.
Yes, it’s nice to be back on the road again, but I’m sure I’ll be glad to arrive in Springfield, OH and settle in for a while. If the heat, humidity, and bugs don’t get to us, we’re bound to have a great time.

Wednesday night, July 1st

Al’s Oasis in Oacoma has a good restaurant and we remembered last year when we stopped for the night. We walked into the restaurant and discovered that their special dinner was a three-piece chicken dinner for under $7. We had hoped to encounter another deal like that, but the special dinner last night was a Missouri River catfish dinner for $15. Both of us decided to pass on that - Dottie had a roast beef dinner and I chose the salad bar. We were both tired and I was fighting a strained muscle in my lower back that had been bothering me all day. We had dinner, watched some TV (once I got the satellite dish aligned), and hit the rack early. It was a cool night so we enjoyed the fresh air blowing through the coach with the help of the exhaust fans. Our view of the Missouri River through the front windshield was spectacular!

When we got up on Wednesday morning, we had a bit of breakfast before checking the tires and starting down the interstate. Over the night several truckers and a few RVs had joined us, so we took it easy starting the coach and idling out of the parking lot. We eased up the hill out of the James River Valley and headed for Mitchell’s Super Wal-Mart. The seventy miles we drove were through mostly grassland and plains with many of the farmers continuing the cutting, raking, and baling of the prairie grass.

We arrived at Mitchell and parked in the Super Wally lot. The Super Wal-Mart seems to be bigger than the one in Rapid City and has quite an array of merchandise. Last year when we came through here, I found some waterproof hunting boots that were made with Thinsulate. This store had them marked down to $10 - and I failed to buy a pair! I asked the clerk in the Shoe Dept. and she remembered the boots. However, she couldn’t find any left on the shelf. I also found a small, 1.7 cu. ft. refrigerator that had just been marked down. It’ll fit in one of the bays in the coach and keep my “drinks” cold and out of the big refrigerator. Meanwhile Dottie was busy in the grocery section shopping for needed foods. We also found some nice looking summer dresses for her, so the stop was worth the time!

We continued east to Sioux Falls and the Flying J Truck Stop for fuel. The RV lanes were easy to get into and out of, so we topped off the tank. As we departed Sioux Falls and headed into Iowa, the landscape changed from prairie to endless cornfields. It looks like the corn crop should be good this year as the plants are lush and green and seem to go continuously. We were on Iowa State Highway 9 and really enjoyed breaking away from the interstate to get on the smaller, slower roads. We drove to Rock Rapids, IA and their city park on the west end of town. It’s a beautiful small park with 8 hook-up sites that have 50-amp electric, but no water hook-up. There is a single water spigot near the dump station. They have increased their price from $10 to $15 (a 50% increase) and it was really worth it to be able to turn on the air conditioner and cool down a bit from the humid 85-degree heat.

After a comfortable dinner of burgers on the outdoor grill, we’ll relax, watch some TV, and see the bed early again tonight. We have to up and on the road tomorrow to get to Forest City, IA and the Winnebago Factory tour by 1PM. The roads will all be state and U.S. highways so it’ll be slower and easier.

Thursday night, July 2nd

We woke up to a beautiful morning at Rock Rapids and took our time to get the coach ready to roll. Two of my tire pressure/temperature sensors are acting up and giving me some false readings. To check on the tow tires, I removed the sensors and checked the pressures with two tire pressure gauges. Once I was comfortable the pressures were within tolerance, I re-attached the sensors and just watched the temperatures as we drove on for the day. We left and continued east through the corn country on fairly flat highways. At the end of the day we had averaged almost 9 MPG!
We arrived in Forest City at noon, checked in at the Winnebago Visitors Center, and had a bite of lunch in the parking lot. The factory tour started at 1PM so we took advantage of the opportunity and joined the other six people for the tour. The factory is shut down for the July 4th holiday, but the tours were continuing. The factory is on a huge complex, bigger than Monaco’s, and provides quite an education. At one point the factory was putting out 250 coaches a week; now they’re down to about 50 a week. There aren’t a lot of Freightliner chassis waiting in the storage area, but there are a lot of the Dodge diesel Class C chassis waiting to be built upon. An interesting point was made by the tour guide that Winnebago will begin building a 42’ and 45’ motor home with a tag axle. We saw a couple of the chassis in the storage area, but no more information of the larger coaches. I guess I’m still a little prejudiced to the Monaco brand and the construction techniques they use.

We left the Winnebago factory by 2:30 and headed east for the 30 miles to Mason City, IA. We found the Margaret MacNider City Park on the northeast part of town. It’s a beautiful park with over 80 sites and right next to the city swimming pool. The park is pretty full with the coming holiday weekend, but we found a full hook-up site and are able to get some laundry done while we’re here.

We haven’t purchased a digital conversion box yet, so we have to rely on our satellite TV for any television. I was hoping we might find some local stations that haven’t converted over to digital yet, but so far no such luck.

Sunday night, July 5th

Mason City, IA was truly a relaxing stop and we thoroughly enjoyed the Margaret MacNider City Park with its accommodations. When we got started on Friday morning, we tried to quietly pull the coach out and hook the car. We managed to get out of the park and back on the road headed for the Tiffin, IA and the F.W. Kent County Park, just outside of Iowa City, IA On the way we stopped at a couple of city parks to check them out and send updates to the Escapee’s Day’s End, Don Wright’s Free Campgrounds of the West/East, and Nick Russell’s Gypsy Journal.

When we arrived at the Kent County Park, I saw the signs at the entrance that said all electrical sites were full. I took a chance and drove in to the campground. We saw a Ranger and asked if the non-electric sites could handle a coach our size. He said he thought all of the electric sites were full but we could drive through and look. We took the left loop and started looking at the sites. By the time we had returned to the front, I saw him in my mirror with his red lights flashing. He pulled alongside of our coach and told me there was one site open, to follow him, and he’d take us to it. What service!! I followed him to the open electric site and we said we’d take it. He waited for me to fill out the registration form, put the money in an envelope, and helped me back in. The site wasn’t totally level, but it was useable. We were parked next to a young couple with two kids under two years old. They were fun to talk with and we had a great time until the rain started to fall.

It rained all night long and into the morning. We tried to quietly slip out on Saturday morning in the rain and pulled onto the highway headed for Peoria, IL.

This has been the only adverse weather we have had to endure. We didn’t get into any real heavy rain - just showers that continued all day long. I had thoughts of bypassing Peoria and continuing to the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Park, but it would have been a 320-mile day. By the time we arrived in Peoria we were ready to stop.

The Peoria Elks Lodge was easy to find and we were welcomed by several of the members who were at the bar instead of the golf course. Adjacent to the Lodge is a beautiful City golf course, so many of the golfers had come inside to the bar and were watching Tiger Woods on the TV. The bartender, Jeri, was outgoing and made us feel right at home. We only had a 15-amp electrical hookup, but it was enough to keep our batteries charged and watch some television. One of the Elk members has a son who is on the Peoria Police Dept., so he gave his son a phone call to let them know we were parked at the Lodge. We had a couple of the patrol cars drive through the parking lot during the night to check on us. For dinner we decided to go over the river to East Peoria and visit the Granite City Brewing Co. It was fun to taste-test a couple of their beers and eat their delicious sandwiches. Jeri told us to get back early because the crowds would be huge for the July 4th Fireworks Show. We were back at the Lodge by 7 and went inside to socialize with all the members sitting in the bar. By that time Laura was tending bar and she was a hoot! I had talked to her the previous night to be sure the Lodge would be open. She had assured me there was room to park and she would be waiting for us to arrive. She has a boat and was looking forward to closing the bar and taking the boat out on the river to watch the fireworks show. We were back in the coach by 8PM and watched some late TV. We heard fireworks going off until almost 1AM, but it didn’t keep us from sleeping.

On Sunday morning we pulled out of the Elks lot by 8:30AM. The weather had passed through, but we were headed east - the same direction the weather had moved. We had cloudy weather all the way to the Thousand Trails park and arrived by 1PM (actually 2PM because we’re now in the Eastern time zone). We lucked out when we got to Horseshoe Lakes and found an empty site with good satellite reception. We’re parked next to Fred Kennedy, another Monaco owner and an FMCA Director. We’ll only be here one night because we have to go on to Springfield tomorrow after a stop at the Indianapolis Flying J to refuel. Many of the overnight stops we’ve found would be enjoyable for staying a week or so and exploring the area. That may be a possibility in the future!

Thursday night, July 9th

We left the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails preserve by 8 AM on Monday. I knew we had a 225-mile day ahead of us and wanted to get started early. We took many back roads to get over to Indianapolis. Those roads are fascinating and fun to drive. There’s little traffic, the views are magnificent, and it’s a slower pace. We both enjoy those smaller, less traveled roads so much more than the interstate highways. We got to Indianapolis and found the Flying J truck stop on the south side of town. We were able to get topped off and back on the road in minimum amount of time. From there it was all Interstate 70 to Dayton and Springfield. We finally arrived by 2PM and one of the early arrivals was waiting for us to get us parked.

We got situated near the back of the fairgrounds against a fence with 50-amp electric and water. We can drain our grey water through the fence into an empty field. The water is horrible! It tastes like chlorine, so it’s not really suitable for drinking. Thank goodness there’s a Super Wal-Mart nearby and a supply of drinking water! So far, there are 12 of us here and all of us are busy getting things ready for the Sunday early arrival date. Because of the economy, there are less than 200 coaches pre-registered for this Pre-Rally. Our Parking Crew has measured and marked off almost 300 spots, just in case. The available electric sites are both 30-amp and 50-amp electric, depending on how soon a coach arrives.

Our weather has been absolutely wonderful! We get some warm temperatures during the day and we have used the air conditioner from about 1PM to 6PM. After the sun goes down, the temperature starts dropping and we have the coach opened up with exhaust fans bringing the cool air inside. Sleeping has been great! We are hoping this weather trend will continue, especially when we go north to Bowling Green for the big FMCA Convention. We are signed up for an area where you can run your generator 24 hours a day, so we’re hoping for mild weather. If it gets too hot, I’ve found a nearby RV park that can offer electric hookups for the air conditioner. We need to be in Bowling Green for a short period of time to get a new satellite dish installed on the top of the coach. Plus I want to be able to walk through the vendor’s area to find those things which I just can’t live without.

Once the early arrivals start to come in on Sunday, we’ll probably be very busy getting all of them parked. It should be fun and we’re looking forward to a wonderful rally!

Monday, July 20th

The Monaco International Pre-Rally was fun-filled time in Springfield, OH. My last update talked of the great weather, and it continued through the Rally. On Saturday, the 11th, we had a rainy day where the rain cells passed through and dumped heavily on us for spurts of 15-30 minutes at a time. Most of us got soaked, but we endured it with a lot of laughs. The nightly entertainment was mediocre, but enjoyable. We had some fantastic catered meals that were amazingly tasty considering that the caterer really didn’t know what to expect from the Monaco crowd. Of course, the best part is seeing a lot of old friends that we haven’t seen for a long while.

Probably the most interesting part of the Rally was the appearance of the top brass of the new Monaco RV LLC. Mike Snell, Vice President of Sales attended with Tim Smith from the parent company, Navistar. They assured all of us that Monaco would return and be building coaches, albeit on a smaller, tighter manner. We had a Service Seminar with Garth Herring, Vice President of Service. Garth told us that over 770 employees have been rehired and they are building one diesel coach per day plus all Monaco-branded trailers at the Coburg production facility. The Waukarusa, IN facility will build gas-powered coaches. The Hines, OR fiberglass plant has been moved to Harrisburg, OR (leaving that small western Oregon town with quite a financial loss). Most of the great service centers have been sold or closed down, and all of the factory service is now being done at the factory in Coburg, OR. The Wildwood, FL service facility has been sold to Brett Howard (the former manager of that service center) and he is opening an RV service center, Alliance RV Service.

One of the highlights of the Rally for me was a phone call I received on Thursday afternoon from April Klein, Vice President of Customer Service. Dottie and I have always attended her seminars when she’s at any of our Rallies. She wanted to phone and let us know she wouldn’t be able to make the Springfield Rally, but would be in Bowling Green. She has been one of the folks that I could send an email and get an immediate response. April knew we would be in the Service Seminar and wanted to let us know that she was sorry she couldn’t be there. We talked with her for a good five minutes and it was good to her sound so upbeat and positive.

At the end of the Rally there were 15 coaches that had been driven from Oregon that had to be driven up to Bowling Green. Several of us on the Parking Crew were asked if we would like to drive the coaches up for the display. I drove an ‘09 Camelot 42’ tag-axle coach. It was a three hour drive and another three hour ride back to Springfield. That day was long. About 40 participant coaches were going to caravan up to Bowling Green. We had to be up at 4:30AM to get the caravan out of the parking lot. They had to be in a particular order, depending on which section of the FMCA Convention they had signed up for - electric, general, 24-hour generator, handicapped, etc. Once they were out of the parking lot and on their way, we grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and headed out in our show coaches. When we returned at about 3:30, we were all tired. Dottie and I had a quiet dinner at our coach and retired early.

We left Springfield on Sunday morning and drove the three hours to Bowling Green. We are parked about three miles from all the seminars, displays, and nightly entertainment. Our spot is an area for 24-hour generator usage. I figured that we might need that if it gets hot, since Nancy is a concern for us. We will be getting our new satellite dish installed on Monday morning. Our parking area is pretty quiet and we actually got parked a few coaches away from a couple that we met at the Preston HfH Build. Alan and Cheryl are ministers that contract and travel to small churches that are having difficulties. Alan counsels the ministers and congregations about how to bring their church together and be successful. Apparently he stay very busy with is work and loves doing it. They manage to fit in rallies and Habitat builds between his contract work. We’ll enjoy spending some time with them.

On Monday morning at 9AM we were visited by Gary Swaim from Custom Coach Connections and he installed a new Motosat Executive satellite dish. Our KVH domed dish hasn’t worked correctly since we bought our coach, and KVH doesn’t want to deal with 10-year-old technology. So we decided to get a straight dish where I can push a button and it will raise up, search for the correct satellite, and lock on. It works wonderfully!

The scheduled entertainment includes 42Five (a band of five guys that use nmo musical instruments, but make noises that sound like a full instrumental band), country singer Lorrie Morgan, the Rivolis, and Phil Dirt and the Dozers, a band that will take us back to the 50’s. I’m also looking forward to walking through the vendor area, beginning on Tuesday, and seeing all the “stuff” that I can’t live without!

Monday, July 27th

The FMCA Convention was a blast! We were parked in the 24-hour generator area, which was pretty far from all the activities and vendor displays. In addition to the new satellite dish (that works wonderfully), we got a gallon of Protect-All wax, a couple of bags of DeWafflebakkers pancakes, two new sending units for my tire pressure monitor systems, and some other trinkets for the coach. We saw entertainment on only one night - the 42Five group that did a fantastic job in spite of the generator quitting and they lost electrical power to their microphones. We also got our generator serviced so we’re good for another year.

Lorrie Morgan cancelled due to lousy weather, and we passed on the last night’s entertainment. We had a great time with David & Kay Piper, our Monaco friends that decided to join us on the Habitat build.

On Friday morning we left the fairgrounds a little before 9AM and caravanned with the Pipers to Wauseon, OH, site of the build. We met the other participants and the affiliate representatives, got settled in at the fairgrounds, and prepared for a two-week build. It was decided to start on Saturday morning. That way we could leave on Friday and have an extra day for traveling at the end of the build. When we got to the house on Saturday morning, we found all exterior walls erected, roof complete, and interior walls framed but not sheet rocked. Our task on Saturday was to do as much interior work as we could. We almost finished the sheet rocking, but had some small closets and the bathrooms to be completed. We rested on Sunday, but Monday we were back at work and finished the interior work. The finishers will arrive on Tuesday and start taping and mudding the interior walls. We also started installing the vinyl siding on the outside and will start on the storage shed tomorrow.

The house is a four-bedroom, two bath house and the recipients have been working along side of us. Tanya, the owner, has two boys who are real workers. We’ve enjoyed having them around as they pitch right in do any of the jobs we ask of them. The humidity has slowed several of us down. We have had pretty mild temperatures, but the stickiness gets to us! The daily shower really feels good when we get back to the coaches.

The team consists of eight coaches. Five of us have done prior builds, and the rest are “first-timers”. It’s a great group to work around and we don’t have any “slugs” to deal with. We know three of the team members from previous builds, so it’s much like a homecoming party. We are parked at the Fulton County Fairgrounds with 30-amp electric, water, and sewer hookups. The sewer makes life so much easier so we can take showers every day and do a small load of laundry when needed.

It’s going to be an enjoyable two weeks!

Sunday, August 9th

It has been a wonderfully rewarding two weeks and we have finished our work in Wauseon. The house was in the very first stages of completion when we arrived. We left the house nearly completed with a move-in date projected to be Sept. 15th. We finished putting up all the sheet rock, got in finished up and painted, finished the exterior vinyl siding and all the trim, put down laminate flooring, built a deck for the rear of the house, blew insulation into the roof, and finished a lot of the dirt moving for landscaping. I even had the opportunity to get a little “stick time” on a Bobcat to move and level the dirt around the house. We must have added another 10 pounds with all the good food we ate and the terrific meals that were served to us.

The down side was some expensive awning damage to the coach. We had a short thunderstorm come through on our first Sunday and it ripped our patio awning into two pieces. Carefree of Colorado, our awning manufacturer, uses cotton thread in their acrylic awnings. After a short period of time, the thread rots and the seams and selvages weaken. Our awning had a seam that ran through the middle of the awning. I was sitting inside the coach and watched the seam rip wide open and split the awning into two sections. We were able to roll the awning up on the tube to the travel position and can now drive with it until we get it replaced. Then, a week later, I was sitting in my recliner and heard this “sproing” sound. It was the slide-out awnings spring breaking. I was able to phone Shade Pros in San Diego and get them to overnight a new spring. The spring cost $77 and the freight was $100!!!! But we were able to replace the spring and get it all back to normal ourselves. My thanks to David Piper for all his help in getting the repairs accomplished!

Our plans were to leave Wauseon on Friday morning and drive to South Bend for the night, then on to Chicago. We started working on the slide-out awning and didn’t finish until about 2:30. We were tired, sweaty, and decided to stay another night, have a few beers with the guys, and enjoy a seafood buffet. We were up early on Saturday morning and departed Wauseon on Saturday morning by 7AM and drove all the way to Downers Grove, IL to spend a night with my 90-year-old Uncle Bill Moore and his wife. Cousin Pat came down with husband, Mike, and we enjoyed an Italian dinner with them. It had been almost 20 years since we had seen Pat & Mike, and at least 17 years since we had seen Uncle Bill. We had a great time with all of them in spite of the horrendous heat we are enduring. We were able to park the coach right on the property where Uncle Bill lives, but no hook-ups. The generator has been running continuously with the air conditioning pumping out dry, cool air. This has been a real test for our generator, but it’s working flawlessly.

The drive from Wauseon was actually enjoyable. We avoided the Ohio Turnpike (where they weigh all vehicles) and drove on US-20. It meant going through some small towns, but the flat terrain across Ohio and Indiana was full of corn and bean fields. The houses all look so manicured and neat. As we drove through central Indiana we observed the farms that were Amish dwellings with no electrical wires and horse and buggy barns. We saw several buggies moving along the shoulder of the highway pulled by horses that were nearly running. We had to drive through light rain showers and most of the buggies were covered. It was quite a contradiction of basic living and technology.

We will spend one night in Chicago and then drive about 75 miles north to Kenosha, WI to see Mary Anderson, cousin Paul’s wife. We haven’t seen her for over four years since Paul passed away in Oregon. Our plan is to be there for two nights, Davenport-area for two nights, and on to Waterloo, Ft. Dodge, and Lemars, IA.

Tuesday night, August 11th

We’re on our return trip to Hart Ranch and sorry we aren’t spending more time at each stop. We arrived in Chicago (Downers Grove) and pulled in to the retirement community where my Uncle Bill Moore lives It’s a large retirement complex with duplexes and an apartment building with dining and meeting facilities. My Uncle lives in one of the terrific duplex buildings so they still have their independence, but can enjoy the prepared meals in the dining hall. They have a pavilion that is being upgraded with a parking lot that had several pieces of construction equipment parked there. Since the pavilion isn’t being used, Uncle Bill got permission for us to park our coach in the parking lot where we wouldn’t bother anybody and we could walk to Uncle Bill’s house. It was an absolutely perfect arrangement in spite of the unusual heat wave that necessitated our running the generator for almost 24 hours to keep the air conditioning pumping dry, cool air into the coach. We rarely run the generator for that long a time period, but it worked and we were very comfortable. At 3AM I got up and saw that the outside temperature was still 71 degrees! We had a delicious meal with Bill & Magee and their oldest daughter, cousin Pat & husband Mike. We had a wonderful reunion with all of them and thoroughly enjoyed their gracious hospitality.

Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast with Bill & Magee before we left at 10AM. I was trying to avoid the traffic on I-94 (a toll road) and took a lot of back streets to get north to Kenosha, WI. The drive was supposed to be only 75 miles, but it took nearly 4 hours! We had to get on I-94 at one point and it was stop-and-go traffic to the IL/WI border. We finally got off the interstate and drove the remaining distance on a WI state highway. Illinois is full of toll roads on the interstate system and it gets a little frustrating when you come to a toll booth that is unmanned and doesn’t give the amount of your toll with a motor home and car in tow. We have enough of Illinois toll roads for a while!

We arrived in Kenosha and pulled in front of Mary Anderson’s row of duplexes. We were able to park in her driveway without hanging over the curb line into the street. We were afraid that we might upset the local busybody from the condo association, but our coach was acceptable for two nights. Mary had an outlet for us and we plugged in to 15-amp electric. That is enough to keep the battery charged and we were able to open the windows each night for sleeping. Nancy got a kick out of Mary’s cat, Jack, and they seemed to tolerate each other for out time with her. Dinner was at Mary’s with her son, Tom, and his wife, Linda. I really enjoy Tom and Linda is a computer whiz.

On Monday we drove over to the local Italian drink supply house and purchased a selection of microbrews, some pasta, and a few special items for dinner. We then went to a Wal-Mart that is closing and had some pretty good deals on assorted closeouts. Following that we had lunch at a little bistro that was really tasty with special coffee, outstanding soups and sandwiches, and some unbelievable desserts. We went home for the rest of the day before a dinner of oven-baked chicken and sweet corn.

We were up early on Tuesday morning to prepare for our departure. We were able to leave Kenosha by 9:30AM and went directly west avoiding the I-94 hassle. We made our first stop at the Flying J in South Beloit and I attempted to stay clear of any more interstate highways. It didn’t work - I had to get on I-90 and pay a toll. We continued south to Hillsdale, IL and the Sunset Lakes RV Resort. It was a long day of driving and we were ready to stop for the night. We had been here several years ago, but it wasn’t familiar to either of us. We’ll be here for two nights and a chance to get rested up and clean up the coach with our 50-amp electric service. We are parked in the trees, but I can get satellite with my portable dish. That makes Dottie very happy - today is her birthday, so we had a wonderful steak dinner cooked on the BBQ. Tomorrow we’ll get laundry done and try to visit the John Deere Museum in Moline, IL

Thursday night, Aug. 13th

We had an enjoyable stay at the Sunset Lakes RV Resort in Hillsdale, IL. It’s about 10 miles east of the Quad Cities (Davenport, Moline, E. Moline, Bettendorf, and Rock Island - I don’t get it either - I thought “quad” meant four!) On Wednesday morning Dottie did some laundry while I did some cleaning around the coach. We were both done by noon, so we decided to go into Moline and see the John Deere Pavilion. It’s a huge museum with several examples of John Deere products. They have the largest combine with a 38’ head, a cane harvester, and a gigantic earth mover that fit Dottie perfectly (at least that is what the photo showed). After touring the heavy equipment, we hunted out the Bent River Brewing Company located right around the corner from John Deere. Both of us were thirsty, so we sampled their product and visited with the barmaid. When we were done there, we drove across the river to Davenport to seek out the Front Street Brewery. We had a bite to eat and sampled their beers while we were there. It was a great afternoon! On the way home we stopped at the local Super Wally and picked up some grocery items arriving at the coach by 6PM.

We had an appointment at the HWH factory in Moscow, IA for 8:15 on Thursday morning. I needed to get a new lexan cover for my leveling control pad. When the service tech got the coach up on the rack, he found the small compressor to be “fried”! What was going to be a reasonably inexpensive check-up turned out to be a major weight reduction of my wallet! Three hours later we were good to go and continued on our westward adventure to Hart Ranch.

On the road we found we have a window of opportunity to get my medical issue resolved if we can get back to San Diego earlier than we had planned. SO, our plans have changed once again, and we will be staying at Hart Ranch for only a week. We need to be on the road by the 28th to get back to Southern California. Flexibility is one of the virtues of this lifestyle, so we’re making our plans and adjusting our reservations to get back. It’s a disappointment to have to leave earlier than we had expected, but with health issues we decided there is a priority.

We are in Marshalltown, IA in a city park that is absolutely beautiful! We have 50-amp electric and a water spigot nearby in this heavily-treed, but peaceful little park. We’re happy with the air conditioner running and hoping for a cool night to open up the coach. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Rockwell City, IA and the city RV park. It has 10 sites with 30-amp electric, water, and sewer hookups. Plus, it’s only a 120-mile drive - a nice, easy, short driving day. The following day we’ll go to Lemars, IA for two nights and attend the Presbyterian Church that is served by our former interim minister from Rapid City. She’ll be surprised to see us and it will be fun to hear her preach again.

On Monday we’ll drive to Brookings, SD and the Sexauer City Park with RV hook-ups. Brookings is the home of SDSU - that’s South Dakota State University! It’s a neat little college town and we’ll spend two night there before going to Pierre for one night and on to Hart Ranch arriving on Thursday, a week from today. With a little luck I might be able to work a week and make up for the HWH expense we incurred.

Ah, it’s fun to be able to make and change plans like this!!!

2009-06-21T13:18:00.001-07:00

Where has the summer disappeared to? Here it is almost to July, the middle of the summer, and it seems to be rolling down so fast and vanishing! We are only days from our departure from Hart Ranch and the second half of our summer experience and it doesn’t seem possible that it is that time already. I have only four working days left before we spend some time preparing the coach for hitting the road and pulling out of South Dakota!

We have been continuously kept busy mowing, weed-eating, and trying to keep up with the weather that Mother Nature has provided us. We have had a few rainy days (with hail), several days with beautiful, sunny skies punctuated with an afternoon shower and complete clearing for the remainder of the evening. We have even had a few days with no rain at all! About three weeks ago I fertilized the front portion of the Center Court and I can truly see the difference between it and the unfertilized part. The grass is more green and lush than the unfertilized part. When the rain hits after a warm sunny day, you can almost hear the grass growing. And the parking areas and sites are requiring that we mow at least twice a week. We have six men working in Grounds on any given day - that’s less than last year. And all of us are busy with mowing, tree-trimming, etc. It’s has been a wonderful season, so far, and we have had a great crew to work with.

Dottie and I have been going every Sunday to the First Presbyterian Church and enjoying the fellowship we experience there. Rev. Bob Evans and wife, Gretchen, are an energetic couple with big ideas and outgoing personalities. Bob has managed to increase the number of younger folks in the congregation and has more things going on for the whole congregation to become involved. This coming weekend the State Presbytery will be meeting in Rapid City and First Presbyterian will be the host church. Over the winter the church purchased an older Bluebird 20-passenger bus. There aren’t many folks in the church with proper licenses to drive the bus. I inquired with the head of South Dakota driver’s licenses, our friend Larry Schuman, and he assured me that my commercial license is acceptable for driving the bus. So, I’ll be volunteering on Friday and Saturday driving the attendees to the church, lunch, and probably dinner in the bus. I plan to get some time to clean it up and check it out thoroughly before the weekend.

We have enjoyed the company of so many of our summer friends and are almost saddened to leave. We know that we’ll return on August 24th and probably stay for another month before returning to San Diego. Our travels will take us to Springfield, OH for the Monaco Pre-Rally where I am on the Parking Crew, Bowling Green, OH for the Family Motor Home Convention, Wauseon, OH for a two-week Habitat build, and on to Chicago to see my Mother’s brother. Then we’ll go to Kenosha, WI to see cousin Mary Anderson, and over to LeMars, IA to see a former Associate Pastor from First Presbyterian who has her own church now. Then we’ll take some time to see Brookings, Webster, Roscoe, and Mobridge, SD before returning to Hart Ranch. During that two-month trip, we hope to see some of our Monaco friends at the rallies and on the road.

Our coach is running great and we’ve had the opportunity to do some small fixes to some of our problem areas. Like a house, it seems that the little things never end. However, we’re ready to travel and get some more miles on the “old girl”.

2009-05-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

On Thursday morning, April 16th, we pulled out of the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park and headed west for West Memphis, AR and the Flying J. The freeways in Memphis are undergoing some construction, so we got a little vibrating/jolting as we drove west. When we arrived at the Flying J, we were able to get topped off and be on our way in minimum time. We left the freeways and started toward Greer’s Ferry on Arkansas highways. The drive was actually enjoyable with very little traffic and some beautiful sites of the various farmhouses and acreages.

As we got closer to Don & Vicki Leith’s lakefront house, we had to watch our instructions very carefully. Vicki had emailed me some accurate, detailed instructions and they took us right to the house. Our first impression was “Why would anybody want a house this big?”. It is a beautiful home designed with lots of interior open space and easily livable. There are many beautiful granite tabletops and a fantastic view of the lake. I mentioned that we were overdue to get the timing belt changed on our Kia, so Don & I jumped in his new, yellow Corvette and drove to the local garage to get an estimate. Jerrod, the young man who owns the shop, said he could do it for around $600 (not the $1200 I had been told in San Diego). So, I scheduled the car to go in on Monday for the work. In the meantime, Don & Vicki were gracious hosts and made sure we were comfortable with 50-amp electric, water, and a sewer hook-up. We had some wonderful meals, including the fantastic buffet supper at Heber Springs. That small (on the outside) restaurant was huge on the inside. Their buffet table was fantastic with a wide choice of tasty entrees and great desserts. Out Happy Hours at the Leith Castle were wonderful. I shared the growler of Scottish Ale with Don and Vicki prepared some wonderful meals while we were there.

On Tuesday morning I was hoping to have the car back from the garage, but things didn’t work out. We tried again on Wednesday and the work was completed by shortly after noon. When we got home with the car, we hooked everything up and prepared for a departure, in spite of Vicki’s encouraging us to stay another night. We had changed our plans and decided to bypass Branson with Springfield as our destination. Surprisingly we arrived in Springfield in only 3½ hours. We checked in to the Springfield Elks Lodge where we had a good 30-amp electric connection. We enjoyed their Wednesday night dinner before retiring.

Thursday morning we pulled out and headed for the Joplin, MO Flying J. We were able to dump our holding tanks and top off the fuel tank. Flying J is now back to allowing RVs to use the truck lanes for refueling. It makes things much easier as the fuel fill hoses are a larger diameter (can pump more fuel in less time) and they have an additional final fuel filter. We finished the refueling and pressed on to Parsons, KS and the Marvel City Park. When we arrived in Parsons, we found the city park and drove through it. It is a pretty park with over 30 RV sites with full hook-ups. It was only 12:30 so we decided to continue on to Wichita, another 130 miles. We arrived at the Wichita Elks Lodge about 3PM and hooked up to their new electric outlets and water hose. We have stayed here before, but they spent some money to get their electrical boxes fixed. It’s a struggling Lodge with a small membership, but they’re trying to have enough activities to keep the interest alive.

Once we were settled in, we drove over to the Wesley Hospital to see my cousin, Linda. She had brain surgery Sunday night to correct an aneurism. She is still unconscious and showing some small response, but not responding to much outside stimulus. It’s frustrating to just go in, try to say “Hello!”, attempt to talk to her, and not know if she’s hearing or recognizing us. We spent a couple of minutes in the room with her and left. After that, I needed a beer! We drove to the Granite City Food & beverage, a local microbrewery, and ordered a sampler of their beers ranging from the light wheat to a stout. We also had a delicious dinner and brought some home with us.

On Friday morning we took our time and returned to the hospital to visit Linda. Again, we only stayed for a couple of minutes and decided to find the Coleman Factory, Museum, and Outlet Store in downtown Wichita. It’s a fascinating collection of discounted prices for Coleman products and a museum that shows some of the “primitive products” of Coleman - things we used to have when we did the tent-camping thing. We followed that with a visit to the River City Brewing Co. brewpub and had lunch with another sampler of six brews. The food was great but we also brought some home for lunches in the next few days. This afternoon we drove over to the nearest Super Wally to get some groceries and prepare for our trip into Nebraska. There is a potluck at the Elks Lodge tonight, but we’ll eat dinner in the coach and go into the Lodge for an after-dinner drink. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Hebron, NE and the Riverside City Park with a stop in Salina, KS at the Flying J.

Sunday, April 26th

Well, this is a revision to my last Travelogue. Being in Wichita and having to see my cousin in a vegetative state from a brain aneurysm is a real downer. I wasn’t in much of a mood to write anything, but felt that I needed to jot down what I remembered from the last week. I really short-changed our week-long stay with Don & Vicki Leith. I owe it to them to add some details of our stay that made it so enjoyable.

Greers Ferry isn’t named after anybody, so the proper spelling is the way you see it now. It’s a small community that caters to a lot of summer visitors that spend their time there for the lake activities. We visited the local hardware and building supply store and found racks of bolts and nuts that can be bought separately, not in plastic bags.

Don’s (or is it Vicki’s) brand, new Corvette is a Velocity yellow color, not Baywatch yellow. It has an engine that will pin you to the back of your seat (if Don is driving). He likes big’n’fast, y’know!

We were taken on a couple of very interesting rides by the Leiths. One afternoon we drove over to the Natural Bridge and walked down to what was once an Indian hunting trail. The road to get there was NOT for a motor home! We took the walk and saw an old, Arkansas-style still in one of the old buildings. On the return trip, we stopped to pick up Don’s new car-hauler trailer. For some reason the seller supplies the trailer with used tires. You’d think that a new trailer would have new tires - not so. It saved him a few bucks, but seemed strange. One other morning we drove over to Heber Springs and saw the dam that creates the huge lake. It was the last thing that Pres. John F. Kennedy dedicated before his assassination. On the way home we stopped in the local grocery and were visited by one of the local Greers Ferry police officers to remind the driver that he was “hauling a__” through that school zone. It was a gentle reminder that the speeds are heavily enforced in these small towns. The officer’s uniform was a military fatigue uniform with the city patches, badge, and name tags. It was a step back in time!

Don & I had several evenings enjoying the flavor of hops and barley along with the Scottish Ale that I brought from Memphis. One afternoon I brought in the treasured bottle of white lightning that I’d been given in Preston, GA. We all had a shot of that hooch and then settled in to a pinball game. It was interesting to see how it affected our playing. We followed that with a shot of Platte Valley corn whiskey. Ahhh, guess we won’t have to worry about the fly bug going around now. That stuff will kill any viruses you might be carrying!!

And, of course, the fun of watching Nancy try to play with Vicki’s cat, Furby, was almost hilarious. They would get nose-to-nose, but just couldn’t quite get together to play. I’ll get some photos from Vicki’s collection and have them posted on our blog site.

We had a nest of baby birds in one of the planters on the patio. It was fun watching the parents bring some rather large flies back to the nest to feed the babies. They didn’t like us sitting out on the patio while they were feeding the kids, so we usually went inside to allow them some privacy.

There - that’s a lot more about a great week with the Leiths. Does them more justice than the last attempt at remembering all we did. It helps to have gotten a message from Vicki reminding me of all the things we did!!

We’re now in Hebron, NE at the Riverside City Park. We knew the weather was going to get interesting with this stalled cold front reaching from Oklahoma up to Wisconsin. We were awakened last night to the sound of hail landing on the roof of the coach. It only lasted about three minutes, but sure woke us up from a deep sleep. It was followed by about ten minutes of huge raindrops, and then it stopped. We didn’t hear anything else for the rest of the night.

We got up this morning and went to the First Presbyterian Church for their service. There were only 17 people in the service, but it was a nice service in a small town. We have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect today so we’re staying in the coach. There is no internet service with the cell phone; I have to go out to the highway where there’s an open wi-fi at the truck stop. Nebraska is covered by Alltel and Verizon hasn’t made the arrangements to use their data line service. Oh, well…

We’ll stay here another night and drive the 24 miles to Fairbury tomorrow and stay at their city park for two nights. Fairbury is a little bigger than Hebron and we’ll take a look at some of the sights there.

Tuesday, May 5th

We went to Fairbury on Monday and stayed in a pristine, little city park on the southwest side of town. It has over 40 sites with 30-amp electric and water. We parked in a section of the park where we could look out the front window and see two fishing lakes. We were the only ones in the park and we thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet. The weather was marginal and we experienced a few local thundershowers, but we have decided that we’ll be back to that park in the future.

Nebraska’s cell phone provider is Alltel. They are now owned by Verizon, but we are still in the Extended Network. As a result of that, I can’t send or receive email with my cell phone. We found the Fairbury city library was a wireless hotspot, so we were able to get email there. It’s has been a problem all week and is still creating a hassle for us in Milford.

On Wednesday morning we left Fairbury and drove in a light rain to Milford. We arrived at cousin Nancy Obermeyer’s home outside of Milford about 10:30. She had to work on Wednesday, so it gave us a chance to get the coach washed down and rest. When we did arrive I saw a strange car in the driveway and was concerned that we were arriving while Nancy had house guests. We walked in the door and saw Nancy’s daughter, Gretchen, and her husband and son from Ramona, CA! They had come to Nebraska for a family wedding on husband Mike’s side of the family. I haven’t seen Gretchen for almost twenty years and was quite a pleasant surprise.

On Friday we drove in to Lincoln to do some shopping at the Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Menard’s. We also had a small watchband repair to get done. On the way out of Lincoln we stopped at Lazlo’s Brew Pub and enjoyed a burger and some of the craft beer.

Saturday night we were at one of Nancy’s daughters for a fantastic prime rib meal. Nancy has four of her seven kids living in the local area so it was a terrific reunion with Gretchen here. On Sunday afternoon we were in Lincoln with another of Nancy’s daughters for another mid-day meal and get-together. It is such fun being a part of this family and seeing the interaction of all the kids, cousins, and grandkids.

On Monday Gretchen and her family left Milford at 7AM to fly back to California. Nancy, Dottie, and I ran some errands and then drove about 40 miles south to a junior high track meet to see some of Nancy’s grandkids. These kids start young and are staying busy all the way through their high school years. If it isn’t music or arts, they are involved in athletics. It keeps them all pretty occupied and in good shape.

Today we’ll take care of some things around Milford and then go to Lincoln again to get the watch, run some other errands and shop, and end up back in Milford this afternoon. We leave tomorrow morning and travel to Genoa for three days. Our plan is to be in Genoa, then to Burke, SD, and on to Rapid City. We hope to get there a day or so early and find a spot behind Shipwreck Lee’s to park the coach for a night or two. (hint, hint…can you handle us Sheri & “Wreck”?) Then we’ll check in to Hart Ranch on May 12th.

By then we’ll be back in Verizon territory and be able to get our emails on a regular basis.

Monday, May 11th

Greetings from Rapid City, SD!!!! We are parked behind the infamous Shipwreck Lee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill and enjoying the wonderful hospitality of our hosts, Lee & Sheri Havorka. We did arrive in Rapid City two days before our reservation at Hart Ranch and are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to be able to visit with “Wreck” & Sheri before the summer tourist season hits and buries them in work. Shipwreck Lee’s is due to open next week and we’ll be able to savor those delicious burgers and brews.

We left Milford on Wednesday, the 6th, after a wonderful week with cousin Nancy and all her kids. It was a lot of fun being included in the gatherings of these cousins and their kids. As we left, we encountered a few scattered showers toward Genoa. We got to Genoa, hooked up in the city park, and had the place all to ourselves. The City of Genoa has recently upgraded the RV sites with another 30-amp electric box and another water spigot. Plus all the sites have a fresh covering of new gravel. We were very comfortable for our three days there.

Cousin Ike and I were able to spend some treasured time together working in his yard, measuring a plot of farm land for a pivot irrigation system, and shopping in Columbus (22 miles east of Genoa). We visited the Gottburg Brewing Co. in Columbus where they brew some tasty beers and the best root beer you’ve ever sipped. Our time in Genoa was way too short as Ike and I enjoy sharing time together getting into all kinds of discussions working on small projects. We were able to enjoy the small-town restaurants in Genoa and see some old friends that we only get to see once a year.

On Saturday morning we pulled out of Genoa and changed our plans a bit. We decided to go north to Neligh and turn west on US-275/20. We drove west through the Sand Hills and stopped at Cody, NE for the night. Cody is a small town that can easily be missed if you blink your eyes, but it has a great little city park with four hookup sites for RVs. We spent a very quiet night before we proceeded on to Chadron, NE for a quick stop at the Super Wal-Mart. Another 90 miles had us in Rapid City by 2PM. Lee & Shari were waiting for us and we had a terrific reunion with them.

We drove down to Hart Ranch on Sunday afternoon to pick up our mail and see how things looked. Everybody at the park has a smile on their face and it’s very obvious that the mood has changed around the park. Kevin Schlecter, our Maintenance Manager last year, is now the Park Manager and has done some great things with personnel attitude. It really shows in the positive outlook shown by the employees that are already there.

I was a bit apprehensive about working this summer since we probably won’t be there for the whole summer. Our plans are to go to Bowling Green, OH in July for the big FMCA Convention followed by a possible HfH Build in Wauseon, OH. The park is expecting me to once again handle the care and grooming of the Center Court, and I’m anxiously looking forward to start working on Wednesday. I plan to go to the Tuesday morning Rushmore Rotary meeting and then get moved down to the park and settled in for the summer. It’s good to be back “home” and see a lot of old friends from Hart Ranch!

2009-04-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Monday night, April 13th

It has been a week since I sent out the last Travelogue. As mentioned in the last issue, the weather skunked us out on Sunday and Monday. The coach can get REAL small with two rainy days and two of us searching for things to do to fight the boredom. Tuesday was a gorgeous day with warm temperatures and lots of sun. We finished got lots of things completed on the house.

Mom’s Place has been our lunch and dinner eatery for last week. We lost a couple of the folks who had to leave, but the hearty ones endured and have stayed for an extra week to get as much done as possible. The roof is almost completed with all the shingles installed. The hip roof over the front porch was a special challenge that wasn’t in the plans. Since the truss company sent a small hip roof, we decided to put it on and dress up the front entryway. Shingling that hip roof was a real challenge - for this beginner roofer. Thank Heavens for Fred’s patience and teaching - I am almost a roofer now! The hardyboard siding is on all sides of the house and we got a good start at installing the plastic soffets and trim. It really looks like a house now.

On Wednesday we decided that we wanted a change from Mom’s Place and drove to Forsythe’s, a restaurant in downtown Americus that served Michelob Amber Bock by the pitcher. That was a pleasant surprise as we have been in a dry county for the past three weeks and Fred and I shared that pitcher. Dottie and I had a pizza that really hit the spot. When we left the restaurant, we drove to the Super Wal-Mart and stocked up on some needed groceries and supplies. Then we stopped at the Wendy’s for a couple of freezes. We returned to the coach by 8:45, got the food stored, and crashed. Like most of the nights we’ve been here, Thursday morning came too early. There are only 6 of us left to do the final effort, and all of us are tired and feeling the minor pains.

Terry Adams, owner of the IGA and resident Harley owner, invited Dottie and me to join his Thursday night riding buddies and go to the Back Porch for the seafood buffet. He even offered me a motorcycle to ride. I was all ready to go after work, but once I got a hot shower, I realized that I was physically beaten and decided to pass on the ride for a quiet evening in the coach with leftovers. Seems like an intelligent decision in spite of my thrill at the thought of a motorcycle ride. Oh, well…

Friday morning we watched the remaining three coaches prepare for departure. They all left at different times, but we were the only coach staying for another night. It was very quiet on Friday afternoon when we received a phone call from Dave Ostrander. He was concerned for our safety as he had been watching the approaching weather that was moving east from the Mississippi area. We began to watch The Weather Channel and followed the severe weather as it moved toward us. There were two huge cells that had tornado potential and we followed them as they continued to Columbus, GA, about 40 miles from us. I finally went to bed with my weather radio in the windowsill. It continued to alert every half hour until almost 2AM. Little did we realize that the tornado-like winds were just north and just south of our location.

On Saturday morning we awoke to a quiet, sunny day. We packed and secured the coach and proceeded westbound out of Preston. By the time we got to the Ft. Benning area, we began to see the havoc of the previous night. Tree limbs and branches were all over the roadway. Highway crews were out cleaning the debris off the roads. The highway was clear, but you could see the effects of the wind and the trees that appeared to be snapped off halfway up their trunks. We saw lots of uprooted trees and trunks that were broken about twenty feet in the air. We realized how lucky we were to not have any damage to us or the coach.

We arrived in Selma around 2:30PM and drove through the old downtown area. The changes from 42 years ago were amazing. We found the Elks Lodge and got settled in for the night. Allan Gaston, the Lodge Secretary, met us and found an electrical outlet at the rear of the building for a 20-amp hook-up. We decided to have supper at The Tally Ho, an old restaurant that I remember from my days in the Air Force at Craig AFB. We drove to the restaurant, sat in the old bar, and had a drink. The current owner of The Tally Ho, Bob Kelly, is a Selma Rotarian and a Past District Governor. I had an enjoyable chat with him about Rotary issues and their District’s RYLA camp. We met Dottie’s long-time friend, Garnett Stancil, for a delicious, quiet steak dinner. When we were through, we took Garnett back to the coach to see it and let Nancy have a short walk. Then we went out to Garnett’s house and visited for about an hour. When we returned to the Lodge, we went in for a drink and endured the smoke-filled bar. We were finally in bed by 10.

Sunday morning, Easter morning, we got up, drove to a Mr. Waffle for breakfast, and headed north out of town. The smaller back roads of any state are the most enjoyable and Alabama’s roads are no different. We savored the views of the greenery, the light traffic, and the peacefulness of the slower highways. We finally got to I-65 and drove north through Birmingham. I recall the stories of the teeth-shattering ride on I-10 through Louisiana, Birmingham is the WORST interstate highway I have driven. There is a lot of construction and roads vibrate the coach and passengers to near insanity! Even at the slower speeds I drive it was extremely uncomfortable. We stopped north of town (after missing the turn-off due to lousy roadway marking in the construction zone) at the Flying J to dump our holding tanks and top off the fuel tank. This Flying J is an exceptional one in that the RV lanes are very well organized and easy to reach. Each lane has a dump station, a fuel pump, and room to turn to exit the lane.

We continued north and watched the clouds slowly move in from the east. By the time we turned off the interstate at Cullman, the sky was almost overcast. We drove the next 50 miles hoping to beat the rain. We pulled up in front of Kathy Johnson’s place in Leighton, AL and unhooked the car. I had to “thread the needle” to get the coach backed onto her driveway, but it all worked. We’re here for three nights and a chance to visit with her. Dottie and Kathy grew up together and we have kept in touch with her all these years. Tow years ago (to the day) we visited Kathy and Wayne and had a wonderful time with them at two of the nearby Thousand Trails parks.

While Kathy and Dottie do some running around and playing together, I have a short list of things to do here that will hopefully help Kathy out. We will leave here on Wednesday and drive 150 miles to Memphis and the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park, then to Greer’s Ferry Lake, AR for three long-awaited nights with Don & Vicki Leith at their new home. Our slight change in plans is to enable us to go to Huntsville on Tuesday to see the Space Museum. While we’re this close, we’d better take advantage of the opportunity to visit it.

Wednesday, April 15th

Our original plans were to stay only two nights with Kathy Johnson and move up to the Thousand Trails park in southwest Tennessee. However, as we sat around sipping some good stiff drinks, we decided to accept Kathy’s invitation to stay a third night. That way we could all go to Huntsville on Tuesday and visit the Redstone Arsenal and the Huntsville space and Rocket Museum. Kathy had never been there and it seemed like a great opportunity to see a very impressive museum with some interesting history. As many of you know, I’m not very big on museums - especially those that charge a high admission price. This one is high, but worth every penny! Kathy drove us over in her car and we spent the most of the morning walking around the place. It’s an impressive array of rockets and technology that makes a person realize the hazards of space. To see all the rockets up close and personal is awesome, yet scary. All of the machined parts and the rivets that make up the majority of the manned missions cause one to stop and think about the risks that the astronauts have endured during those space flights. There are several “hands-on” simulators that give you the sensation of no-gravity flights. It was a wonderful day walking among the history of NASA and our astronauts.

When we had finally seen all that we could, we found a Landry’s Restaurant and had a bite to eat. The lunch was large and the food was scrumptious! We drove back to Leighton and settled in for a quiet night of Dancing with the Stars.

On Wednesday morning Dottie and I were up early and getting ready to head west. I managed to get the coach out of the driveway with no damage, hooked up the car behind us, and we left about 9:30. We had an overcast day of driving to Memphis and pulled in to the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park. It’s located about two blocks south of Graceland. Graceland has no attraction for us, but the traffic was horrible around the tourist trap. Once we checked in we got parked and headed out to see Memphis.

As many of you know, I enjoy eating (or drinking) my way across the country. My microbrewery guide book listed Boscos as a local brewpub. We plugged it in to our GPS and went in search of it. It’s a typical small brewpub that serves food and has a selection of eight microbrews. I sampled a couple of them and bought a half-gallon growler of their Scottish ale to share with friends. When we finished at Boscos, we drove to the old downtown area of Memphis and looked for Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. I have seen this eatery on The Travel Channel. It was described as the best fried chicken in the country. Well, we have confirmed the evaluation. We had to wait for almost 20 minutes for the dinner to be prepared. We bought an 8-piece dinner to go and brought it back to the coach. It was fabulous! It is spicy enough to make your lips tingle and cooked to a golden, crispy brown. Combined with cole slaw, baked beans, and bread it made a wonderful dinner for the two of us.

We finished dinner, made a quick run to Wal-Mart and ATM, and finished the evening with the TV. We anticipate an enjoyable trip to Greer’s Ferry Lake to see Don & Vicki Leith.

2009-04-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 28th

We started on Monday morning gathering equipment and getting the supplies ready. The interior walls had been assembled and were lying on their sides on the concrete pad. We began by getting the exterior walls erected and then moved to the interior walls. By Thursday afternoon we had all the walls erected and almost all of the ceiling trusses on the roof and nailed down. Weather had been wonderful all week, but on Thursday we started getting a light shower. We had to shut down our work early on Thursday when the rains became too uncomfortable. We haven’t been able to get back to work since then.

Each day we had somebody in the community preparing and serving us lunch. Every meal has been fantastic! This looks like it’s going to be a “20-lb. build” - we’ll add 20 lbs. to our weight before it’s over. The people here are the most generous folks I’ve ever experienced. If we needed anything, it was immediately take care of. We’ve met some wonderful local folks and they just can’t do enough for us. My only regret is that we’ll probably leave the house before we’ve finished. The goal is to get the house exterior completed and waterproof, but the interior won’t be done. Habitat will have to get some more folks in to do the finishing on the interior.

Several of our evening meals were prepared and served to us in the Fellowship Hall of the Baptist Church. On Thursday night we were going to be on our own, but Terry Adams, the IGA store owner, invited us to join him for dinner in Shellman, about 25 miles south of here. The Back Porch Restaurant has a Thursday night seafood buffet and that small town was packed with cars that drive for miles for that special Thursday event. On Saturday is a special event called “Holy Smoke”, a church BBQ competition. It’s supposed to start about 1PM with preparing the food for the competition and the actual meal will be around 5:30PM. During the prep time will be gospel music singing and socializing. With the weather we’re experiencing right now, it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to go.

Our weather has been interesting, to say the least. About 9:30 this morning we were under a tornado warning. We could sit in the coach and watch the local Columbus, GA TV station with some excellent weather coverage. We could see the radar images of the severe weather cell pass over Preston and see and feel the winds and rain rock the coach. The tornado warning passed and we didn’t have any adverse weather from it. We’re hoping that the weather will clear up this afternoon and maybe on Monday we’ll be able to hit the house hard and get nearly caught up. Several of us were going to get some work done this morning but the weather aced us out.

Yesterday Dottie and I drove to Albany, about 40 miles south of us, to so some shopping at Sam’s Club and the Super Wal-Mart. While we were gone the rains came and we were told about the heavy downpour by the rest of the folks. The ground can only absorb so much water and there are pools on our parking area. We are still in the best spot on the parking area as we are the highest and close to the paved area if we have to leave. So far, there’s been no reason to worry and we’re sitting in good shape.

I have to admit that it was interesting sitting through the tornado warning. We had our side awnings down but I decided not to attempt to raise the awnings and get soaked with the downpour. We sure hope this will clear up, if only for a few days, so we can get some more work done on the house. We have a great group of folks we’re working with and they make the effort worth it all.

On a side note - Terry Adams has a close friend of the family that is a single girl who owns a Harley. Thursday night at dinner she offered to let me ride her bike and take a Sunday afternoon ride with Terry and his riding buddies. We are all invited to Terry‘s house on Sunday afternoon for a good, old Southern boil. She will be doing much of the cooking for the boil and was so generous to offer her motorcycle for a short ride with Terry. I just couldn’t turn down that offer! Terry emphasized that she was serious with that offer and he’d make it a short ride with “the guys” before supper.

It’s 11AM here and we’re watching the TV and the West Coast channels on the satellite (where it’s 8AM) and seeing the beautiful weather. Hope you all enjoy it - we’re missing the sunshine!!

Wednesday morning, April 1st

Wednesday morning and we’ve been skunked again by the rain! The break is almost welcome, but we aren’t able to get the house completed. We have decided to extend our stay here for another week to get as much done as possible.

On Sunday we went to the Preston Baptist Church for Sunday service. It was an 11:00 service and we came back to the coach for a light lunch. We didn’t want to eat too much as we had been invited to Terry Adams’ house for a low-country boil for supper. We both had the opportunity to get a short nap before we headed out to Terry’s at 4PM. Terry and Polly live about 3.2 miles west of Preston on a rural acreage. Their house is on a slight hill and has a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. He designed and built the house himself. It a big, tri-level home with a two-stall attached garage. Ms. Mona, Polly’s long-time friend, lives with them and does a lot of the cooking. She was in the garage monitoring the low-country boil. Terry also has a barn/garage that’s large enough to house his motor home and nine Harleys. His riding buddies keep their bikes in the garage out of the weather. He has a full tool shop in the garage and room on the end for a garden tractor with all the accessories.

Ms. Mona was in the garage preparing supper and explained the low-country boil to me. She starts with a large pot (much like a turkey deep fryer) and adds the potatoes and spices. Then goes the onions, corn, sausages, carrots, and finally the shrimp. When it gets cooked, the water is drained off and the meal is served right out of the pot. You can’t imagine the fantastic taste of that food! Polly finished the supper with two terrific dessert dishes and coffee. Of course, sweet tea is the drink of choice in the South.

Before we ate, Terry said “Mr. Lew, let’s go for a ride!” I have difficulty getting used to being referred to as Mr. Lew, but that’s the way Southerners refer to somebody older than themselves. We walked down to the garage/barn and he opened the door. Inside was the Harleys, all parked in a row. Terry owns three Harleys and one Yamaha. The remainder of the bikes belong to his riding friends. He pointed out Ms. Mona’s bike and then offered one of his for the ride. Terry has a 2009 HD Ultra Classic full dress motorcycle, blue, with all the chrome and accessories. He offered to let me ride his new bike and he’d take one of the others. I took him up on his offer and we headed out. It’s been 7 years since I was on a motorcycle and it took a couple of miles for me to get the feel of it again. His bike is so smooth and comfortable and I was nervous about riding such a great bike. We drove back to the coaches so I could get my camera, and he offered a longer way back to his house. I led the way to the coaches, but he took the lead on the return trip. It was fantastic!! He told me he and Polly would come by later in the week and steal me away from the build for short evening ride. Wow!!!!

When we got back to his house, we ate the supper that Ms. Mona had prepared. By 7PM we all left and went back to the coaches. We knew we had a good work day in store for Monday and Dottie and I wanted to see some of the Sunday night TV shows.

Monday morning was beautiful and we got a lot done on the house. We managed to get most of the roof trusses up and nailed down. Monday night supper was at Mom’s and was a cube steak dinner. As always, the food was home-cooked good and plentiful.

Tuesday we awoke to sun and got started on the remainder of the roof trusses. Once we got all of them in place, we made sure the house was squared and started on the OSB roofing boards. We almost got one side completed and had to break for lunch. Our noon meals are prepared everyday by somebody in the community, so we can’t pass up the meal. We should have skipped lunch because the rain started about 1:30 and started to pour. We had to get everybody off the roof because the boards get slippery when they get wet. We secured everything and returned to our coaches. The rest of the day was lost to wet weather. We had a hamburger and hot dog supper at the Baptist church.
Wednesday morning we couldn’t start work because of standing water and wet wood. We’ll try after lunch to see if we can’t get the remainder of the roof covered and possibly roofing paper on the boards. This week doesn’t look great for the rainy weather, so we’ll need the extra time next week to finish our work.

Many of us are able to stay next week to get the exterior completed. Some of the folks have prior commitments and can’t stay, but it looks like we’ll have some of the folks from the other build team from Americus joining us for the next week. They completed their build and have offered to join us to complete our house. The town has already told us they will take care of us as long as we stay. Our parking is costing us nothing and they are providing a once-a-week dump service for our holding tanks. Things just can’t get much better with the graciousness and hospitality that has been shown to us. It will be a pleasure to stay and get this project completed!

Friday, April 3rd

Wednesday morning was miserable weather with the rain and wind. But by noon the skies had started to clear and we decided to give it a try. We went to the job site right after lunch and were able to finish nailing down the remaining OSB boards and got most of the roofing paper nailed down. By 4:30 we had it all completed with the exception of a small hole that we used to climb off the roof. And the skies started to open up again!

It rained all night and all day on Thursday. We couldn’t leave the motor home with out getting wet. Our parking area was beginning to look like a little lake with all the standing water. We managed to get up to the Baptist Church for lunch and again for dinner that was provided by Fred O’Donnell, our Team Leader. He had purchased some steaks and had marinated them with Jack Daniels (no alcohol) marinade that was outstanding! It’s a Wal-Mart item and makes meat marinating so simple and tasty. Several of us took our BBQ grills up to the church to cook the meat and we had guests from the Americus Build Team. The meals of steaks, baked potatoes, Texas toast, sweet corn, and drinks were a special meal. Once again sweet tea was served and a hit. We all went to bed on Thursday night with full stomachs.

Friday morning was a beautiful, sunny morning that meant a full day of work. We have started nailing the hardy board siding and the shingles on the roof. I was working on the shingle detail - now I know why you never see any old guys doing the shingling! It’s always the young guys that can bend over and nail as they apply the rows of shingles. Of course, they also use nail guns! We were nailing the individual shingles with galvanized roofing nails. I think I have found some new muscles that I haven’t used for years. My body aches and the muscles are screaming at me! I sure wish we had a hot tub available on nights like this!

For lunch we drove over to Plains to the Mom’s Kitchen there. The New Horizons HfH affiliate supplied lunch for us and it was absolutely delicious. Mom’s had a cafeteria line, so we could choose between chicken, ribs, catfish, vegetables, and dessert - with sweet tea. I had the baked chicken, a scrumptious sweet potato dish, bean’s’rice, and a piece of sweet potato pie for dessert. It was a fantastic meal and none of us wanted to go back to work after that feed. We returned anyway and pushed ourselves to do as much as possible while the weather cooperated.

We plan to work on Saturday since the weather forecast calls for a dry night tonight. But Saturday night the rains are coming again and lasting through Sunday and Monday. We may have good weather again on Tuesday, so we’re hoping to get a lot accomplished tomorrow.

2009-03-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in Preston, GA and are parked at the old school with 30-amp electric, a nearby fresh water spigot, and backed right up to a sewer cleanout. We were the first ones to arrive, so I got a prime piece of real estate for our parking place.

The drive up from Lake City was a pleasant drive with comfortable temperatures the whole way. We stopped right across the state line on Georgia at the Flying J. Diesel fuel was $1.90/gallon and we also topped of the propane tank.

As we continued north on I-75, we saw a lot of traffic go around us since I was driving at a steady 55mph. When we got to Tifton, we turned off the interstate and took US and state highways to Albany and north to Americus. We found a Wachovia Bank where Dottie got some money from the ATM and we visited the local Super Wal-Mart. There is also a Lowe’s there so we can get some supplies for any modifications I may want to make to the coach.

We drove through Plains where everything is labeled to recognize the Home of Jimmy Carter, the 39th President. This area of the country is NOT affluent, and the homes and mobile homes along the highway tell the story of the economy of these counties. Preston was at one time the poorest county in the USA. There are only 2500 people in the county with about 60% Caucasian. We got parked at the old school, which is being renovated for the use of County offices.

Our parking was originally to be on an asphalt parking lot, but there is some event in the next two weeks, so we have been moved to a grassy area backed up to a building. The 30-amp electric boxes were just being installed as we arrived. They are plumbed off an air conditioner circuit breaker and we’re getting strong 122 volt, 30-amp electricity. I have to stretch my 100’ garden hose out to a spigot but it will reach easily and I can fill the fresh water tank.

Moreover, I’m parked right in front of a sewer cleanout so I can drain my gray water tank each day. The local County Commissioner has stated that he doesn’t want any of our water hitting the ground. Obviously, he’s not “RV-savvy”.

We have met several folks who drove by last night and just stopped to welcome us to Webster County. Preston has a Baptist and a Methodist church. There is Mom’s Restaurant, an IGA grocery store, and a convenience store/gas station. Mom’s Restaurant was so popular with Jimmy Cater that he talked them in to opening a store in Plains, seven miles east of here. We met Terry Allen, the grocer, when he drove in to introduce himself and returned later on his Harley to invite us to join him and several of his friends for a Thursday night motorcycle dinner ride - boy, was that tempting! We had already started cooking a chicken on the BBQ, so we sadly declined the invite. We were also visited by the Baptist minister and his wife. They have offered the facilities in their church for anything we might need. It has been an experience getting to see all these folks who are just downright hospitable. They are truly appreciative of the efforts we’ll be making to get this first house built for the New Horizons affiliate of HfH.

On Friday morning we drove over to Mom’s Restaurant for breakfast. I had a sausage & cheese omelet, biscuits, and grits for $3.50. About noon the first of the arrivals started showing up. By evening there were five coaches parked, and on Saturday we expect another five coaches to arrive. Dottie and I are the kids of the group; most of the others are noticeably more “mature”. We have seen the build site and the walls are waiting to be erected and supplies are ready to be opened. We will have a groundbreaking ceremony at 3PM on Sunday followed by a dedication dinner on Sunday night. Monday morning we’ll start swinging hammers.

Friday night seven of us walked to Mom’s for dinner. Dottie and I had a catfish dinner for $6.50. It included three pieces of catfish, hush puppies, onion rings, and cole slaw. It looks like we’ll be eating several meals at Mom’s in the next two weeks.

On Saturday morning we waited for the other coaches to arrive. There were four that had indicated they would arrive so we got to know the others in the group and sat around under some shade trees socializing. By 2PM the remainder of the coaches had made their way to the parking lot and were getting settled in. Some went back to Plains for some peanut ice cream and some drove around the town to look. There’s not a lot to see as the downtown is only 3-4 blocks long. Many of them decided to go to Mom’s again tonight, but we have some food at the coach and we’d cook something here.

This county is a dry county so there is not much tolerance for alcohol. I can drink a beer near the coach or have a glass of wine with dinner, but there is no liquor sold in the stores. We are going to support the Baptist church on Sunday - the pastor was one of the big supporters of this Build and one of the reasons we are here. He is a friendly sort of guy and we want to give him all the help we can. He has given the Team Leader a key to their Fellowship Hall with bathrooms and showers. There will be several of our meals that will be served in the church Hall and we’ll try to attend his service on Sunday morning. After church we’ll probably all go to Plains and have lunch at Mom’s Café there. It’s rumored that we may even see Jimmy Carter as he sometimes frequents the café and may even serve meals to some of the patrons.

Sunday morning most of us went to the Preston Baptist Church for services at 11AM. It was an enjoyable service and everybody was outgoing and friendly. We walked back to the coaches and had a quick lunch, relaxed, and even took a short nap. At 6PM we all met at the build site for the dedication ceremony and met several of the New Horizons HfH Affiliate staffers. It was a short dedication service with a traditional groundbreaking ceremony. Afterward we walked to the church fellowship hall for supper. You should have seen the spread of food! There was all the usual southern fried foods that you could imagine. The tables were loaded with food that had been brought from home. And the dessert table was something to die for! We did all we could to be fair and give everything a taste. We also received a goody bag with a cap, t-shirt, coffee cup, pen, and a flashlight. It was a pleasant surprise gift bag with things to remember this build.

We start at 8AM sharp on Monday at the build site. The day starts with a short devotional followed by raising the walls and getting the house framed. Fred O’Donnell, the Team Leader, will be a task master, but fun to work with. Dottie and I are both looking forward to this build.

2009-03-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 18th

We moved to the Rally site and parked with the rest of the early arriving staff. The Parking Crew was a smaller group of fellows and a tighter bunch. We all enjoyed each other’s company and had a great time marking out the parking spots. Each night we usually drove in to town and ate as a group. The first night was Southern-style BBQ; the next night was Chinese buffet, etc. All these outings help to add inches to the waist and lbs. to the weight. But the company was extremely enjoyable! On Saturday the first of the Volunteers began to arrive. Only 30 or so were expected and we parked less than that; several decided to remain in the RV park. To get 30-amp electric hook-ups at the Rally site the cost was $20/night. The RV park was only $15/night for 50-amp electric, water, and sewer plus a strong wi-fi signal!

On Sunday, the early arrival date for the Rally participants, we parked almost 220 coaches. There were just under 300 coaches that had pre-registered, so most of our work was completed on Sunday. We had a very slow day on Monday, and Tuesday was almost nothing. We had the privilege of seeing Page Robertson, the Monaco Rally King, at the Rally. Page has been with Monaco for most of his working life. He has officially retired as of February and came as a member of Monaco International. We also saw Mike Snell, Vice President of Sales, and April Klein, Vice President of Technical Support. April has always been one of my favorites and was noticeably impacted by the massive terminations Monaco had to endure. We went to her Service Seminar on Thursday where she and Brett Howard, Service Manager of the Wildwood, FL Service Center led a discussion on problems with the coaches and how to solve them. One of the biggest answers to most of the problems is customers helping customers through the email groups. I’ve noticed a lot more activity on the two groups in the last three weeks, so the message came through. There were a few folks that just didn‘t show at the Rally because there were no Service Techs in attendance. Many folks were hoping that some of the Techs would come anyway and charge a flat rate to fix items on coaches. There was a lot of talk about assisting them with their expenses at the next Rally in Springfield, OH in July.

Each day there was a “keg party” by the new display coaches from 3:15 to 4:15, followed by the catered dinner each night. Monaco brought some of their remaining new coaches from the Oregon factory, and Lazy Days from Seffner, FL brought some of their coaches. I didn’t hear how many coaches were sold, but most of them would have been without any factory warranty, just the component warranties. We even made an offer on a new Dynasty that was absolutely ridiculous and the salesman from Paul Evert in Fresno tried to make the numbers work. He quietly approached me on Thursday evening and told me he just couldn’t make it all work. We were relieved, but expected that they would have needed to work miracles to make it happen.

Our meals were wonderful and plentiful! At 5PM the doors would open and we could go to the dining hall for Happy Hour. The open bar was accompanied by a salad bar, so there was almost as much eating as drinking. The salad bars are the best thing that’s happened at these Rallies! It gives folks something to munch on and keeps the alcohol consumption much lower. Besides, a plate full of rabbit food only satisfies your appetite for 20 minutes or so, and then you’re ready for the main meal. We had entertainment each night after the meals. Tuesday night was a comedian that rode the fence-line between hilarious and obscene, but never crossed the line. He was a real hoot and had all of us sore from laughing. Wednesday night we were entertained by a Canadian guy wearing a kilt. We didn’t stay very long, but heard that he got better as the night progressed. Thursday night was The Diamonds, and group of 50’s and 60’s era songs that had us dancing and toe tapping. Friday’s entertainment was the U.S. Marine Corps Band. We had to leave Friday morning, so missed that last night.

It was a great Rally and gave us the chance to see some old friends from the East Coast that we hadn’t seen for a couple of years.

On Friday morning we pulled out of our parking place right after breakfast and headed south to Melbourne, FL. My brother’s three kids were all going to be home - two on Spring Break from out-of-town colleges. Bill and Lane were entertaining seven of their daughter’s friends that came to Melbourne with her. We wanted to get to Melbourne in time for a band competition that the youngest son, Schuyler, was participating in. We drove down I-75 to the Florida Turnpike, through Orlando, and to Melbourne. It was a 326-mile drive, much longer than I care for. In spite of the long distance, it was worth the effort to see all those kids. We pulled up to the front of Bill’s house about 3PM. He lives in a restricted neighborhood, so our coach made an impression on the neighbors as we navigated the narrow streets to his house. We said our “Hellos” and got the plans for the next few days. Then we moved the coach over to the Melbourne Elks Lodge, about 5 miles away. There we got settled in with 20-amp electric hook-ups. There was another coach there so we made the best of the limited parking space.

We went back to Bill’s for hamburgers and prepared for the trip to the school where the competition was to be located. We saw a couple of schools play and enjoyed the music. With all the cutbacks in California and music being one of them, it was refreshing to hear these high school kids with so much musical talent play some renditions that were truly moving. It was almost 9:30 before we left and then we drove to Del’s Freeze, a popular ice cream spot that serves some of the best frozen dessert I’ve tasted. The family returned home and we drove back to the coach.

On Saturday morning we took our sweet time getting up and going. We finally went over to Bill’s where we loaded in to cars for a trip to Orlando and the Florida Mall. Bill had made arrangements for dinner at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant that was outstanding. There were 12 of us sitting around a circular table and the food was served family style on the circular rotating inner table. It was a meal to remember! After over-eating, we all walked around the Mall for about an hour and gave everybody an opportunity to spend some more money. We loaded back into the cars and returned home arriving at the coach by around 11PM. Nancy was really glad to see us!

Sunday morning we attended church at Bill’s Palmdale Presbyterian Church and met several of his parishioners. We went over to his house after church for a light sandwich and to watch all the kids prepare for their flights back to school. We returned to the coach early to watch some TV and rest. At 7:30 drove back down to Del’s for an ice cream and to watch the shuttle launch. The sun had already set over the horizon, but the contrail left by the booster rockets was lit up in bright oranges and yellows from the setting sun. It was a spectacular sight to see! We watched in awe as the shuttle climbed up and then the booster rockets broke loose and began to fall back. Their engines were still burning for most of the way down as we saw them disappear below the eastern horizon.

Monday and Tuesday were days to catch up on chores around the coach. Bill had to be out of town, but Lane cooked dinner for us both nights. Tuesday was a St. Patrick’s meal of corned beef and cabbage. Excellent meals, warm hospitality, and the fun of spending time with family. The weather was very humid - at least for what we’re used to. Our electric wasn’t strong enough to run an air conditioner, but we kept fans going all the time. Nighttime temps got low enough for a light blanket, but daytime temps were in the low 80’s. We desert rats just aren’t used to this energy-draining humidity, and we both look forward to returning to our native weather.

This part of the trip has been wonderful! In spite of the terrible humidity, we have had the opportunity to see the kids and spend some time with his family. It was well worth the extra miles and time to get down here for a few days and we’ll never be able to repay the hospitality that we felt.

On Wednesday morning we packed up the motor home while enduring a light rain. We finally got everything secured and pulled out of the Elks parking lot. We drove over to Bill’s house where we picked up Father Aigian, Bill’s father-in-law, and drove him to the Orlando airport. He seemed to enjoy the ride and the experience to ride in a comfortable coach. When we arrived at the airport, he quickly disembarked with his luggage and scurried off to find a wheelchair for his journey to the departure gate. We continued on the toll road and the Florida Turnpike to I-75 and landed at Lake City at the Oaks’n’Pines RV Park. The humidity was still high and very uncomfortable, but the 50-amp electric, free wi-fi connection, and cable TV were welcome accommodations for the night. Tomorrow we’ll drive on north to Preston, GA for the Habitat Build.

2009-03-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 2nd

We left Styx River RV Resort on Saturday morning with the threat of looming thundershowers in front of us. We could feel a southwesterly wind helping us along the interstate, but we could also see the dark clouds overhead. We drove into a few isolated rain showers that dumped rain on us for a few miles, then broke out into hazy sunshine. The 97 miles we drove to Defuniak Springs was an easy drive and we arrived just after 1PM (with time zone change to Eastern Time).

The Sunset King Lake RV Resort was designed for smaller RVs, not our 40’ coaches. We managed to drive to our assigned spot and I got the coach hooked up just before the skies opened up. When I finally finished getting all the necessary connections made, I walked into the coach with a shirt that was wet enough to wring out. For the remainder of the day we sat inside while the skies poured rain on us. The park had cable TV with HBO, so we saw a couple of movies before heading for bed and listening to the wind gusts move the awnings.

Sunday morning we left the park about 10AM knowing we had 190 miles to drive. We continued east on I-10 and finally stopped east of Tallahassee at the Flying J Truck Stop. As usual, the RV lanes were built as an afterthought and not designed for the ease of maneuverability of a long motor home pulling a car. We were able to top off the tank and get away from there with a minimum of hassle. We drove in to Tallahassee and turned north on US-319 headed for Moultrie. It was nice to get off the gray concrete ribbon of interstate highway and drive on a smaller roadway. The scenery became interesting and enjoyable for a change.

We drove about 70 miles to Moultrie and found the location of the Monaco Pre-Rally at the old Spence Airport. The airport was once a military base and designed like so many of the Air Force bases I‘ve seen. I found the parking location and checked in with Bob Larson, Parking Guru, and Wade Myers, the current President of Monaco International. Bob suggested that we park at the Moultrie RV Park, a Passport America (half-price) park located just a mile away. He led us to the park and we got settled in for the night. Our cost was only $15 with full hook-ups versus $20 for 30-amp electric and water at the venue site. The park also had a strong wi-fi signal so I could do some email and internet work. The owner let us know we could stay as long as we wanted, but we are committed to getting over to the parking site to start marking and measuring sites. People will start arriving on Saturday and we have to get over 270 sites marked and ready.

We stayed up later that night watching The Celebrity Apprentice since we’re in the Eastern Time Zone. We’ve been spoiled out west where we can watch prime time TV at 5PM since we get the East and West Coast channels on the satellite. The temperature got down to 32 degrees during the night, but we stayed warm with an extra blanket and a four-legged bed warmer that didn’t want to get off the blanketed bed.

I was up at 6AM and checked my emails while sipping some hot coffee. Dottie finally got up and we casually prepared the coach for moving over to the Rally site. I even had enough time to do a quick wash job and get the two days of road grime off the coach. Around noon we pulled out of the RV park and headed over to get settled on for the next ten days.

The scuttlebutt going around among those here is that Monaco is really having some financial problems. They gave everybody on the production lines an indefinite layoff. The stock is down to $.06/share, or $.40/share, depending on which source you listen to. It’s a gloomy picture and we may not have Monaco factory technicians at the Rally. We joked about how it’ll be lots of guys with their feet sticking out from under the coaches all helping each other with problems. There will DEFINITELY be a Rally, though!

We are parked on a large, grassy lot with good electricity. The temps are supposed to get down below freezing again tonight, so the facility has turned off the water for the night to avoid any freezing. If we get any rain near the end of the week, it could get mushy and I’ll be one of the first coaches to get moved off the grass and on to asphalt. We’ll just have to wait and see.

2009-02-27T19:04:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 26th

First off, I have to stand corrected - I made a major mistake when I referred to Brenham, TX as the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. Blue Bunny doesn’t even begin to measure up to the real leader in ice cream products, Blue Bell Ice Cream. Blue Bell has its creamery in Brenham, TX and is one of the top creameries in the country. Several folks (from Texas) corrected me on my “fo-paw” and enlightened me on the quality of ice cream. So there it is - a real correction to my Travelogue.

Meantime, “Laissez les bon temps roulet!“ from the Five Star Family Resort in Pass Christian, Mississippi! We started Wednesday morning very slowly since Jim & Peggy had some internet work to finish. Dottie and I slept in - until 7AM - and I put waxed the coach while Dottie did some house cleaning. Shortly after noon we headed down to Avery Island and the Tabasco factory. Since this was the middle of the week we were able to see the bottling plant and watch the process of packing the little bottles for distribution in South Africa. We walked over to the store and saw everything and anything you could possibly imagine with the Tabasco name on it. Dottie and I purchased some Tabasco barbeque sauce, Tabasco mayonaisse, and garlic Tabasco sauce. We drove back to the coach to dump our purchases and prepare for dinner.

Two years ago when we made this trip, we had a great dinner at Thibodeau’s, a Cajun food restaurant in Duson. The ladies at the desk of the RV park recommended we go to the town of Rayne, LA and visit the Crawfish Hut for dinner. It was an excellent recommendation as we found out that evening. We drove the five miles in to Rayne and found the Crawfish Hut, a restaurant specializing in Cajun seafood. I ordered the four-pound crawfish platter and several Abita Amber beers. The food was wonderful with just enough spice to make it tasty. Jim & Peggy ordered the crawfish e’toufee and had enough left over for two meals. Dottie’s seafood platter was as variety of Cajun sea foods that she devoured. We left there full and delighted with the opportunity to have a Cajun meal.

Thursday morning we were packed and ready to pull out of the campground by 10AM. We watched the other RVs slowly depart and head in various directions. We entered the ramp for eastbound I-10 and some of the roughest interstate roads in the country. The freeway from Lafayette to Baton Rouge is like a washboard with the cracks creating a bouncing motion in the motor home. There were times that we felt like the coach was going to vibrate to pieces. Fortunately it didn’t last too long. We pulled off the interstate at Abita Springs and found a State building with a large parking lot that could accommodate our two coaches. We used the lot for a lunch break before we parted company with Jim & Peggy.

We have traveled with them for over a week now and enjoyed every minute of the trip. We had traveling partners, but weren’t joined at the hip. We could do our own thing each night or join up for dinner and games. They are an enjoyable couple to be with and we already miss them. We hope to do this again some day and share the experiences of traveling with them another time.

We drove on for another 50 miles and stopped in Pass Christian at the Five Star Family Resorts. It’s a membership park that costs us $8/night for full hookups. There’s nothing fancy about this park, but it’s a good stopover point for one night. We’ll be here for one night and drive on to Robertsdale, AL. The driving along I-10 is much more enjoyable on this side of the country with the lush green shoulders and thick trees. We can see the damage that comes from hurricanes when the tops of the trees get snapped off and the roofs on the homes are blown away. A lot of the hurricane damage still hasn’t been repaired and it’s visible from the roadways. The interstate is raised about 4’ above the low-lying land. We’re seeing signs for diesel fuel ranging in price from $1.95/gallon to $2.05/gallon.

We went to bad pretty early after watching “Survivor”. It was warmer than most other nights up to now. We tossed and turned and finally gave up around 0630. Both of us got up, had a bite of breakfast, and prepared for a short move to Robertsdale, AL, our next stop. We pulled out of the park by 0900 and drove up to the interstate. Just south of the freeway were two gas stations with diesel pricing at $1.89/gallon. I didn’t stop; I don’t really trust that their volume is great enough to ensure water-free fuel. So we entered the freeway and headed east to Gulfport and a Sam’s Club that had diesel. It was a challenge getting in and out of the fueling island, but we made and drove about a mile down the road to a Super Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies. We were back on the road by 1000 and headed east. We got to Mobile and drove under the bay in a tunnel. I couldn’t remember if there was a bridge there or if I was remembering the high bridge in Beaumont.

The tunnel was about two miles long and passes under the Mobile Bay. We came out on the other side and traveled another 25 miles to the turn-off for the Styx River RV Resort. We arrived just after noon so we had plenty of time to get settled and do some organizing. Dottie even got in a short nap! Around 4:30 we grabbed Nancy and headed to Foley and Lambert’s Café, home of the throwed rolls. It is a family restaurant where your order is taken by one of the friendly staff. While you wait for your order to arrive, there are other staff members walking around with fried okra, fried potatoes, home-baked dinner rolls hot out of the oven, apple butter or molasses, deep-fried muskrat (a cute prank-like trick), and iced tea that appears to be spilling all over your lap. Dottie had a huge chicken-fried steak and I had fried frog legs. There was so much food that we both had to bring some home for another meal. It was absolutely delicious!!!!

We drove back to Styx River and are taking it easy for the rest of the evening. We both miss the company of Jim & Peggy, but we’ll see them again in Moultrie. Tomorrow is a short day of only 97 miles to Sunset King Lake Resort and another day where we can rest a bit and get the coach ready for the Rally. The weather has been threatening to rain with possibility of thunderstorms and hail. We’re hoping to avoid that!!

2009-02-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 24th

We spent the night in Vado, NM at an overpriced discount park. The facilities were only so-so, but it was located at a convenient point on our route. When we awoke on Wednesday morning, we prepared the coaches for travel and pulled out around 9AM headed for the Flying J truck stop only 10 miles down the road. We got there, found the RV islands, and topped off the tank. It was a well-arranged truck stop with the RV island located for an easy departure.

We drove over the Woodrow Bean Transmountain Rd. north of El Paso and avoided the road construction through the downtown area. The Transmountain Rd. had a fairly steep climb over the top followed by an 8% downhill to the east side of the mountain. The road then goes through the Ft. Bliss Army base where the construction is massive. There area lot of barracks-looking buildings being erected and roads developed everywhere. Adjacent to the base are many developing subdivisions to support the military families. In this time of economic difficulty, it was interesting to see all the work that was going in.

We finally got back to I-10 and headed east. The interstates of west Texas don’t have a lot to look at. Except for the occasional road kill, the scenery is pretty sparse. I don’t particularly care for freeway driving since it’s mostly a gray band of concrete that can get extremely boring. However, when you want to travel from Point A to Point B quickly, it serves its purpose. We were attempting to get miles behind us and reach the San Antonio area as quickly as possible. The most interesting attraction was watching the semi trucks and comparing the sleeper cabs, paint jobs, and listening to the discussions on the CB radio. We also discovered that there aren’t many radio stations out in west Texas, so a satellite radio would be a treasure to have.

We made several stops for stretching the legs, swapping drivers, and grabbing a bite of lunch. Finally we arrived in Ft. Stockton after 335 miles and headed for another discount park. We found the park south of town and it resembled more of a parking lot than an RV park. Jim checked the outlet at his assigned site and discovered an open ground. The maintenance guys came over and sprayed some WD-40 on the receptacle. It seemed to resolve the problem - probably a dusty or corroded receptacle. We all sat down to a steak dinner and retired to our separate coaches for the evening. We decided to try for an 8AM departure.

It was fortunate for us that we tried for an early morning. Jim had a leaky tire valve and I had an almost flat tire on the front of the coach. We needed the extra hour to get aired up and ready to go. By 9AM we were pulling out of our sites. Our drive to Canyon Lake had us continuing east on I-10 to the town of Boerne (pronounced bir-ney) and off the interstate. We took several smaller state highways and wandered north of San Antonio. Before we arrived at Bob Clerc’s house, I gave him a phone call and he drove down to meet us and lead us in. He has a house on almost three lots and a comfortable place to park the coaches.

We drove around the back of the house where Bob had two electric boxes and got set up. It was really good to see Bob and Maribel at their house. In addition, it has been a fantastic two days of sight-seeing led by Bob. I was able to lighten the load on the coach by dropping off a case of Two Buck Chuck wine purchased in California.

On Friday we all loaded in to Bob’s Honda Pilot and headed for the LBJ Ranch and Fredericksburg. The Ranch was an interesting tour and quite a sight to see. The 6000’ runway amazed me and the house was beautiful. We drove on to Fredericksburg, a town that shows a German influence, and has a lot of touristy shops on the main street. We had an early supper, did some window-shopping, and started back to Canyon Lake.

Saturday morning found us headed for San Antonio and the Alamo. My memories of the Alamo are over 40 years old when you could actually see the old fort building from the street. Now the park is surrounded by a rock wall and very commercialized. We wandered through the buildings and watched all the tourists spending money on assorted trinkets and clothing.

When we left the Alamo, we walked to the River Walk. This is an amazing development along the San Antonio River that has become quite an impressive sight. There are restaurants, bars, bistros, and big hotels all built around the 4’-deep canal with pontoon boats giving tours and dinners. It was a bit overwhelming to see all the development that has taken place since my days in San Antonio back in the mid 60’s and USAF basic training. On the way home we stopped at Sam’s Club to get some grocery items, gas, and found a Dairy Queen for a blizzard. Maribel put together a comfortable evening meal for us and we were headed for bed by 9PM.

On Sunday Bob and Maribel went to mass and we prepared for our departure. By the time that they returned, we were hooked up and ready to pull out. It was with a great deal of sorrow that we left their house and headed east on Texas state highways. We drove over to New Braunfels, then north on I-35 to San Marcos, and east on TX-21 through Bastrop to Giddings and Brenham, home of Blue Bunny ice cream. From there we took TX-105 to Lake Conroe and the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Park. Jim & Peggy split off to the Castaways Western Horizon Park. We checked in to the TTN park and were pleasantly surprised to find a great end site with a little front yard for Nancy.

On Monday morning Dottie immediately got started on laundry and I worked on cleaning and waxing the coach. We were finished by noon and drove over to The Castaways to pick up the Griches. We drove down to Oak Ridge North, where we lived 35 years ago, to see our former neighbor, Doris Sterling. She had made arrangements with the current owner of our old house to let us see the inside and the many improvements they have made. It was quite a tour and a great chance to see the house that we had lived in and the changes that have been made in 35 years! After visiting with Doris, we headed back to the campgrounds and stopped at a Super Wal-Mart and a Ryan’s buffet. We stuffed ourselves and returned to the coaches.

Tuesday morning Jim & Peggy drove over near the Thousand Trails park and we met them on the road. We drove down to Conroe and took TX-105 all the way over to Beaumont. The road goes through some interesting small towns that reflect the unbelievable poverty of East Texas. The roads were good, but the scenery was lush, tree-filled acreage. The homes are mostly ground level and look like they’d be very susceptible to the heavy rains that come through this area of the state. A lot of mobile homes and older vehicles are parked on the lots. It’s saddening, but beautiful at the same time.

We drove until we joined up with I-10 and proceeded east to Orange, TX and the Flying J truck stop for refueling. After fueling the coaches, we drove to the back of the parking lot and took a lunch break before continuing our drive for another 100 miles to Frog City RV Park in Duson, LA. Today is Fat Tuesday and the park is full with Mardi Gras attendees. Dottie fixed a spaghetti dinner and we all settled in for a quiet night.

2009-02-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

TUESDAY, FEB.17TH

After arriving at Valley Vista RV resort in Benson, we had dinner followed by Jim & I showing the girls how to play Pegs’n’Jokers. We had a very enjoyable evening and made plans for the next day.

On Monday we were up and headed out in the “Grichmobile” to show Jim & Peggy the area of Tombstone, Bisbee, and Sierra Vista. The winds were blowing pretty heavily and we drove down to Tombstone to walk the streets and check out all the tourist attractions. Tombstone is a town designed for all the folks who would like to think of the Old West as a wild place to live with a bunch of hairy characters that walk around dressed in period clothing and carrying handguns strapped to their legs. Every hour there is a gunfight in the streets where the good guys always win. The actors who portray the characters are all ages and backgrounds and double as sales folks who hawk the gunfights in the enclosed area of Helldorado. Helldorado is a section of town that has been turned into a true “tourist trap”. It has the fake building facades with all the typical Old West decorations. There are several restaurants in town with tourist prices on the menu. Places like Big Nose Kate’s have a bar, restaurant, and curio shop in the same building enclosure. Of course all the cowboy clothing is available for a price, including leather chaps, gun belts, western shirts, hats, and boots. We walked the length of Main St. and decided to move on down to Bisbee for lunch.

We drove south of Tombstone about 35 miles to the mining town of Bisbee. Bisbee was built into the side of a hill and is still occupied by a lot of the “throw-back hippie” residents. The town was in its peak during the heyday of the Copper Queen Mine which is still pulling copper and other minerals out of the ground. Our first stop was the Mine Tour. We walked into the building and looked at the collection of mining equipment that was used back in the 20’s and 30’s. It’s truly amazing to see the engineering that went into the design and manufacture of that old equipment. The mine tours run about $14/person and the Griches opted to pass this time. Dottie & I have been on the tour in the past and enjoyed the education we received from the guides (who worked in the mine during its days of operation). After taking in all the sights in the Mine Tour, we drove about a half mile into Bisbee and searched for a lunch spot. We checked the up-scale restaurant that had a 40 minute wait and decided to seek out another small café. I found a garden café that also offered local microbrews, so we stopped for lunch. We had a meatloaf sundae - a slab of meatloaf topped by a scoop of mashed potatoes and smothered in brown gravy. It was a tasty delight. I opted for the “Buster” - meatloaf smothered in chili and covered with chopped onions and cheese. It’s a favorite of the bicyclists who ride to Bisbee and seek out a carb-filled lunch. We looked at several of the stores and then walked over to the Stock Exchange Bar. Two years ago Don Leith found this bar which was the original link to the New York Stock exchange. It has a full wall that is a tote board with all the major stocks and was updated with a ticker tape link direct to New York. Don, I wished you were with us to savor a cold beer like we did last time!

We then drove along the border to Sierra Vista. This town has grown and is still expanding in population. It is one of my favorite places to visit, as it is comparable to Rapid City in population, available services and big-box stores, and the feeling of a reasonably sized town. We used to go over there annually to spend time at The Caverns RV Resort in Huachuca City. However, the owner of the park decided to sell the park and the new owners didn’t want the membership. Many members were left out in the cold after spending money and over-priced memberships. We drove to Huachuca City and through the park to see the changes. The staff has all changed and the warm feeling that used to be there was gone. We returned to Benson and relaxed before we ate some crock-pot pork chop dinner and a game of P&J.

Tuesday we up early and prepared for a 9AM departure. We decided to drive all the way to Vado, NM, just south of Las Cruces for the night. We got to Deming and stopped at the Super Wally to pick up some needed items. Inside the Wal-Mart is a Subway so we bought some sandwiches for lunch and ate in the coaches. After lunch we drove to the east side of Deming and pulled in to the St. Claire Winery. The parking lot was big enough to facilitate our two coaches and we walked in for the wine tasting. I recall a visit several years ago where we bought a champagne with black currant. It was a delicious, so I was on a mission to find it again. We succeeded and bought two bottles. We also found a tasty peach-flavored wine and a couple of red wines. These will be used for VERY special occasions since I’m already carrying four cases of our favorite Two Buck Chuck red wine from San Diego.

We got back on the road after a short break at St. Claire. By now both Jim and I were feeling the strain of a long day on the road. We continued east to Las Cruces and turned south to Vado. Our destination was Western Sky’s RV Park. Yep, that’s the way it’s spelled. It was recently purchased, but it’s the same park where we stayed two years ago with Leiths and Bahnsons. We arrived about 4PM, got our site assignments, and settled in. It was a long day of driving but was made bearable by the several stops and great company of Jim & Peg. This park has a terrific wi-fi, so I’m able to get some things updated on my computer. Peggy offered chili for supper; Dottie prepared some salad and cornbread. The meal was excellent and we all are ready to spend a quiet evening alone in preparation for an early morning and a long driving day tomorrow. We’ll drive a few miles down the road to the Anthony, TX Flying J for refueling and end up in Ft. Stockton tomorrow afternoon after a 275-mile day. The following day will be 325 miles to Canyon Lake and the Clerc residence.

2009-02-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

SUNDAY, FEB. 15TH

We were in Yuma only 8 days, but it seemed like three weeks! It definitely was NOT the hospitality that we received from the Clarksons. Instead, it was the ritual of looking at properties! As each day passed and we looked at several new lots, they all began to look the same. The first one we saw would have been perfect: the next one that really grabbed us was sold before I touched base with the seller. It was another small, 372 sq. ft. casita with a full bath, a kitchenette, washer & dryer, and a comfortable living area and outside patio. I was disappointed when he told me he put up flyers and sold the lot in two weeks. We continued to shop and visited another realtor that deals exclusively with properties in the Foothills. Our Wells Fargo banker, Bill Craft, recommended the agent highly and we found a terrific realtor that is really working for us now.

During our stay with the Clarksons we ate some absolutely fantastic meals that Dottie and Linda collaborated together. And we ended most of the evenings with some serious games of Pegs’n’Jokers. Of course, the men succeeded in humbling the women with our victories, but they finally recovered. Yeah, right! The last day of our stay we were joined by Clarksons friends, Ron & Flor, from San Diego. That was another fine meal followed by a major sweep at the game table.

As we left Yuma on Friday morning, we stopped by the realtor and signed the papers on an offer for a lot that is in the Foothills, but also within the Yuma city limits. It belongs to an old friend of ours from Hart Ranch who now lives in Tucson. The advantage of being in the city limits is trash collection, water, sewer, and emergency services are all provided by the City. In the Foothills the water and sewer is a private company that is about to attempt to triple the sewer rates much to the chagrin of the residents. Also there is a registration fee with the Rural Metro Fire District for their services. With the City services we’ll pay city taxes, but they are very reasonable. We’re not getting our hopes too high on the offer because it was a lot lower than what he was asking. However, we found out on Saturday that the lot was taken off the market - it had been on since July 2008 - so the realtor is attempting to contact the owner by phone and serve as our representative in the negotiation. We’ll control our patience and wait and see.

On Friday night we joined Jim & Peggy Grich and visited Bob & Marlene Rae at their new house in Casa Grande. It is a beautiful home in a 55+ community. The home is open, airy, and just what the Raes wanted - or at least what Marlene wanted. She has done an impressive job of decorating and furnishing the home. She prepared a wonderful dinner followed by a cut-throat game of P&J. We really enjoyed the opportunity to see their new digs!

On Saturday night I wanted to go the Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa and get my pipe organ fix. We were joined by the love of my high school years, Nancy Horlbeck Cummins and her husband, Craig. It has been over 40 years since I had seen Nancy and I think she was a bit shocked when she finally realized she was looking straight at me. We had dinner, enjoyed the organ music, and then went to their house for some coffee and conversation. It was a memory-filled evening and quite astonishing to hear how we’ve fared for the last 40 years. I’m sure Dottie and Craig were completely bored by the laughing and recalling of interesting times. We were back at the coach at a reasonable hour to start getting it ready for the trip to Benson on Sunday.

On Sunday morning we were met at the coach by one of my favorite motorcycling buddies, Tony D’Arcy. Tony & I used to do some Rotary motorcycle trips and have kept in touch with each other through the years. Tony is trying to find that perfect house in the Phoenix area where the market is ripe for folks who have the funding to buy homes. Tony and his new flame, Sandy, drove down to the Western Horizons RV Park in Casa Grande, picked us up, and took us to breakfast at Mimi’s. It was a short visit, but absolutely wonderful to see Tony again and share some great memories. He looks great, has the same outgoing personality that he has always had, and has a charming girlfriend in Sandy. I only regret that I don’t have a motorcycle to go riding with Tony again.

We were back at the coach in time to get unplugged, hooked up, and leave Casa Grande with the Griches headed for Benson, AZ and the Valley Vista RV Resort. Shortly after hitting the interstate, we stopped in Eloy at the Flying J to refuel and top off the propane tank. Flying J is usually a pleasant experience, but this particular location is a real pain in the patoot to maneuver through. In spite of the designated RV lanes, there is always some moron that takes his sweet time and throws courtesy out the window. Well, we found him there this time, too.

We continued south on I-10 with Jim Grich leading the way and driving through Tucson, the land of never-ending road construction. We made it without incident and arrived at Valley Vista about 3PM. The park has some of the most pleasant and courteous workers and we were assigned adjoining sites since we’ll be here for two nights. During that time I hope to show Jim & Peggy Tombstone, Bisbee, and some of Sierra Vista. We’ve always loved this area, but our favorite RV park was sold and the new owners didn’t buy the memberships. There are lots of disappointed folks who lost substantial amounts of money in the sale of the park. We have always enjoyed this area, but it will now be only memories since the sale has limited our ability to stay here for any long periods of time. Since we are here it will be fun to share some of the interesting areas with the Griches.

Our next stop is Deming, NM, then on to Texas. We may stop in Van Horn and Ozona, or we may continue straight to Ft. Stockton and on to Canyon Lake - giving us an extra day in Canyon Lake with Bob & Maribel Clerc, two of my most treasured RVing friends.

2009-01-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

We have had a wonderful two weeks in the Desert Southwest! We stayed in Indio, had some fantastic meals with friends, and made a few new ones. We enjoyed the vendor area and made some necessary purchases for the coach.

On Sunday, Jan. 11th, we packed the coach and drove to Quartzsite, AZ for the RV & Travel Show. The Clarksons and the Clercs traveled with us and it took about two hours to drive the 130 miles to our camping site north of town. We were parked on BLM land where the camping was free. At one point we had eleven coaches parked around the campfire. Each afternoon brought an early Happy Hour, usually helped with some of the most delicious concoctions that the women could devise. We had several potluck dinners where everybody contributed something to the table and all of us ate heartily. There was absolutely NO lack of good food PLUS a lot of terrific fellowship! One of the high points was the spaghetti dinner cooked and served by Ron & Wanda Farrar. We even made it to town one afternoon to pick up 40 of the $1 hamburgers with grilled onions! Those are some of the tastiest burgers you’ll ever have the chance to eat. Moreover, if you can’t eat all of them you ordered, they can go into the fridge and make great luncheon sandwiches a few days from now.

After nearly a week, we needed to re-supply our water tank. I started the coach, pulled out of the campsite, and headed for the RV Pit Stop in town. This little business has their act together - they have two lines for everything. There are at least six fill points for propane, four dumpsites with sewer hoses, and several fresh water fill points. There is a crew of workers that are organized enough to move RVs through the lines quickly and efficiently. We took very little time to dump our holding tanks and a little longer to fill our 100-gallon fresh water tank. All this costs only $10!

On Wednesday, the 21st, Clarksons and Andersons started dismantling the covered patio and eating area and started packing our coaches for the drive to Yuma. We were on the road by noon and drove south to the Clarkson’s lot in the Yuma Foothills. When we got to Yuma we filled the fuel tank at the new Flying J fuel stop, and drove over to the lot.

We had talked to our realtor in Yuma and she told us she blocked off Thursday to spend some time with us looking at properties. When we awoke on Thursday, I awaited her phone call. She finally phoned and gave us a list of possible properties to look at. We spent the next four hours driving around the Foothills looking at the various lots and slowly seeing how they all began to look alike. We didn’t see anything that jumped out and grabbed our attention. Many of them were mobile homes or park models and just didn’t appeal to our liking. By noon we were tired and beginning to get disgusted with what we saw. We still have one property in mind that seemed to be just what we want, but the seller took it off the market on Jan. 16th. We left Yuma without becoming property owners - some things require a lot of patience and there’s probably a reason for not finding the right lot.

During our stay in Yuma we had the opportunity to visit the Yuma Swap Meet and see many of the vendors that we had just seen in Quartzsite. We also visited Doug Irvine, another Monaco owner, and saw his lot in an organized RV community. The remainder of the time we enjoyed Andy & Linda Clarkson and their hospitality. Their lot is on a fairly quiet street where we sat out at night and watched the stars and the Marine jets heading out to the Barry Goldwater bombing range. It was so unbelievably peaceful with the clear skies and myriad of visible stars.

Saturday morning we packed the coach and prepared for our trip back to San Diego. I was dreading the 4-hour drive, but it proved to be an enjoyable trip with very little wind and comfortable temperatures. We arrived at the church about 1:30pm and settled into our parking spot. Our first visitor was Harvey Throop, our Pastor, with his Welcome Home wishes and news of the death of a friend. Harvey is always the first to greet us and really makes us feel welcome when we return. We went to Mother’s apartment for dinner and to pickup our mail.

Sunday was a wonderful morning after the light rain we received on Saturday night. It’s always humbling to see the many friends we have in this church and get back in the many activities that are always occurring here. We will be here until Thursday, the 5th, and then return to Yuma before departing for Georgia. We have several things to accomplish before we leave and will be busy for the next ten days getting prepared for the journey across the country. Of course, we’ll always welcome any phone calls or visits!

2009-01-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 8th

Many of you have written asking about the results of the consultation with the neurosurgeons on Tuesday. We drove down to San Diego and arrived about noon. We spent some time with Mother at her apartment across the street from Kaiser Hospital. She had cooked up a pot of vegetable soup that really hit the spot after the drive.

At 3PM we walked across the street for the appointment. We were taken to an observation room to wait for the Drs. Three of them walked in and started talking. The tumor is attached to auditory nerve. It has already done its damage and I will not regain any hearing in the left ear. The auditory nerve does not regenerate itself, but the portion of the nerve that affects balance is self-regenerating. In the meantime the right ear will compensate for the loss of balance.

The tumor is small, about 3mm by 6mm. It is a benign tumor and is common. The course of action can be radiation gamma knife, removal by surgery, or monitoring and doing nothing right now. I would prefer surgery, but they could not schedule me until March. Plus there’s a 4-6 week recovery time. Since we have so many things planned in the next few months, we decided to wait until September when we return to San Diego, get another MRI and hearing test, and check the tumor then. The Drs. agreed that would be a good choice since the tumor is so small. They have over 300 patients they are monitoring like this and said it’s not an imminent problem.

We left somewhat relieved knowing that we can take care it in 9 months and continue with our plans. We drove back up to Indio that night and enjoyed our own bed.

We are parked at the Western Horizons Indian Waters Resort and walking the two blocks to the FMCA Rally. The park has electric & water hook-ups, and we’re parked right next to the dump station so I can run a hose over to the dump to empty our gray water tank. It’s very convenient and easy to handle with the comfort of electrical connections.

Our plan, as of today, is to leave Indio on Sunday and drive to Quartzsite for 10 days. If we need to go to Yuma to look at property or submit an offer on one, we can drive the car the 90 miles to get there for a day trip. We’ll take the coach to Yuma on Wed., Jan. 21st, for a few days and return to San Diego on Sat., Jan.24th. We hope to stay in San Diego until Sunday, Feb.1st, and go back to Yuma until the 13th. At that point we’ll head out for Georgia.

Those are our current plans - as you know, it’s could all change! We hope to have a piece of Yuma real estate by the time we leave and have a place to return to in September.

Thanks for all the emails and encouragement. We really enjoy hearing from everybody and knowing what all of you are doing.

2009-01-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Happy New Year to everybody! It’s been a nerve-wracking year for us and last two months have been especially stressful. Some things just aren’t meant to be!

We found a lot in the Foothills of Yuma that we fell in love with. It is a small lot with a 560 sq. ft. casita on it and room for two RVs to park. We started the process of pre-qualifying for a loan with Wells Fargo. After many faxes and a lot of patience, we were finally approved. We drove over to Yuma on New Year’s Day to join the Clarksons for Linda’s traditional New Year’s dinner of ham, black-eyed peas, and greens. The Clercs were there visiting on their lot and Other friends of Andy drove over for the weekend. The four couples of us walked the short block up the street to see the lot and met with our realtor, Gretchen Hossler. She is a Rotarian in Yuma and has been in the real estate business there since 1973. Gretchen wrote up the offer, we signed the papers and left a deposit check, and drove back home that afternoon. We were on pins’n’needles for the next few days awaiting an answer to our offer.

On Sunday after church we struck out with the coach and headed for Indio and the Western Horizons Indian Waters park for a week. We’ll stay here and attend the FMCA Western Area Rally about a block away at the Indio Date Fairgrounds. On the way up we received a phone call from Gretchen. She told us the seller declined our offer and didn’t even make a counter-offer. She was asking $155,900 for her lot (which was WAY over-priced) and turned down an offer of $130,000 about six months ago. We offered $90,000. The lot and house have been shown quite a bit, but no offers had been made outside of ours. The seller has obviously gotten some bad direction on her price and will probably be owning the house for quite a while until she comes off her asking price. We’d love to be in the market when she drops her price, but it will likely be several months. She is coming to Yuma in March and will learn that she is over-priced, especially in this slow real estate market. The bad news was very disappointing to us, but maybe there’s a reason we aren’t aware of. We are looking at a couple of other possibilities and will wait for more information.

One of the high points of the last month was the great time we had with Ray & Glenda Roe. They have been stuck at Holland Motor Homes awaiting a part for their microwave oven. They have been very frustrated with the delay, but they also have had a free place to park for the Holidays. Glenda, like me, is a fan of craft beers. We have had the opportunity to visit some of the microbreweries and brewpubs and sample some of the local beers. It has been a very educational time for me and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed their company!

When the Indio Rally is over here, we plan to go to Quartzsite for a few days and then on to Yuma for some premium time with the Clarksons. We feel we need to stay in San Diego a little longer and spend more time with Mother before we depart for Georgia. Dottie has been a big help to her with their shopping trips, Bingo outings, and other tasks around Mother’s apartment. I have re-worked our travel itinerary to delay our departure and we’ll be leaving on Feb. 12th to make it to Moultrie, GA by March 2nd. I’ll be working the Parking Crew for the Monaco International Pre-Rally. Following the Pre-Rally we hope to drive to Melbourne, FL and visit my brother and his family. Also we’ll have the opportunity to see Bill & Sandy Crawford who are staying in Melbourne for an extended time while Bill works for Eckard’s Drug.

We will probably have some company joining us along the trip east as Jim & Peggy Grich have indicated an interest in tagging along with us. We are really looking forward to that! My trip planning has included stopping points where both of us can stay with our memberships. Our travel schedule includes travel days of less than 200 miles and several easy days.

Our plans are still in the air as I have an appointment with two surgeons to see about a tumor that has been discovered on my auditory nerve. It is applying pressure on the nerve and causing a decrease of hearing on my left side. There are three options - do nothing and check it with an MRI in 6-12 months, radiation (not an option in my opinion), and removal with a gamma knife process. I go back to San Diego tomorrow for the appointment and will know more then. In the meantime, we are continuing to enjoy our freedom and lifestyle.

2008-11-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hope all of you had a terrific Thanksgiving! We enjoyed the pleasure of a ham and all the fixing’s cooked at my Mother’s place. It was a quiet afternoon with Mother, her best friend, Kathy, and Dottie, Nancy, & I. It was a wonderful way to spend the day after a wet drive from Yuma. Yuma?

Yep, we drove over to Yuma on Sunday right after church. Our goal was to spend some time with Andy & Linda Clarkson on their new lot in the foothills of Yuma. We had a great time with them checking out a Mexican restaurant, the local Sam’s Club and Super Wal-Mart, and cruising around the area looking at RV lots. We are in the process of negotiating on a lot we found, but we’ll have to have a great deal of patience during the next four weeks or so. Once a deal has been firmed up, we’ll announce the location and details. In the meantime, we’re trying to hold our enthusiasm down and under control.

Clarkson’s lot is a little piece of Heaven in the Foothills. Traffic around the area isn’t too congested yet, but the snowbirds haven’t really arrived. Once the first of the year has come the traffic will probably become horrendous and drivers will need an extra amount of patience driving around the area. The Foothills has a spectacular view of the mountain range to the east of Yuma and has everything a person could want or need. There are three Super Wallys, a Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Loew’s, and all the major shopping stores you’d find in a major metropolitan area. While we were there, we had the opportunity to experience some of Yuma’s adverse weather. The area only gets about three inches of rain per year - on Wednesday they received 2.2" in one day! It’s amazing to see the runoff areas and the collection ponds that actually have water in them.

Yuma also has some of the least expensive fuel in the whole Southwest. Super Fuels had diesel fuel for $2.18/gal. and propane for $1.75/gal. Unfortunately, they were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday and we couldn’t fill up before we left town. It was an otherwise wonderful break in Yuma!!

Back at the church we’ve been replacing light bulbs, doing a lot of yard work, replacing ballasts in some of our older fluorescent lighting fixtures, and managing to stay busy. It’s all “fun work” that needs to be done and gives me something to occupy our time. We’ve also been attending two Bible classes and the weekly LOGOS group for younger kids. The evening meal on those nights has been outstanding and cooked by one of the couples in the church. The calendar for December has a lot of activities scheduled and we’ll be looking forward to being involved in those varied functions.

I’ve already done some trip planning for 2009 and we have our itinerary set for all the way to October. As many of you know, flexibility is the key and we’ll probably be changing our schedule several times before we actually execute the plans. Most of the fun in the trip planning comes from sitting down and playing with the maps and directories to set up the itinerary. It’s something that I really enjoy doing.

Once again, we hope to see many of you in the San Diego area while we are here. We are already planning to see several of our motorhome friends in the next month and shortly after the first of the year. Don’t hesitate to give us a ring…

2008-10-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in San Diego over a week now and have really enjoyed seeing all the friends that we’ve made over the years. We are parked in the Palisades Presbyterian Church parking lot in our old space with most of the comforts of home. (Take a look at Google Earth and check the satellite picture of 6301 Birchwood St. You’ll see the motor home in the southeast corner of the church parking lot.)

We arrived at the Palmdale Elks Lodge after a 330-mile day. We were both tired and hoping the Lodge would have a typically great evening meal. Our surprise was that the scheduled meal was pizza - purchased from Costco and baked in the kitchen at the Lodge. Well, we passed on that and I brought out the BBQ for a couple of small steaks. We enjoyed the quiet surroundings of the Lodge and retired early.

On Saturday morning we were up and ready to head out to San Diego. On the way out of town we visited the Super Wal-Mart, probably the last one for a while. We drove down the hill into Riverside and were amazed at all the road construction - even on a Saturday! The traffic was typically Los Angeles frenzied with all the cars seeming to be in a great hurry. We drove down through Murrieta and Temecula and were shocked by all the home construction. When we got to Escondido, the freeway was eight lanes of traffic moving at least 70 mph. I just stayed in the right lanes and let the speeders pass us by. Even on Saturday the traffic was horrendous! If there were one reason I don’t like to come back to Southern California, it would be the traffic.

I had checked a web page that shows the best fuel prices in San Diego and saw a station in El Cajon that was selling diesel for $3.03/gallon! I decided to divert our route to top off the tank. We went to El Cajon and filled up before heading for the church. When we arrived I was able to dump the holding tanks and then get parked. We have had a wonderful time getting back in the groove with all the activities here. We’re attending two Bible study classes and just being available for anything that needs to be done. I’ve already made a few small repairs and have a list that continues to grow.

We had the opportunity to baby-sit our grandson yesterday for almost nine hours. He’s a typical three-year-old and challenges his parents with his bargaining tactics. That dog ain’t gonna hunt with Granddad!! He was a well-behaved boy and we had a great time with him on Saturday afternoon. When his folks arrived to get him last night, our son was dressed in a Halloween costume as Shrek. I’ve never seen such an accurate depiction as we saw last night. Dottie and I have chuckled over it a lot today.

I have been searching on the internet for RV lots in Yuma and we have both decided that we need to get serious about it. Prices have dropped a bit and this may be the ideal time to purchase a spot for future landings. We don’t know when we’ll get the chance to go over there for a few days, but we need to sit down and talk with a realtor to get a feel for what is available in an affordable price range.

Weather in San Diego has been as warm as it was in Rapid City this past summer. We haven’t needed an air conditioner, but the fans have been working overtime. At night things cool off wonderfully so the sleeping has been fantastic. Both of us have noticed the increased humidity compared to what we’re used to, but it hasn’t been uncomfortable.

Barring any major change in our plans, we’ll be staying in San Diego until after the first of the year. We plan to go to Indio for the FMCA Western Area Rally, then on to Quartzsite for two weeks. We’ll return to San Diego for about a week before we depart for Moultrie, GA and a Monaco Pre-Rally where we need to arrive by March 2nd.

2008-10-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Oct. 15th

Our stay in Sutherlin at the Escapee Park with the Smoots was an enjoyable time. Gary and Shirley are terrific hosts and we always treasure our time with them. Dottie and Shirley spent some time away from the guys and doing some serious shopping. Meantime, Gary and I drove down to Roseburg and had lunch at a McMenamin’s brewpub. We really relaxed while in Sutherlin and will visit there again next year.

We left Sutherlin on Sunday morning, the 5th, and drove south to Medford. I had planned to spend the night at the American RV Park, a Passport America park (half-price discount), but they don’t accept reservations. When we pulled in to the park, it was not very impressive. There were many semi-permanent RVs in the park and the clerk told us he had just rented his last site. I knew that the Wal-Marts all have signs posted saying “No Overnight RV Parking”. So we drove to the local Fred Meyer, asked the Mgr. if we could park in his lot, and received permission to do so. Once we were situated, I phoned our good friend, Sandy Baleria, who is now staying In Medford. Dave Baleria, who was a very close friend of ours, passed away suddenly last February in Benson, AZ. Sandy has had a rough time after losing Dave and now lives in Medford. We specifically wanted to spend some time with her. She drove over to our coach and took us to the Wild River Brewing Co., a small brewpub in Medford. We were able to sit and talk with Sandy and let her vent a lot of emotions. She is doing amazingly well in spite of her loss. We had a great time visiting with her and enjoying her company.

On Monday morning we pulled out of the parking lot and headed west to Williams, OR and the home of Bob & Sally Nason. Bob was the closest friend of cousin Paul Anderson. Paul went through the ordeal of dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease and passed away four years ago. Bob has written several times inviting us to visit and stay with them for a couple of nights. The timing was right and we were in the area, so we took advantage of his invitation. We arrived in Williams about 10AM and looked over the parking arrangement. Bob has a long, narrow driveway with overhanging trees. Sally had a dentist’s appointment, so they weren‘t there to see us finesse the coach into his driveway. I backed it in from the road stopping every 10-15 feet to check for obstacles. It took us a few minutes to get in and parked, but careful maneuvering made a successful parking job. When Bob and Sally got home, Bob was amazed that the coach was all the way back in his driveway! We had a relaxing evening with them and made plans for the next day.

Tuesday morning Bob and I went to the Williams Church and met a group of men for the Tuesday morning men’s breakfast. I remembered many of the fellows from my visits to Paul in previous years. It was an opportunity to enjoy some great guys and have a tasty breakfast with some old friends. When I returned to the house, Dottie had the coach ready and we prepared to leave. Bob wanted to show us some of the wildlife in his yard, so he got his animal caller and started making some sounds. We had three foxes come out of the woods and start toward us. They looked like small skinny dogs. It was amazing to see them hop through the grass thinking an injured animal was waiting for them. When I started the coach’s engine, Bob walked ahead of me and watched for any errant branches and I drove out the driveway to the road where we hooked up the car. It was a short visit but a lot of fun to see both of them after too long a time.

We drove the coach over to US-199 and started the climb over the mountains and to the coast. We got to Crescent City and, on a whim, phoned Jim & Peggy Grich to see where they were. They had a change of plans and decided to join us in Eureka at the Elks Lodge for the night. We arrived at the Eureka Elks Lodge, checked in and parked, and awaited their arrival. They pulled in within the hour and we prepared to go to supper at the Lost Coast Brewery. I restocked my craft beer supply after dinner and we went back to the Lodge for the evening.

The next morning we drove over to the Samoa Smokehouse, an old restaurant that was part of an active logging operation. Food is served family-style and we had tasty, filling breakfast. We drove back to the Lodge, packed up the coaches, and headed south to Cloverdale, CA and the Russian River Thousand Trails park where we both had reservations. When we arrived we found sites that allowed us satellite reception and settled in. It was a long day driving through the redwoods and both Jim & I were tired from the drive.

The next day we rode with Jim & Peggy in to Windsor and Santa Rosa to get some supplies and take care of some business paperwork. During our stay at Russian River, we made another trip to Santa Rosa to introduce the Griches to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and BevMo. I added some additional brews to my collection and several food items that we needed. We also had the opportunity to try Ruth McGowan’s Brewpub in Cloverdale, a small brewpub that was fun to visit.

Our time with Jim & Peggy was a lot of fun! They are a couple that isn’t that familiar with the West Coast, but are enjoying the full-time lifestyle while still working. We had some memorable moments with them and look forward to seeing them later this year when we will all get together again.

We left Russian River on Sunday morning and drove down to Walnut Creek to see my youngest sister. Our drive took us through the wine country of Calistoga and Napa. The route was a narrow, two-laned road with light, Sunday tourist traffic. It’s an easy drive that avoids the bounces of Hwy. 101. We arrived in Walnut Creek and the Elks Lodge by 2PM. Sister Harriet had tickets to a Carlos Santana concert, so we knew we wouldn’t see her that night. We checked in to the friendly Elks Lodge, paid our donation fee, and waited for a traffic school to finish so we could park the coach. In the meantime we sat in the Lodge lounge, enjoyed a drink, and met some of the members that were there watching the San Francisco football game. Once the parking lot cleared, I was able to get the coach parked and run a 100’ extension cord to a 15a outlet for electrical service. We spent the night and drove over to my sister’s house on Monday for a fantastic rib dinner including pasta salad, Caesar salad, and an apple crisp dessert. Husband Skip does a fantastic job of cooking dinner and we had a great time with them.

On Tuesday morning we left the Elks Lodge and drove south to the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails park. We met cousin Kate and Keith Nelson for dinner at the El Toro Brewing Co. brewpub in downtown Morgan Hill. We haven’t seen Kate for almost two years - she was always a reason for us to visit Lincoln, NE since she was staying there with her father before he passed away last year. Kate is back to substitute-teaching and staying busy with her house. We spent Wednesday evening with her at her house and letting Nancy meet her new poodle, Kitty. ( Yeah, a dog named Kitty - can’t you just imagine? Calling the dog - “Here Kitty, Kitty!”)

We have a flexible schedule and manage to keep it that way. Well, we have made a change in our plans and will be arriving in San Diego on Saturday afternoon, the 18th. We’re going to bypass Rancho Oso Thousand Trails and leave Morgan Hill on Friday morning. We’ll spend Friday night at the Palmdale Elks Lodge and drive on to San Diego on Saturday. My, how things can change…

2008-10-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 24th

As I wrote in the last Travelogue, things are always subject to change. And we did!

We left Moses Lake and headed for the Columbia River Gorge hoping to find a peaceful site at a COE park on the river. When we got to the Biggs Bridge crossing, signs were posted that the bridge was closed for construction work. So we were rerouted along WA-14 on the north side of the river to The Dalles and the only other close bridge. We drove by Wishram, WA and couldn’t see the supposedly quiet site so we crossed the Columbia River and continued west. About twenty miles later, all the traffic on I-84 came to a full stop. Hood River had a grass fire and the police shut down the freeway! It took us three hours to move five miles! By the time we were finally through the town of Hood River, I decided to continue on to Portland and the Milwaukie Elks Lodge. We arrived about 4PM and, scoped out our parking spot, and headed to a local pizza/beer joint that we discovered last year. Friend Don Presten joined us for a beer and we made plans for the next day.

Saturday morning gave us the chance to get to the K-Mart and Wal-Mart and do some needed shopping. We drove over to Don & Bobbie’s about 1PM and relaxed the remainder of the day in their beautiful home. We enjoyed the warm, sunny weather, the outstanding company, Don’s excellent cooking and beer, and a chance to see some treasured friends.

On Sunday morning, Don picked me up and we went to the Clackamas Co. Sheriff’s Range where we put a few rounds through our handguns. It was a lot of fun and I was able to fire and then clean my firearms that I carry in the coach. We rested and drove in to Portland to spend an enjoyable afternoon with my Aunt Mary Jo Anderson, the last of my father’s generation.

Monday morning saw us packing and securing the coach and heading to Salem for the Keizer Elks Lodge. We arrived there before noon and discovered the park was completely full. I dumped the holding tanks and the Salem Elks Lodge to check on site availability. We were told the RV parking area was closed due to renovation of the water lines. So, I decided to drive by the Fairgrounds in hopes of finding a place to park. We went by the parking areas and found no motorhomes parked there. As I was about to leave, we saw that the Fairgrounds has an RV parking area with full hook-ups and three of the Monaco parking crew were there. I found an open gate and drove in to check on the possibility of us staying there. The result was two nights in that park and the chance to start working early to get spots marked out on the Fairgrounds. On Tuesday afternoon we moved the coaches over to the parking area where we’d be for the next week.

On Wednesday the remainder of the Parking Crew began to arrive and we started marking the grassy fields on Thursday. This Rally is a combined rally, which includes all of the Monaco-owned brands - Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Beaver, & Safari. The other parking crew members are a bit different than the Monaco crew in their way of doing things, but Bob Larson (the Chief of the Parking Crew) is the organizer and does things the way that are most efficient. Moreover, he’s a great guy to work for!

We worked through the week and had everything ready for the early arrivals on Sunday. There’s a saying that goes “If you arrive after the Early Arrival day, you’re late!” It held true on this Rally. We parked close to 400 of the expected 500 attendees on Sunday, and the remainder of the coaches on Monday. Tuesday we only parked one coach!

It has been a fun rally albeit expensive. I’ve managed to get several things done to the coach under warranty work, but also purchased some items that I’ve been wanting for years. We now have a supplemental braking system for the Kia that will slow the Kia every time I apply the coach’s brakes. I also got an upgraded Pac Brake, the engine brake on a diesel engine. We will be getting our refrigerator recall handled on Friday morning by a local RV repair shop and install an upgraded circuit board for the refrigerator. It ought to be more efficient and cool food better.

We have talked to the Monaco Paint Shop manager and have been assured that we will have a parking spot when we arrive on Friday afternoon to get our bodywork done. The end cap is trying to separate from the main body and has some small cracks at the roofline. Monaco is going to partially warranty the work and grind down the fiberglass, smooth it out, and repaint the damaged area. We don’t know how long we’ll be in the Paint Shop, but we have that “flexible factor” in our schedule and this will give us some time to see cousin John & Ruth Anderson in Eugene before we head on south to Sutherlin, Medford, and Williams, OR.

We left the fairgrounds on Friday morning and drove over to the Oak Park RV Service in Salem. On the way out we found a dump station and emptied our holding tanks. We got to Oak Park by 8:30 and parked the coach. Nobody had arrived yet, so we had a bite of breakfast and awaited the owner, TR, and the Norcold Area Representative, who was going to help install the recall modification. The Norcold guy arrived and we chatted until TR showed up. This was TR’s first installation so the Norcold rep had decided to give him a hand. The refrigerator had to be pulled out of the coach to the inside. It’s a two-person job!

They got started and worked for almost two hours getting the frig moved forward into the coach and installing a new temperature sensor, new sheet of insulation around the burner flue, and a new thermistor that attached to the fins on the inside of the frig. We also got a new circuit board and control eyebrow installed. After all that work, the frig seems to operate more efficiently now and seems to cool down faster and better.

Once we got the recall work finished, we hooked up and headed for Harrisburg. It was an easy hour drive to the Service Center, the old Safari Motor Coach factory. We checked in, were assigned a parking site, and settled in to our home for the next week. This Service Center is all but shut down. It is now used by Monaco for all their major paintwork. There are several paint stalls with huge exhaust fans and they keep busy doing repair work. There are only 12 people working at the Peoria Rd. Center and their future is bleak. With the economy and the work situation, they all know their jobs could be in jeopardy of the necessary cutbacks.

We spent a wonderful weekend enjoying the company of my cousin, John and Ruth Anderson. On Monday morning our Service Tech arrived at the coach by 7:30 and drove it in to the shop. He worked most of the day grinding and re-fiber glassing the roof area. On Tuesday he applied paint and clear coat. He had completed the job by Tuesday afternoon! Since we didn’t have any need to get away, they allowed us to stay at the plant until Friday morning. During those days I was able to visit some of the businesses in Eugene and shop for other goodies. We visited Northwest RV Parts, which is a collection of discontinued parts from Monaco and Country Coach. They have old, discontinued part at discounted prices. We found some things that we needed and some we didn’t need but purchased anyway.

On Wednesday morning I took John and Ruth for a tour of the Monaco factory. When we walked through the front door, we were surprised to see Dick and Karen Seal Stewart, formerly from San Diego and the La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club, now living in Prescott, AZ. They were also going on the tour. It was a real kick seeing them again and so far from San Diego! They were traveling in their Allegro Phaeton motor home and were looking at the Monaco products. There were only seven of us on the tour and our guide, Sara Vaughn (yeah, that was really her name - a gorgeous blonde young woman who was extremely knowledgeable about the Monaco products) gave us a great tour. After the tour, Dick and Karen had to head south. The rest of us went over to Harrisburg to a restaurant that is in the old bank building and had a tasty lunch.

The rain started on Thursday night and has continued through the weekend. We left the Peoria Rd. Service Center on Friday morning and drove south to Sutherlin and the Timber Valley Escapee Park to see friends Gary & Shirley Smoot. We were parked on the lot right next to theirs and had a fantastic time catching up. We worked together at Hart Ranch in the summer of ‘07, but they didn’t return this last summer. Instead, Gary has been working on his lease lot in Sutherlin. The deer walk right through the park and sleep under the trees on the lots. We also see wild turkeys walking down the street and perching in the high trees at the back of the lot. We will spend two nights and then go down to Medford for a night to spend some time with Sandy Baleria.

2008-09-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Sept. 10th

Wow! We're on the road again and heading west! It sure feels good to be able to see the country and enjoy the scenery of this amazing part of the U.S. We're taking in every little bit of the trip that we possibly can. The summer ended all too soon. We had some wonderful times in the last two weeks of our Hart Ranch stay. We shared some memorable moments with the friends that we've made and it was a sad departure knowing that it would be almost 7 months before we'd be back. I completed several of the projects around the grounds, including planting over 20 small Colorado spruce trees and clearing the land for the additional storage sites that will be completed this winter. We had several dinners with Bill & Sandy Crawford, Gary & Nancy Gibbs, Bill & Fran Rayner, and Jim & Danette Bohn (she's the Reservations Supervisor at Hart Ranch and they live there all year in their 5th-wheel trailer). We hit the Elks Lodge for their Sunday brunch and their Thursday night chicken dinner. I worked Labor Day and took the next three days off to get the coach ready for the trip. One of our additions to the motor home is a computer desk that has a hanging file drawer, a drawer for the computer printer, and a hiding place to store a few 6-packs of my special brew collection. I got the coach washed and waxed and Dottie did some cleaning chores on the inside.

Friday morning we left Hart Ranch and headed west on I-90. We drove as far as Sheridan, WY and spent the night at the Super Wal-Mart. Our weather was spitting down rain from localized clouds - just enough to get the coach dirty with road grime. When we arrived in Sheridan, there was only one other RV in the parking lot. I checked with the Asst Mgr. to get permission to spend the night and was welcomed by him. By bedtime there were over 12 RVs in the parking lot and two semi trucks. It rained that night and cooled down a lot.

Saturday morning we left Sheridan and drove north to Billings where we topped off the tank at the Flying J truck stop. We continued on to Harlowton and the Chief Joseph City Park. We found a site, checked the electricity, and plugged in. We were in the coach watching TV when everything went off. The electrical monitoring system started going nuts and giving us some erratic readings. I went outside and unplugged. Dottie had a chicken cooking in the electric rotisserie, so I started the generator and let it continue cooking for the next two hours. When the park caretaker came around to collect, I mentioned the power and showed him one of the boxes with reversed polarity. He wasn't aware of the problem, but said he'd try to get somebody out. I didn't have much faith that we'd see anybody and was very surprised to see an electric service truck arrive within the hour. A neutral wire had broken and he had it repaired in a few minutes. We were back in business with good electricity! It also rained that night so I tried to do a quick wash job on the coach the next morning before leaving.

On Sunday we pulled out with overcast skies and drove west toward White Sulphur Springs, Helena, and Missoula. Skies cleared the farther west we traveled and we arrived in Missoula by early afternoon. Our first stop was Bretz RV & Marine to dump the holding tanks and check on propane. They were closed but their dump station was open. We drove down the street to the Super Wal-Mart and parked on the outer perimeter for the evening. I tried to wash off the road grime before we looked for a dinner spot. We found a microbrewery listed on the internet, the Iron Horse Brewing Co. in downtown Missoula. It was a small brewpub that served a delicious burger and some tasty beers. It will be a "must stop" the next time we come through here.

The next morning we readied the coach for travel and drove back the Bretz to top off our propane tank - at .99/gallon!We drove on to Coeur d'Alene and the Elks Lodge. It's a small Lodge on the north end of town with 12 W/E sites. We again looked for a local microbrewery and found the Coeur d'Alene Brewing Co. We drove downtown to check it out and sample some of their brews. They had a vanilla bourbon stout that was wonderfully delicious. I bought a 6-pack of their huckleberry wheat beer and tried their strawberry wheat ale. It was an enjoyable visit, but we returned to the coach for supper. After eating we joined another couple from San Diego for some wine and conversation before it got too dark and cool.

Tuesday morning we left Coeur d'Alene and drove over to Moses Lake, WA and the Pier 4-Sunrise Resort. We arrived and were assigned to a site that looks like a gravel overflow site. We have water and 30-amp electric in a site not really designed for long rigs. However, we're right on the lake and have a magnificent view to the east. It'll be sufficient for our three-day stay and might even be nicer than the close sites on the grass. We hope to be able to see cousin Rachel & Tim Mecham who live here. I am going to go to the Wednesday Moses Lake Rotary meeting and see if the legendary Monte Holmes is still alive. Our next stop is a small park in Wishram, WA right on the Columbia River, followed by two nights at the Milwaukie, OR Elks Lodge. From there we go to Keizer, OR Elks Lodge for two nights and into the Monaco Rally at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.

Here is our travel schedule:

Sept. 9-11 Pier 4-Sunrise Resorts, Moses Lake, WA
12 Wishram, WA City Park
13-14 Milwaukie, OR Elks Lodge (see Don & Bobbie Presten)
15-16 Keiser, OR Elks Lodge
17-25 Monaco Factory Rally, Salem, OR
26-Oct. 1 Monaco Peoria Rd. Service Center
Oct. 2-3 Springfield, OR Elks Lodge
4-5 Timber Valley SKP Coop, Sutherlin, OR (see Gary & Shirley Smoot)
6 Williams, OR (see Bob & Sally Nason)
7-8 Eureka, CA Elks Lodge
9-11 Russian River Thousand Trails (see sister Peg)
12-13 Walnut Creek, CA (see sister Harriet & Skip)1
4-16 Morgan Hill Thousand Trails (see cousin Kate & Keith Nelson)
17-19 Rancho Oso Thousand Trails
20 Palmdale, CA Elks Lodge
21 Palisades Presbyterian Church

All this could change as our schedule is designed for flexibility. We're creating some wonderful memories on this trip and look forward to getting to San Diego.

2008-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Isn’t it amazing how time flies when you’re having fun? Well, I‘ve been busy and we’ve had some wonderful visits from friends in the last month. Plus, it’s been very difficult to sit down and write up an update to send out. The “writing mood” just wasn’t there! Anyway, I need to get another update out and let everybody know what we’ve been doing.

When we got back from Minnesota we had the opportunity to spend some time with some Monaco friends after their rally. Bob & Maribel Clerc and Bill & Kathy Corroum stopped by Hart Ranch and we had some great times with them. One night we had a Monaco gathering under the awning and I BBQ’d some chicken for the gang. There was enough chicken for several meals and plenty of Two Buck Chuck to make the evening enjoyable. Bob Clerc and I made the obligatory Sam’s Club run while the ladies did their shopping routine. Corroums had to leave early and went to Ellsworth AFB for the remainder of their stay in the Black Hills. While they were here Jim & Peggy Grich stopped by for a week’s stay. They produce the American RVer Internet TV Show. They did an episode from Hart Ranch and we had the chance to spend some treasured time with them. Jim liked the Black Hills so much that he bought a new motorcycle while he was here.

Then last Saturday I received a phone call from a former SPPD motorcycle partner, Greg Jebb. He was in Newcastle and on his way to Hart Ranch. We spent some time with Greg & Claudia and enjoyed every minute of their visit. They joined right in with the local crowd that we enjoy for dinners and Happy Hours. We were sorry to see them leave on Thursday morning headed back to San Diego.

A couple of weeks ago one of the park’s residents stopped by the coach to see if I’d be interested in going with him for a short flight. Bob Bienview owns his own airplane and needed to take it out for some exercise. I jumped at the chance to see this area from a different perspective and we left Saturday morning for a quick one-hour flight. We took off from the Rapid City airport and circled over Hart Ranch for some photos. Then we went to Mt. Rushmore followed by Crazy Horse. We then flew north to Sturgis and checked out the Glencoe Campground and the Buffalo Chip. Those are the two venues where the big name entertainment come in to perform. Both of the campgrounds were relatively empty compared to past years. The fuel costs and general economy have really impacted the Sturgis Rally. We were airborne for about an hour, but what an experience to see the area from 3000’ above the ground!

It doesn’t seem possible that the summer is almost over - we’ll be leaving here on Sept. 5th and heading west for the winter. I’ll post our schedule in the next Travelogue. In the mean time we’ve been really busy. The weather has been fantastic this summer! There has been enough moisture to keep all the grounds very green all summer. We have kept the mowers and weed whackers constantly busy and still managed to get some other important projects completed. It’s been a terrific summer!

In two weeks we’ll be on the road again and probably won’t be sending out another Travelogue until then. We’re looking forward to getting back to San Diego, but also feeling some at the thought of leaving Rapid City. We have so many friends here and will be anxious to return in the spring. Like many folks, we’re watching the Olympic coverage on TV and enjoying the quiet (and cool) nights we’ve experienced in the last two weeks.

2008-07-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful July 4th Holiday in Minneapolis! We spent the day with Ed & Cindy Walsh and their daughter, Amber. We met Cindy and Amber at their home and followed them to the city park in Eden Prairie. Ed’s job at Buffets Inc. is full of stress since the company declared bankruptcy. A new Operations Officer is working to bring the company back to solvency and Ed’s job as Chief Security Officer for the corporation offers him so unique challenges. His stress reliever is his part-time avocation as a Reserve Officer for the Eden Prairie Police Dept. He has been doing it long enough to be the Senior Reserve Officer and thoroughly enjoys the responsibilities that accompany that position. On July 4th he was on duty at the park managing the Department’s Mobile Emergency Command Center, a Freightliner truck chassis converted to an emergency operations center. Eden Prairie is an upper middle class community that has a comfortable tax base resulting in some amazing equipment for the emergency services of the City. We took our portable picnic table and cooked some burgers, drank a few cool libations, and enjoyed the entertainment in the park. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the Eden Prairie police officers “talk shop”. It was a wonderfully relaxing day shared with close friends. We finally had to get back to the RV park, so we left around 8:30 before the fireworks show. When we got back to the motor home, the Mystic Casino had their own fireworks show and it was a doozie! Nancy wasn’t too thrilled about all the bangs and explosions, but it was a spectacular show!

On Sunday morning we had to pack the coach and start west to Rapid City. We had enjoyed five of the best weather days that Minneapolis has experienced in years. Sunday morning started to look a little like normal - cool, humid, and a little mist falling. We started back with plans to avoid the interstate and enjoy the US and State highways. We drove over to Marshall and on across the state line to Brookings, SD. As we drove I checked the small towns for city parks and small campgrounds to send updates to my three camping directory sources. We arrived in Brookings about 3PM and settled in at the Sexauer City Park Tourist Campground. It had 30 sites in a nice, quiet, spacious, well-kept park with lots of trees. After cooking dinner we decided to drive in to town and look for the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard for dessert. The city is the home of South Dakota State University and reflects the college influence. It’s a pretty town with one of the most impressive flower garden parks in the Midwest. We were both feeling the humidity that is common for the eastern part of the state, so we headed back to the coach and prepared for bed after some TV time.

Monday we were up with more of the high humidity and mist and started west for our goal of Pierre, the state capitol. We left Brookings and drove through and checked Lake Preston, De Smet, Huron, Miller, Highmore, and finally arrived in Pierre about 2PM. All of these towns had city parks with camping grounds that are very reasonably priced and in beautiful locations. We settled in at the Griffin City Park and drove to the local Wal-Mart for some groceries. Griffin City Park is located right on the Missouri River and has a spectacular view of the moving water. We took the time to drive around the State Capitol Building, one of the most magnificent capitols in the country. The grounds are meticulously manicured and there are several memorials located on the grounds. There is also a South Dakota Cultural Heritage Museum built into the side of a hill on the north side of the grounds. We enjoyed our time in Pierre and would like to spend about three days wandering around at a future time. Looking back we were amazed at how green all the fields were. If there weren’t bales of hay, the grass had been cut and raked into windrows for the balers. This summer most of the farms will get at least two cutting of hay with all the moisture we’ve received.

The next morning we awoke to watch the TV news/weather reports that a large thunderstorm was moving through Rapid City. We could see to the west the clouds were pretty dark, but we pulled out anyway. As we got closer we could see the sun shining and the clouds were moving to the southeast. We got to Rapid City and drove straight to the barber shop. I was in need of a haircut so took care of that chore before we headed out to Hart Ranch. When we arrived I was pleased to see that the park was still in great shape and was still in need of mowing. During the time we were gone, there had been several showers and the grass was still green. We checked in, fueled the coach, and topped off the propane tank. Our trip to Minnesota cost us a little over $700 for fuel, but was a wonderful 9-day break! However, we were ready to get back to work and finish out the summer.

That was Tuesday - on Wednesday I was back working. We’ve been continuously busy keeping the grass under control and keeping park looking attractive to our customers. It’s easy to enjoy work with the crew I work with. We have a group of hard-working guys that share the desire to get projects done and in a timely manner. It’s a lot of fun to work with these guys and makes the time fly by!

This weekend I’ve been going in early to help with the trash collection - one of our guys had some surgery done and isn’t up to working yet. It makes for a long week, but that’s part of the responsibility. After the morning chores it’s been wonderful to sit our under the awning and try to stay awake. Our weekend weather has been superb with light breezes to keep the bugs down and temperatures in the mid- to high 80’s.

This afternoon I had a surprise visit from Steve Glasser, a retired SDPD Motor Officer that I partnered with years ago. He lives down the interstate from us in Black Hawk and rode his Harley over for a visit. It was a kick to see him again and get caught up on all the guys back in San Diego, since he just spent a couple of months there to take care of some family matters. We sat outside in the shade and enjoyed the afternoon.

We don’t have any plans to travel until just after Labor Day when we head for Oregon for the Monaco factory rally. Then we’ll work our way down the coast to San Diego for a couple of months until the first of the year.

2008-07-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

It has been over two months since we arrived at Hart Ranch and I’ve managed to get way behind in our updates. I’ll try to catch up with a reasonable amount of typing and try to keep this update readable with a sensible length.

Work has been steady with our weird, rainy weather. This summer has been the wettest in over six years. Our average rainfall amounts have exceeded the normal averages and we are ahead of the seasonal totals by almost ten inches. All this rainfall has contributed to our job security in that we are mowing twice weekly and having a difficult time keeping up with the growing grass. Our weedeaters are kept busy making the park look like it’s manicured and cared for. We are still getting our afternoon showers with towering cumulus clouds and the occasional pea-sized hail, but then the skies clear and sitting outside under the awning brings a lot of pleasure to the residents. Our occupancy rate is down less than 5% and our cabins are full each weekend.

We have had the opportunity to see visiting RVers that we know come to the park. Rod & Jean Bahnson spent three weeks last April before they headed to Minnesota to work on a church building project for the summer. We saw Wade & Linda Meyers, the president of Monaco International, stop in for a three-day visit. They had planned to stay for a week but had to get on over to Wilmar, MN to prepare for the Monaco Pre-Rally in mid-July.

At our annual membership meeting I was asked to help in barbequing 100 chickens for the member meals. One other fellow and I started at 4:30 in the morning preparing the chickens and finished all of them by 11:00AM. It was a successful feed with lots of compliments for the cooking crew. Then a little over a week ago we cooked 140 hamburgers for the working staff at Hart Ranch. With all the grounds work, the cooking breaks were a lot of fun. It’s a bear to get reputation as the BBQ Chef of Hart Ranch!

We’ve stayed pretty close to the park with all the work, but we have managed to escape for a couple of weekend events. We drove to Lincoln for a June 21st wedding of one of my cousins. I’ve really reached out a long way on the branches of our family tree to meet these young cousins. We stayed with Nancy Obermeyer, a first cousin of my dad. All five kids in her family were there. The youngest sister is only a year younger than me, so it was almost the last of their generation still alive. Nancy had seven kids, and six of them were present for the wedding. She also has 15 grandkids and 13 were there. As you can see, it was a terrific reunion and chance to get to see some of my favorite relatives. We drove the 500 miles to Lincoln straight-thru in our Kia - that was a killer drive, especially when I usually target no more than 200 miles per day. The car ran great and performed better than expected. We saw a reduced number of RVs on the road and the trucks were generally going slower. In fact, I passed most of the trucks since they were only driving 65MPH on an interstate highway with a 75MPH speed limit!

We also saw the results of the tornado that ripped through Kearny, NE a couple of weeks ago. The devastation was unbelievable! We saw metal buildings that had their roofs torn from the structure. I-80 was closed for a couple of hours to re-string high tension power lines across the freeway. It was a scary sight to see all the rubble that was dropped by the tornado.

We are now in Oacoma, SD headed for St. Paul, MN and a gathering of Monaco friends. We will be gone from Hart Ranch for a total of 8 days and be back to work next Tuesday. It’s a welcome break and we are looking forward to all the socializing that will surely take place.

We have become regular attendees of the Rapid City’s First Presbyterian Church. They have a new minister, Rev. Bob Evans. He is recently retired from the US Navy and married to a retired US Army Command Master Sargeant, Gretchen. Both of them are full of energy and are giving the church a real shot in the arm. He has been out to Hart Ranch to visit with us and joined us at Shipwreck Lee’s for dinner. After three beers with me, he said he really needed to be able to sit down and relax at a tasty dinner. We’re enjoying his preaching method and his friendship. We explained that we were not ready to join the church as we have a church in San Diego that really feels like home to us. He is comfortable with that and knows that we will support him and the church while we’re in this area. We’re slowly becoming involved in some of the activities in the church, other than Sunday services. There is a walking group that meets every other Saturday and hikes to some of the more scenic points in the Black Hills. We hope to get involved with some of the other groups that meet during the week.

However, that being our goal, it may be difficult. My daily schedule involves up at 5AM. I’m in the shop by 6:15 to get things ready, and work until 3:30. When I get home I’m usually beat and look forward to a hot shower, a short nap, and “relaxant” or two, and bed by 9 at the latest. It’s a vigorous schedule that I love because we’re getting things done. Our Grounds team is a great group of guys that enjoy working and do an excellent job. They’re a joy to be around and rewarding to work with.

I guess that brings you all up to date. We’re enjoying our summer and really don’t want it to end. This part of the country treats us well and we hate the thought of leaving. But the snows and cold of winter will make it easy to return to the balmy weather of San Diego!!

2008-05-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 2nd

We have had our first initiation to Midwest blizzard conditions! Last night we watched the weather forecast and expected to see some rain turning to snow later in the evening. When we went to bed, we were experiencing rain and lots of wind. As the hours passed into early Friday morning, the rain changed to snow and was being driven by 40-50 MPH winds. At 2AM I was awakened when the electricity went out. We had a series of outages for about 30 minutes until the power finally went out and stayed out. I decided not to worry about the loss of electricity and started the generator. I’ve been a pretty frugal person when it comes to burning propane for the furnace or diesel fuel for the generator. However, it was cold and I needed the power for my CPAP machine.

Nancy was really getting hinky about the wind rocking the coach. At gusts of 40-50 MPH, this coach rocks quite a bit. She was not relaxing and was walking between the head of the bed and somewhere close to me where she could push right in and feel secure. By 3AM I couldn’t see out any of the windows due to the horizontal snowfall we were experiencing. The snow was packing on the windows and beginning to stick to the ground. The wind was causing the snow to drift resulting in a pile of snow that was almost 3’ high outside the passenger’s side of the coach.

We managed to get some sleep the remainder of the night and I was up by 6AM. I went ahead and dressed in thermals and two sweat suits with a hooded jacket, knit cap, and thermal waterproof gloves. I walked over to the Maintenance shed to see what I could do to help. Our Maintenance Supervisor brought a cooler with a dozen eggs, two loaves of bread, syrup and some deer sausage. He designated me the cook and to start preparing some breakfast for the guys that were working. I scrounged up an electric skillet and hot plate and started cooking. We had a terrific breakfast of sausage and French toast. While the rest of the guys started out to attempt to plow the snow off the roads, I got KP duty and cleaned up the dishes and the “kitchen”. The wind continued to blow the snow and the plowing efforts were almost fruitless. I remained in the shop to pump propane for the folks that were running low. Many of the trailers don’t have generators and were running low on their propane tanks. We had two trucks going to sites where people needed propane. They would get the tanks, bring them to the shop, and I would fill them before they were returned to the owner with full tanks. With the hooded jackets and sweatshirt I could fight the wind-blown snow and stay reasonably comfortable while I pumped the propane. That was my job for the remainder of the day - until about 4PM. Since we weren’t able to get any of the trashcans emptied today, I’ll be working on Saturday to get the trash completed.

As I’m typing this, the sun is beginning to set and some of the snow has melted on the surrounding hills and in the streets of our park. The temperature is supposed to get down to 22 degrees tonight with winds continuing in 30-40 MPH range. We are comfortable, warm, and secure in our coach. Nancy is amazed by the snow and we are glad this event will last only one day. The weather gurus are forecasting temperatures of 46 on Saturday and 59 on Sunday. This weather system will move on east and we’ll anticipate some great temperatures next week causing us to mow the watered grass.

A phone call from Vicki & Don Leith was a real shocker today. She phoned to tell us their brand, new house had been destroyed by the tornadoes that ripped through Arkansas. They lost the new house and their car, but the motor home survived with minor damage to one of the mirrors. They, however, survived without a scratch! The house is just a thing - their lives are much more important. We were saddened to hear their news and will think of them as they are going to have to start over again rebuilding their dream house.

Yes, South Dakota is a unique experience! We are having a ball and learning how lucky you SoCal folks are…

2008-04-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 26th

It’s almost 6PM as I sit here writing this latest edition - I’m thinking about all you Southern Californians basking in your 80 degree weather. As I look out the window of our motor home, I’m watching the snow come down almost horizontally and beginning to stick to the ground. It’s a beautiful ending to a rather cool week, but we’ll all be glad when we have warm weather again. I tried to get a photo of the phenomenon but I couldn’t get a good picture. The snow is finally letting up as it has only been dropping the big white flakes for about twenty minutes. Our outside temperature is about 35 degrees and it’s warm and comfortable in the coach. If any of you have followed the national weather, you will remember the storm front that passed through the eastern side of the state last night and left up to 8” of snow in Mitchell and Huron. We had only some wind and light rain with that system, but it has been windy, cold, and definitely NOT an outside day today!

We have been here for a little over a week now. We had one day with the temperature up in the 60’s, but the remainder of the days have been cool and windy. That is the nature of spring in South Dakota. If you don’t like the weather, just wait for a few minutes and it will change. The wind has been blowing every day with speeds of anywhere from 20-35 miles per hour. It really rocks the coach when the breezes get brisk and makes the temperature feel 20 degrees lower. Amazingly our little electric heater does a great job of keeping the inside of the coach comfortable. At night we sleep under a couple of blankets and a warm down comforter. That doesn’t even consider the little warm body that radiates a lot of heat when she crashes between us on the bed.

In spite of the weather we have been doing a lot of work outside. We even mowed the grass earlier this week and will probably have to get the mowers running again on Monday. Our Maintenance crew is only six of us so far. There are supposed to be three more fellows arrive before the fifteenth of May. We could probably get along fine with the guys we have since our workload isn’t all that great yet. Plus, we have some new equipment that will ease the workload a great deal.

We had originally planned to purchase another new lawn mower - a Hustler zero degree radius turn mower with a Kawasaki engine and a five foot cut. We have two of those that have been purchased in the last two years. Instead of getting a new one, Kevin, the Maintenance Supervisor, purchased a used John Deere diesel-engine gang mower with an 11’ cut. It does an incredible job of cutting grass and throwing the clippings out the rear of the deck. It is a little more difficult to steer and keep a straight line. I prefer to cut grass and keep a meticulous straight line so the lawn looks manicured. It’s very difficult to keep the lines straight with this new mower. In the front of the Lodge where the first sight of the park is absorbed by our visitors I always want the lawn to be detailed and perfect in it’s cut pattern. I know, it’s a little anal of me to be that way, but that is the way it looks the best. Last year Gary Smoot and I shared that goal of mowing the grass so it was perfect in its design. I’m trying to continue that effort this year. It will probably require me to use the Hustler mower on that front section and possibly on the grounds behind the Lodge. However I’ll use the John Deere on the back portions of the Center Court to speed up the cutting process. Two of us mowed the whole park in 2 days last week so the Deere really is an effective tool.

I have been wearing blue jeans all week due to the cool weather. I even threw on some thermal bottoms last week and a watch cap to keep my ears from getting too cold. Sweatshirts are the dress of the day with these cool temps. And, of course, gloves are a necessity to keep your fingers thawed. We’ve formed up 12 concrete pads for our trash cans, picked up several truck loads of pine cones and blown-down branches, mowed the whole grounds, and even cleaned up a new room which will be our wood shop. We’ve gotten a lot accomplished in the cold weather and we’re all looking forward to the warming trend that will start on Sunday. On Thursday of next week we’ll be getting another cold front coming from the Pacific Northwest and could get more rain. We need all the wet weather we could get, but it slows down our progress on the outside jobs.

The park is beginning to fill as the summer regulars are beginning to arrive. Many of the seasonal workers have arrived and we are seeing many of the sites begin to be occupied. There are several of the folks that were here last year that won’t be returning - some of those we won’t miss. Others are going to be missed a lot!

Oh, well, treasure your warm weather - we still have the potential for some more rain and even snow. Dottie and I will be thinking of all of you. She is managing to stay busy around the coach and doing some of her projects that she’s had on the back burner. Nancy still gets nervous when the wind blows and starts the coach to rocking, but she seems to enjoy having somebody at home all the time.

As I said, if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. It’s almost 6:30 and the sun is shining and melting the snow flakes that had settled on the green grass. What a beautiful sight!!!

2008-04-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 19th

We drove to Cody, NE on Monday afternoon. When we arrived we found their city park and RV sites. There were three electric boxes with 50-amp hookups. However, the water wasn’t turned on yet. The town of Cody is very small - however, it has a bar and grill. We thought about staying there for the night, but I decided to move on the Gordon, NE. Gordon was listed in my references as having a city park with hookups and was only another 50 miles of driving. We pressed on and couldn’t find the listed park. So, we ended up paying for a full hookup site in a local RV park. It was a good decision as I was able to wash the coach and the car to get the worst of the previous day’s rain and road crud cleaned off. We also had 50-amp electric and Dottie was able to wash a couple of loads of clothes.

Gordon is a quaint little town that has problems with revenue-raising and the expenses necessary to keep a regional center going. It has a hospital that has difficulty keeping a doctor on the staff. Most of the residents are retired farmers who have moved in to town and are reaching the age of medical problems. I heard a radio talk program about the challenges faced by the hospital board in retaining a good general practice doctor.

We spent the night and departed on Tuesday morning about 9AM. We drove to Chadron and the local Super Wal-Mart. There were a few things we needed so we stopped and spent some time shopping. When we continued our drive north on SD-79, we were fighting a wind the remainder of the way. We got Hart Ranch by 12:30 and checked in. It was good to be back and the park looked great for this early in the season.

We’ve seen lots of folks we know and have gotten the word on the new manager. She seems to have made quite an impression with all the supervisors by her management techniques. The Board of Directors will have some challenges in front of them if they want to retain their supervisory staff. I haven’t met her yet, but it sounds like she’ll either have some changing and adjusting to do or we’ll have a new manager in the near future.

I started working on Thursday and am anxious to get going. We have a new lawn mower to use that should cut down our mowing time. Instead of a 5’-cut zero-degree-turn mower, this is a John Deere gang mower with three blade housings and drives like a tractor. It is in excellent shape and should be a big help in the mowing task.

The park is still fairly empty but looks great. I am anticipating a fun-filled summer and getting a lot of projects accomplished much like last year. Our Maintenance Staff is shaping up to be a good one again this year and there is a lot of talent that will be available. We still aren’t out of the woods for potentially rough weather, but so far it has been wonderfully warm. We’re home for the summer!!

2008-04-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 14th

We left Nancy’s house and Milford on Thursday afternoon and started our drive of about 90 miles to Genoa, NE and cousin Ike Anderson’s place. Before we left Ike phoned and suggested we meet him in York, NE for lunch with him, sister Harriet and Dave Maser. They live in Sutton and we hadn’t seen them since last August at the family reunion in Lincoln. We met Ike at the Super Wally and he drove us to a small Chinese restaurant nearby.

The drive from Milford was rainy as a new frontal system was approaching from the west and threatened rain and possible snow flurries that evening. I drove I-80 at my usual slow pace and let the speeders go on by. By the time we arrived in York, the coach had been exposed to plenty of water from the trucks and cars passing us. We pulled in to the Super Wally lot and waited for Ike. The rain increased in intensity as we drove further west . Our lunch was almost two hours with all the visiting we did. It was a pleasant surprise to see Harriet and get some time with her.

We finally finished our visits and Ike drove us back to the coach. He went on ahead and we followed at our slower pace. Before we arrived in Genoa, Ike phoned to tell us that the park in Genoa looked OK for parking and that we would be the only occupants. We arrived about ten minutes later and got our parking routine handled. Ike had driven on home but returned shortly and assisted me in getting hooked up. Once we were settled in, we started visiting and watched the rain transform to huge snowflakes. The outside temperature was still warm enough that the snow didn’t stick, but it made for a pretty picture. We stayed at the coach that night to rest and watch some TV. We had only a 20amp electrical hookup which limited us on what appliances we could use. Our TV was working great on Lincoln channels with the antenna, so we were comfortable for the evening.

Friday morning we awoke to frost on the ground without snow. The wind was blowing and continued throughout the day. It continued to rain with reports of snow just a few miles north of us. I was able to dig out some of our warm clothes that were packed away in a storage bay. The London Fog jacket I’d gotten form cousin Paul Anderson was put to good use in the 28-degree temperature. We spent some time with Ike and Dorothy at their new house in Genoa. We had seen the house last August, but they weren’t moved in yet. They left the farm and moved in to town. The house actually gave me my first yearnings for a fixed location. It gives them plenty of room for entertaining and being close to the activities that Ike is involved in. It is beautifully furnished and each of them are very happy with the move. We enjoyed dinner at one of Genoa‘s two restaurants. I found that I was able to connect to a local wi-fi near Ike’s house, so I was able to download email and get some catching up done.

Saturday Ike and I had breakfast at the Great Plains Café, and then went to his house to tackle a project in his garage. We installed some bracing and shelving in his back garage shed for some overhead storage. It was a project that took most of the day as we were on ladders for the majority of the work. We had a great time and accomplished a very satisfying task. The girls went down to Grand Island to see Ike’s daughter. Dinner that night was after church services at another bar/restaurant in town. Genoa has about four bars and a couple of restaurants. It is a typical small town where everybody knows everybody else. It’s always fun to see some of the regulars that we have gotten to recognize from past visits.

Sunday morning we slept in and Ike visited us about 10:00am. He invited us to breakfast at the Great Plains with Dorothy, so we rushed our cleanup and joined them at their house. After breakfast, we went to the coach, secured it for traveling, and drove over to their house again. I was able to get online and download mail for the last time before we said our farewells and struck out for O’Neill, NE for the night. The weather was turning warm and beautiful. We had a slight headwind and observed the increasing signs of heavier snowfall as we drove about 65 miles north of Genoa. We arrived in O’Neill about three hours later and parked in the Carney Park, a city park south of town with 50amp electric. After our early dinner, we drove back to ton in the car for a blizzard at the Dairy Queen. I took my laptop on the chance I might find an open wi-fi. The owner of the DQ saw me as I discovered a signal in the DQ and explained that many of the businesses purchased laptops for all the juniors and seniors in the local high school. Several of the businesses have established a wi-fi connection in their stores for the use of the kids.

The drive up to O’Neill and west on US-20 to Valentine was a pleasurable trip. We see all the snow on the ground and on the side of the highway, but nothing on the roadway itself. The roads are in excellent shape and dry. But the surrounding farmland still has patches and snowdrifts very visible. I had heard that there was 3-5” of snow that had fallen and I believe it was at least that much. It makes the drive through the Nebraska Sand Hills a real experience and gives a different look to the landscape. We stopped in Valentine at the McDonald’s to sample their dollar menu for lunch on Monday and discovered an open wi-fi signal. So, this latest edition will be sent out using their internet connection. I really appreciate these free wi-fi connections!!

Our travel schedule has us in Cody, NE Monday night and Hart Ranch on Tuesday. Cody is a short 150-mile drive to the west on US-20, and another 150 miles to Rapid City on Tuesday. Our weather forecasts call for some excellent weather the next few days with temperatures in the mid-70’s. We are proud to be able to bring the good weather with us - yeah, right! The next Travelogue will be from Hart Ranch outside of Rapid City. We’ll finally be home!!!!

2008-04-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 10th

The Wichita cousins really outdid themselves with their hospitality and warmth. We had a wonderful dinner of hamburgers cooked out on the grill at cousin Mary’s house. Her 33-year-old son, Justin, did the honors of cooking and brought a salad he’d made. He prides himself on his cooking talent and truly does an excellent job! We all had dinner and made plans for breakfast the following morning. When we arose the next morning, we drove downtown to the Hyatt Hotel and met Jim & Linda for a fantastic breakfast buffet. The hotel is located on the Arkansas River where the City of Wichita is actively redeveloping and creating a pedestrian-friendly environment and a tourist attraction. We enjoyed breakfast as we watched the river activities and the early morning joggers/walkers take advantage of the concrete sidewalks along the riverbank.

Once breakfast was done and we had said our goodbyes, we drove back to the coach, packed up, and headed north for Hebron, NE. Along the way we stopped in Salina, KS at the last Flying J for a while and topped off the fuel tank. We were in and out of light showers for the duration of the drive in to Nebraska. Once again, when we crossed the state line, I had this unusual feeling of being home again. We drove on to Hebron, home of the largest porch swing, and to the Riverside City Park. The park has about 16 large, level, grassy RV sites with 30-amp electric and water. I picked a site where I could get satellite reception and decided to pull straight in. The ground was just a bit soft from the rains they’ve received and I was concerned that our 18-ton coach might sink into the ground. We got parked and set up to enjoy a quiet evening meal. The next day we found that the Phillips 66/Runza/Subway store on US-81 had an open wi-fi. I was able to connect and get my emails retrieved and some sent out. The weather forecasters were talking of rain that evening, so we decided to move out of the site and onto the hard-packed ground of the driveway. I could still reach the electric and water hookups so we prepared for a night of wind and rain. The rains didn’t start until the next morning as we were ready to pull out. The park has a dump station so we drained the holding tanks for our week in Milford.

It was only an 81-mile drive to Milford and cousin, Nancy Obermeyer’s acreage. She was working but we pulled in to the driveway and got the coach hooked up to electric and water. When Nancy got home about 2:30, she wanted to go to Lincoln and the Super Wally, Sam’s Club, and PetSmart. We got the errands handled and stopped at Misty’s for dinner. Misty’s is a small microbrewery and pub that makes their own beers. They are known for their prime rib so we decided to sample their specialty. Their beer sampler was outstanding and the prime rib was so tender it could be cut with a fork. Lincoln is a college town, home of the University of Nebraska. The college influence is prevalent in the downtown district where most of the older buildings are being renovated to an upscale dining and shopping area. Misty’s is located in one of those older buildings and has a unique atmosphere with outstanding service by the college wait staff.

Friday afternoon we went to a track meet in Malcomb, NE, about 15 miles from Milford. Austin, Nancy’s grandson, was running and accomplished a couple of meet records in the sprints. After the meet we drove home talking about the steaks I’d cook outside on the BBQ. As we drove by Shari’s Bar & Grill in Milford, we saw the sign out front advertising their fish special. Well, it didn’t take long to decide to stop and partake of the fried fish for $7.50/person. It was a tasty dinner in a quaint, quiet, neighborhood atmosphere. Shari’s is an old bar that the new owners are trying to convert to a neighborhood grill. The food was tasty, the price was right, and the ambience was small town friendly.

Saturday we did some chores around the house and waited for Nancy to get off work. We needed to go back to Lincoln and Sam’s Club to check on a couple of items. Austin, his girlfriend Megan, Nancy, Dottie and I drove in and stopped at Lazlo’s, another Lincoln microbrew pub, for dinner. Lazlo’s is affiliated with The Empyrean Brewing Co., a regional microbrewery that distributes their beers in the Midwest. Lazlo’s is located in the Haymarket District of Lincoln, near the old train depot. It is much like Misty’s - the old buildings are amazing with the original brick fascias, updated ceiling fans for cooling, and brick streets. We all stuffed ourselves on the wonderful food. I had the beer sampler platter that gave me 3-oz. samples of all eight beers from Empyrean Brewing Co. It was a great way to taste their variety of beers. For dessert we walked to a homemade ice cream store for some scrumptious ice cream flavors. The ice cream is made daily and was absolutely wonderful.

Sunday morning we drove in to Lincoln again to attend church at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, the church where we were members 50 years ago. I didn’t recognize anybody in the church but enjoyed the chance to see the grand old sanctuary that I remember as a child. After church we drove to SE Lincoln to check out Lazlo’s South. Dottie and I split a sandwich and had a couple of their ales. We also did some shopping at the Loew’s and Menard’s looking for a pressure tank for the coach water system. When we got home, Austin came over and we washed three cars and the motor home. Nancy got home from work and cooked a pork loin for supper. After supper we all loaded into her car and drove about 35 miles to Hickman.

Nancy has wanted a St. Bernard puppy and found some advertised in the Sunday paper. She picked out a cute little female and became the proud owner of white/tan/brown St. Bernard she calls Sophie. It is a 7-week old pup that is cute as can be. I’ve reminded Nancy that she now has a baby to care for and she has a challenge before her. The pup did great the first night and seems to be adjusting well to her new home. Her paws are HUGE but she’s a beautiful little dog - for the time being. It’s fun watching this little girl, but persistence and patience are a necessity with this new dog. She has her own bed and likes retiring to the safety of her pad. Austin will be a big help in the training and monitoring of her.

Monday Nancy finally had the first of two days off. We gathered her three dogs, loaded them into the car, and drove to Seward to the vet’s office. All three dogs needed some attention, some inoculations, and a good check-up. Nancy has another house dog, a Scottie, and an outside dog, a Black Lab. Now she’ll have a second dog to keep her company in the house and have to go through the house-breaking routine. Ugh!!

Nancy is also looking seriously at a new car. She has been checking out the Jeep Patriot. The local dealer is really helping her get the things that she wants and needs, so we made a visit this afternoon. She’ll order the car with a special color and I’m trying to give her some guidance in what options she might need. We’re going to get a GPS off the internet so she can also use it in her other car. We got the Garmin GPS ordered and it arrived on Thursday afternoon after we left Milford.

2008-04-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 2nd

It’s about time that I sit down and catch up on our travels. We have been on the road for almost a week and have a few changes to our plans and modifications in our destinations. As I type this, we’re parked at the Elks Lodge in Wichita, KS.

We sadly left The Caverns, the good friends, and the warm weather. We traveled across southern Arizona into New Mexico and arrived at the Low-Hi Ranch. When we checked in we were lucky to have a reservation - the coming week was the Loners-on-Wheel Rally and they were scheduled to have a full park. We got parked and hooked up before we joined the potluck at 5:30. Dottie was able to cook up a batch of brownies and we ate some scrumptious food. It appeared that we were the “kids” in the group, but we sat with some amiable folks and enjoyed the dinner conversation. I took along a full bottle of “Two Buck Chuck” and shared a couple of glasses with some of the folks. We retired to the coach for some TV and an early night.

The next morning, Tuesday, we struck out across NM26 toward Hatch, home of some of the finest chili peppers you’ll ever find. We observed that the New Mexico desert differs from the Arizona desert by the colors - the Arizona desert is beginning to show the spring colors of the vibrant purples and oranges. The New Mexico desert has a lot of green - both in the color of the plants and the numbers of low-lying plants. Spring is about to present itself in the deserts and it’s a remarkable sight!

We arrived in Truth or Consequences and finally found the Elks Lodge. It wasn’t very inviting, so I decided we would press on to Belen and the Lodge where we stayed two years ago. When we reached Belen, the Lodge look closed and empty. I searched for an electrical outlet and couldn’t reach the single outlet in back. So, we continued on to Albuquerque for a total of 237 miles that day. We arrived at the Albuquerque Elks Lodge in time to find the last hook-up site available. We got settled in and went inside to register and find out about the steak dinner and induction meeting that night. The next day we visited our old neighborhood where we lived and worked some thirty years ago. We drove past our old house - it hasn’t changed much since then. The storefront where I managed House of Fabrics was still there, but the businesses in the small strip center have all changed. We found some of the old favorite restaurants that are still in business and visited Kelly’s Liquor Store where the clerks all used to carry side arms. They are in a new location now and the weapons aren’t visible any more.

That afternoon we met our Albuquerque folks, Ed & Faye Lybarger. We drove over to Ed’s house and then went to the assisted-living facility where Faye now lives. Faye appears to have given up on living and has 24-hour care for herself. Ed is still at home and spends the majority of his time working on projects with his son, Roy. They are in the midst of restoring an older Ford pickup truck from the bottom up. It’s quite a mission of love and a lot of time spent repairing or replacing parts. After spending time with Faye, we went to one of our favorites, The Owl Restaurant, for a chili cheeseburger. It was an enjoyable afternoon seeing old friends and getting caught up.

On Thursday morning we struck out for Tucumcari. After topping off the fuel tank with diesel at $3.93/gal., we had a strong wind from the west pushing us all the way across the eastern mountains of New Mexico and arrived in Tucumcari by 1PM. I decided to break the schedule and press on to Amarillo for the night. We crossed into the Central Time Zone going in to Texas and arrived in Amarillo by 5PM after nearly 295 miles. Our first stop was a truck stop to dump our grey water tank. We drove back about a half mile to a Super Wal-Mart and parked for the night. We one of about twenty Rvs parked in the lot and had a quiet night.

The next morning the winds had changed and were coming at us from the northeast. We continued east on I-40 to Oklahoma City and the Elks Lodge. It’s a beautiful, old Lodge with a private parking space and an electrical outlet on the backside. Rick & Joanne Stone came over to pick us up for dinner and show us around the town. We had a great steak dinner at The Cattlemen’s Restaurant followed by a trip to the old restored part of town. It looks much like the efforts that San Diego has accomplished in the Gaslamp Area of downtown. Oklahoma City has built a ballpark and a restored area of the downtown with attempts to keep the older buildings intact. It was fun to walk around the area and see the many improvements that have been made. Then the Stones took us to the sight of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. That is a sight to take in! The Memorial Wall is emotional and the lighted chairs of all the victims are a stunning reminder of what was lost in that terrible event. It’s a moving experience to see it first-hand!
The Stones were wonderful hosts and Rick is very proud of his city. We will always remember the exposure to the sights and sounds of Oklahoma City! Our evening ended with goodbyes and hopes to see them again soon.

The next morning, Saturday the 29th, we left the Oklahoma City Elk’s Lodge and immediately encountered a lengthy delay due to road construction on I-35. We eventually got through it and stopped at the Flying J to top off the tank. Fuel in Oklahoma is the least expensive we’ve seen at $3.72/gallon. We continued north to the state line and topped off again at $3.80/gallon. And, sure enough, as soon as we crossed in to Kansas, the prices were at least .20/gallon more! We’ll have one more Flying J to use in Salina, KS before we hit Nebraska.

We continued north to Wichita and the Elk’s Lodge. It’s an old Lodge in a strip center. There are 15-amp outlets along the outside of the building. After a phone call to David Noah, the Lodge Secretary, he arrived and turned on the outlets. However, all of them showed an open ground, so I hesitated to plug in. He gave me a key to the water spigot so we have water available to us if we need it. We didn’t hook up our electrical cord, though. We’ve had the chance to spend some premium time with two of my favorite cousins, sisters Linda Kreiser and Mary Turner. They have been absolutely warm and wonderful to see and share some time with them. We have had some outstanding dinners with them at Linda’s house and will share a meal tonight at Mary’s house. Yesterday morning we had the privilege of joining them for church and Sunday school at a Methodist church. We are parked right across the street from a Habit-for-Humanity Village and will probably touch base with them before we leave tomorrow. Wichita has been a lot fun in spite of the rainy weather and cool temperatures.

2008-03-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 22nd

Our time to start moving is nearing. We are approaching the end of our two-week stay at The Caverns and we’ve loved every minute of it. It seems we have done very little, but we really have accomplished a lot. I’ve managed to completely wax the coach, do some small repairs and upkeep maintenance, and gotten some serious relaxing practiced.

When we arrived we expected to meet Jack & Carole Morgan, a Monaco couple we know and enjoy. They were in the park, but were experiencing some low voltage electrical problems attributed to the park’s electrical wiring. When we arrived we found a note taped to the electrical box on our assigned site. They had two days of low voltage and didn’t want to risk a damaged circuit board on any of their appliances. I always use our Autoformer transformer when we’re here at The Caverns. When the park updated to 50-amp electrical service, they added one copper wire line and didn’t replace the aluminum wire line already in place. It creates a low voltage situation when the temps drop and everybody is using electrical heaters. Our Autoformer boosts the voltage to a proper level at the expense of amperage. Bottom line is that an Autoformer can be a great tool to keep the voltage from dropping too low and damaging any appliances. The Morgans decided to move on east to Willcox, so we missed them. We were surprised to hear from David & Lana Greer who were about 8 miles down the road from us so we spent a day with them touring Tombstone. Then this week we got a call from Bob & Marlene Rea that they were in Benson. So we got together with them and Bill & Sandy Crawford for a Thursday night dinner at one of the great Oriental buffets in Sierra Vista. It was a terrific reunion with some treasured friends.

The park is winding down for the season as many of the regular residents will be departing and heading north to their summer homes. The activities are dropping off and the meals have ceased. We have met some wonderful folks here and going to miss the fun that we have. We’ve made one trip to Tucson to get some serious shopping done, but Sierra Vista has almost everything a person would need. We’ll be looking forward to getting back to this area next winter.

We will be leaving on Monday morning and going to Deming, NM and the Low-Hi Ranch, the home park for the Loners-on-Wheels, a group of older singles that meet there every year. We’ll spend one night and hopefully have the time to visit the St. Claire Winery to get a couple of bottles of wine. They will custom mix wine to your taste so we’ll have the chance to get our own mix of red wine.

On Tuesday we’ll drive to Truth or Consequences, NM and the Elk’s Lodge for one night. Then on Wednesday we’ll drive to Albuquerque for two nights at the Elk’s Lodge. On Friday we drive to the Tucumcari, NM Elk’s Lodge for one night, Liberal, KS Elk’s Lodge for one night, and Wichita, KS Elk’s Lodge for two nights. There we’ll get the opportunity to see one of my favorite cousins, Linda Cain-Kreiser. After that visit we’ll drive to Hebron, NE for two nights at the Riverside City Park. Then we’ll go up to Milford, NE for a week with another cousin, Nancy Anderson-Obermeier, on her acreage. By April 15th we’ll be back in Rapid City. Hopefully the snow and cold weather will be over and we’ll be ready to go to work.

Speaking of weather, we have enjoyed some fantastic sunny days with temps in the high 70’s and cool nights. Last week we actually had nighttime temps down to the high 20’s, but it warmed up during the day. We have been very fortunate to be able to enjoy these warm days and spend a lot of time outside.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We will miss our friends at Palisades Presbyterian Church and the church service and message that Harvey Throop will deliver. We’ll be thinking of all of our friends and remembering what Easter is all about.

Don’t forget - “we must live each day as our last, for it's not enough to merely survive, we must thrive. The clock is ticking for each of us. Make each day count. Have a purpose in life. Donate time, money, love and prayers for others. And remember, time waits for no one.” DB

2008-03-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 9th

We are back on the road again!! Our nine days in San Diego was just too short! We really miss the church family and the good friends we have that we see on a regular basis while we’re there. But we DO have wheels on our house, and it is time to start thinking about returning to our summer home in the Black Hills.

I was able to get down to South San Diego and have lunch with my old SDPD partner, Carl Maupin. Carl has taken on the responsibility of being the property manager of one of the newest and largest shopping centers in San Diego. He obviously has a lot of fun in his work and enjoys the routine of the daily challenges. I told him he needs to think about retiring and relaxing before his age and health catch up to him, but he still insists that he enjoys his work and the responsibilities that accompany the job. And Danny Hollister, one of my SDPD sergeants, dropped by on his BMW motorcycle. We had a good talk and got all caught up on the “haps” at the Department.

On Wednesday morning, the 5th, we packed the coach and left the church about 9:30. It was tough saying goodbye to Pastor Harvey Throop and Janice, my favorite secretary. They have become close friends and we’ll miss them both. We pulled out onto I-8 headed east and immediately encountered some northerly crosswinds. We drove over the mountains and down to the desert floor where the winds continued. We simply slowed down to 50-55 MPH and took the trip easy. We arrived in Yuma about 2PM. When we got to Yuma, we drove to Super Fuels - a small fuel dealer that sells about 10-15 cents lower than the local market price. I was able to fuel up both the car and the coach. Diesel fuel was about $3.11/gallon (compared to California prices approaching $3.79-$3.99/gallon). We had to wait in line to get in to the fuel islands, but the people were very courteous and helpful in getting us positioned to refuel both vehicles. Once we were topped off, we drove east to the Yuma foothills where we stayed for two nights with Roger and Ilse Elliott. They are friends of Archie & Pami Trott, another Monaco couple we have known for years. The Elliotts have a lot with all the developments - including a park model home, lots of concrete, and city sewer. They may be thinking of selling in the future, so we wanted to look over their lot. When we pulled up, Roger met us and told us to count on having dinner with them that night. Bear in mind that we’d never met them before, and they were the most gracious hosts to us. We had a terrific pork loin dinner and retired early.

Thursday morning we were up early and wanted to drive around the area looking at available lots for sale. We saw many, but really need to spend some time in Yuma with a realtor to see what’s for sale and the prices. We eventually meandered over to the Yuma Market Place, a giant swap meet and wandered through there for a couple of hours. We then returned to the Elliotts. About 2:30 Ilse invited us to join them on the “Whiskey Road” tour. We started at a little cocktail lounge where we met several of their friends, and proceeded on to a couple of more homes of other friends for more libations. It was interesting meeting all these winter visitor folks and seeing the improvements they’ve done on their homes. We were back at the coach by 7PM and settled down to some TV and a light dinner.

Friday morning we up and ready to leave by 9:30. Ilse asked us to stay until Sunday, at least, but we explained that we had needed to keep our reservations intact. We thanked them for their wonderful hospitality and departed. We took it east going across the desert and marveled at the color due to the recent rains. About 40 miles west of Gila Bend a trucker went by and was signaling to us about the Kia. I checked the mirrors and could see nothing wrong. As I put on the turn signal to pull over to the shoulder, I saw the white smoke emanating from the left front tire. It had suffered a sidewall failure and was destroyed. I set out my three cones and started digging for the jack and tire iron. I replaced the damaged tire with the spare, loaded up the remains into the car, and drove into Gila Bend. We decided to pass up a lunch stop and continue to Casa Grande. We arrived at the Western Horizons Desert Shadows RV Park about 3PM. We were able to check in and get located near some other Monaco friends, Bob & Marlene Rea. Marlene told us she had dinner ready for us (Wow! Was that ever a wonderful surprise!) and to come over with a drink whenever we got everything settled. It didn’t take long - I was both tired and hungry! We had tasty dinner with them and retired again for an early evening.

Saturday morning I was up and ready to get tires replaced. We drove 30 miles up the road to Chandler to the Sam’s Club and bought two new Michelin tires. I took the relatively new front tire off the passenger side and it is now our spare. The new Michelins ride well and we have the peace of mind of two new tires.

It’s interesting that I purchased a tire pressure monitoring set in January, but it hasn’t yet been shipped. There is an issue of new technology and the set should be arriving any day to our San Diego address. Mother will have to forward it to us when it arrives - hopefully soon! How timely that we would have a blowout AFTER I have ordered this new “safety item” and it hasn’t been installed yet! Anyway, we hope to have it in the next week or so. It probably would have saved us the expense of two new tires.

One of the maintenance items on our coach was the metal-braided hose for the handheld shower. The metal braiding has finally broken and we needed to replace the hose. I checked the internet for prices and was shocked at how much a brass-colored hose costs. We drove down to Home Depot today and they don’t have brass replacement hoses. So, we drove across the street to Lowe’s and found a whole new hand-held shower (with 72” hose) and purchased that. We’ll find out how nice the shower head is once we take showers. I was also able to do some work on a wood box that Dave Dyas built for me. It fits in the empty space between the generator and the generator door. He built a solid, beautiful wooden box that can carry some of my extra hoses, engine belts, engine filters, and water filters. I needed to drill and install a couple of support screws to firmly hold the box in place. I finally got that accomplished this afternoon.

We will leave Casa Grande tomorrow and drive down to Sierra Vista. I received a phone call this afternoon from Jack & Carole Morgan - Jack wanted to warn me that they are in Sierra Vista at the same park we will be staying in. It’s good to hear Jack’s voice and we look forward to seeing them down there. We’ll also be seeing Bob & Marlene Rea in a little over a week and will get to see Dave & Marie Ostrander when they return.

Our travel schedule has changed a bit - I’m a bit worried about the weird weather that has been hitting the lower Midwest. We probably aren’t going to make it to Arkansas as planned. We’ve decided to hunker down in Sierra Vista for two weeks, then go to Albuquerque, and on up to Wichita, Lincoln, and Rapid City. We’ll still arrive at Hart Ranch on April 15th, but have some flexibility to park for a while if we encounter some foul weather. It’s a disappointment to have to cancel some of our reservations and change our plans, but the smart thing to do is to take the cautious route. With fuel costs still rising, two new tires crashing our budget, and Uncle Sam reaching into our wallet for income tax, we are going to try the frugal approach for a couple of months.

Just as an after thought - one of our closest friends passed away last week. Dave Baleria was a good friend, shared many of my opinions, and was well-known in the RV internet circles. Dave was only 54 years old and collapsed while he was out walking his wife, Sandy. He leaves a huge legacy of service and training that can’t be matched by anybody! Keep Sandy in your thoughts and prayers - she has some tough challenges ahead of her in the next few months. She is a strong woman and a survivor, but she’ll miss Dave immensely.

Dave sent out his Travel Reports weekly and sometimes as many as three a week. In the last year he always ended his reports with this:

“Remember, we must live each day as our last, for it's not enough to merely survive, we must thrive. The clock is ticking for each of us. Make each day count. Have a purpose in life. Donate time, money, love and prayers for others. And, time waits for no one.”

It was almost a premonition that he believed and he lived life this very same way. It has been a real shock to learn of his passing, but it’s almost as though he was preparing everybody for what your unforeseeable future might hold. He is so correct in his beliefs and we all need to be reminded occasionally that we are only here temporarily. Don’t get caught short; plan ahead and make the most of what precious time we have!

2008-03-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Feb. 14th

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!!!!

Our stay at The Caverns in Huachuca City was relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to get several chores done on the coach and enjoy the numerous activities in the park. Seeing all the old friends made the two weeks memorable. We had the chance to join Dave & Sandy Baleria for a dinner at the local VFW. We had originally planned to leave on Saturday and take some time to drive over to Lancaster, CA for the Monaco Pre-Rally. However, Melvina, the park manager, was cooking a Mexican dinner on Saturday night so we stayed an additional night in the park. The meal was absolutely delicious and we got to see some other friends from our previous stays at The Caverns.

On Sunday morning we pulled out of the park and started our drive west. We drove up to the Flying J in Eloy to fill our propane and diesel fuel. We got there in time to encounter some of the rudest RV drivers I’ve ever seen. They were all in a big hurry to get to the fuel islands and were cutting people off from turning in from the street. Finally, an employee of Flying J came out and started some traffic control and moving vehicles out of the street. We made it to the pumps, got topped off, and got out of there. We drove up to Casa Grande and turned west on I-8 toward Gila Bend. This route enabled us to avoid the Phoenix traffic as we aimed for Blythe. The weather cooperated with us and we had a cloudless day across the desert. Before we crossed the Colorado River into California, we stopped at the Flying J in Ehrenburg and topped off our fuel tank. The prices are almost a quarter higher in California, so the stop was worth the savings. We drove to the Colorado River Fairgrounds in Blythe, found a quiet spot on the infield, and parked for the night. There were a few Airstream trailers still there from their Wally Byam Rally, but we parked and settled in for a quiet evening of TV and dinner.

The next morning we got up and pulled out onto I-10. We drove through Palm Springs and up into the high desert. We arrived at the Palmdale Elks Lodge about 2PM and found a spot to hook-up. As I shut the computer down, I saw that Ray & Glenda Roe were also in the park. We walked over, greeted them, and made plans for dinner that night. Mondays are Bingo Nights, so Dottie & Glenda played Bingo as Ray & I sat in the bar and talked. Dottie and I also drove up to Lancaster to check out the facility and see where we’d be parking the next day. We had a great time with the Roes, and made plans for the Friday night steak dinner at the Lodge.

Tuesday morning we were up early, hooked up the car, and headed for the Lancaster Fairgrounds. We got parked and situated in time to start working on the layout of the parking lot. We managed to finish the layout marking on Tuesday, so we’re doing touch-up work and helping wherever they need additional bodies. Our real work will start on Saturday morning when the volunteers start coming in, and then on Sunday the early arrivals will be here. The next few days will be very hectic, but we’re ready for the influx of motor homes. Two years ago we experienced snow during our Rally. This year there is no snow in the forecast, but we’re dealing with some gusty winds and cool nighttime temperatures. We’re looking forward to “The West Coast Gang” arriving and the fun starting! Monday, February 25th

Monday, February 25th

We are back “home” again at Palisades Presbyterian Church in San Diego. It was a rewarding two weeks in Lancaster for the Monaco Pre-Rally. Once we got the parking lot all marked out for an anticipated 450 coaches, we waited for the arrivals to show up. Saturday the remaining volunteers arrived, and Sunday was the “Early Arrival” date for the rest of the attendees. On Sunday morning we viewed an empty parking lot. By 5PM we had parked 350 coaches. It was a task to get them all parked with as little hassle as possible. It’s amazing that some of these people are still allowed to drive on the highways! We had a few boneheads that just would not listen to or watch us. It was easy to spot the problem drivers. They either drive too fast, don’t watch their parkers, or just ignore our instructions. Thank goodness they are definitely in the minority! Most of the folks really appreciate our efforts and catch on quickly that they need to watch us carefully and pay attention to our instructions.

I saw a lot of people with names I recognized, but I couldn’t take the time to greet or meet them. We had coaches arriving in a steady stream. It was fun to see old friends arrive and know that I’d see them later in the week at dinners or seminars. I worked almost every day - we were called on to assist people who needed to pull out of their space to fill their water tank or empty their holding tanks.

During the week Monaco service technicians came to the coach and fixed several small items. We had our generator serviced, our satellite TV checked out, some new awning straps installed, and our furnace and interior lights repaired. And I even had the opportunity to purchase a few “toys” for the coach.

On Saturday morning there was an organized caravan of coaches down to Pomona for the Family Motor Coach Assn. Convention. We decided not to go so we could spend more valuable time in San Diego. We were up at 5:30 to help all the caravanners get organized for they trip. We had tehm all lined up in an outer parking lot. About 8:30 we pulled them out onto the street and the Antelope Valley Freeway. I was directing traffic at the intersection and we moved 79 vehicles out onto the freeway in just over six minutes! After they had gone, several of us went to breakfast. We finally left Lancaster at 11:30 and headed for San Diego. The weather cooperated with us and we pulled in to the church at about 4PM. Our Welcoming Committee met us in the parking lot and we settled in. It was humbling to see four people come out to welcome us back from our almost two-month, 1415 mile trip!

We will be in San Diego for nine days and leave again on March 5th. If any of you San Diego friends are in the area, give us a ring and say “Hello!”. We’d love to see a few friends before we depart for the summer.

2008-02-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

We left Quartzsite on Sunday morning and drove the short hop around Phoenix to the Western Horizon Desert Shadows RV Park in Casa Grande. Our drive was through some showery weather so the coach was pretty dirty when we arrived on Sunday afternoon. We parked at the back of the park against a cinder-block wall and away from a lot of the traffic. I was fortunate enough to be able to connect to the Wi-Fi in the park and have a great internet connection. (It’s amazing how spoiled you get with a fast connection that can be accessed any time of the day. I used it a lot during our two-day stay.

Once we settled in, I sent out some emails and made plans for the next day. One of our favorite places to eat in the whole country is the Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa. I knew that Jim & Peggy Grich and Charlie & Char Eyster were in the area. The Griches produce a web-based TV show, The American RVer, and were staying at another park in the Casa Grande area. The Eysters spend the winter in Mesa. I invited both of them to join us on Monday night for some pizza and beer. Both responded - Griches drove over to us and we drove up to Mesa. Eysters met us there. It was an absolutely pleasant evening with close friends and good food. This was the first time either of them had visited the place and I think they were both very impressed with the entertainment and the food.

On Tuesday morning, we packed the coach and started our trek south on I-10 to the Flying J for fuel and on to Huachuca City and The Caverns RV Resort. Our membership there allows us to stay up to ten weeks per year. We’ve never used all ten weeks - and it costs us nothing!! It’s a great membership that we hope to capitalize on eventually. Plus, we like the Sierra Vista area for a break from our traveling. It’s located 30 miles east of Tucson and 20 miles south. The area is in a growth boom in the Benson-Tombstone-Bisbee-Sierra Vista circle and will probably expand by at least 50,000 people in the next ten years.

Our fuel cost us $3.05/gallon and we topped off! We arrived at The Caverns about 1:30 and checked in with Melvina, the manager. She has always given me a hard time about being a retired police officer, yet always makes us feel welcome. We have gotten to know some of the more long-time residents of the park and thoroughly enjoy them.

One of our principal reasons to be here is the 16th Annual Cochise Cowboy Music & Poetry Gathering on Feb. 1, 2, & 3. We were able to drive up to Benson on Friday afternoon and visit Dave & Marie Ostrander and their daughter, Marilynn, visiting from Denver. They’re staying at the Escapee Co-op Park so we attended Happy Hour and the fish dinner. It was a treat to see Marilynn and watch her enjoy her folks in their element. The dinner was outstanding and we got a feel for the SKP Co-ops.

Saturday we went to The Gathering and spent about 4 hours listening to the performers. The Saturday venue consists of 50-minute sessions with 3-4 entertainers that perform and then move to another room. Overall, there were seven rooms and you could move between these rooms to see the different performers. Plus, the cost is free! It’s a great way to see the different styles and talent in cowboy music.

We also have the privilege of seeing two of our RVing friends, Dave & Sandy Baleria and Sharon McKay. Both of them are fellow Escapees and full-timers. Dave & Sandy keep very busy with their teaching and seminar schedule. They will be here for a week, but will be focused on updating their seminar material prior to the Gypsy Journal Rally in Casa Grande later this month. Sharon is only here for a few days as she bought a new 36’ Allegro Phaeton coach and has to get several issues addressed by La Mesa RV. It’s wonderful to see her and her new coach PLUS her traveling companion, Don. We hope to be able to get out to dinner with all of them before we have to split up again.

As a side note, I was extremely saddened to discover that two of my favorite businesses have closed their doors. The Helldorado Brewing Co. in Tombstone has gone out of business. It was one of my favorite stops in Tombstone and brewed some interesting beers. Also, Electric Dave has closed his doors and is not producing any more of his beers. Those were two very unique microbreweries that were small and enjoyable to visit. The good news is that The Stock Exchange in Bisbee is still open and serving what local beers are available. Don Leith and I passed some time last year in The Stock Exchange while the wives did some shopping in Bisbee.

We have all next week to do some chores around the coach. We are hoping for good weather, but the forecasters aren’t being very positive. Like any house, there are always things to do to keep the coach in tip-top shape. I have several small items that need to be addressed so I’ll have plenty of time to take care of those items. The possibility of showers on Sunday is being prognosticated, however that won’t affect the Super Bowl party that is planned for the Activity Center here at the park.

One of our biggest disappointments was the news that the Habitat-for-Humanity Collegiate Build in Belen, NM has been cancelled. I had re-worked our travel schedule so we could spend the two weeks in Belen to work with the college kids that were scheduled to attend. Apparently there were some problems with the HfH affiliate and they couldn’t get any kids to commit to the proposed dates. The Team Leader decided to cancel the build rather than trouble the adult participants to reschedule their travel plans for a two-week delay. That would have been a serious problem for us. As it is now, we will be able to spend more time in San Diego before leaving to head east. Our arrival date in San Diego is still the afternoon of Feb. 24th and we’ll be pulling out of San Diego the morning of March 5th.