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!

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!!

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!!!

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”.

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!

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.

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.