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.

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.

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.

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.