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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, Oct. 15th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, September 24th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, Sept. 10th

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is our travel schedule:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, May 2nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, April 26th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, April 19th

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, April 14th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, April 10th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, April 2nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, March 22nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, March 9th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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