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.