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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, April 26th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, May 5th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, May 11th

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

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

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

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

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

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