We're finally back to a strong wi-fi signal and here's a long posting of our trip.

Tuesday evening, June 30

We are back on the road again! We departed Hart Ranch about 9:30 this morning and headed east. We drove abut 220 miles to Oacoma, SD and Al’s Oasis. Al’s is a tourist trap right on the Missouri River. It has a combination of businesses, including a restaurant, clothing store, grocery store, gas station, and a campground. We aren’t staying in the $27/night campground - we prefer the peace and quiet of the parking lot across from the store complex and “boondock” (dry camp with no hook-ups).

We left this morning immediately following my Tuesday morning Rotary meeting. The drive across central South Dakota was smooth and it was interesting to see all the fields with freshly cut grass, windrows, or bales. In the areas that aren’t being cut there are patches of yellow from the wild mustard plants that have grown and are flowering. It’s a fairly flat drive so the coach didn’t have to work too hard. I had to fiddle with my tire pressure monitors as two of them are giving some false readings. At one point we stopped for fear of low pressure on two tires. When I removed the sensors and checked the pressures with a gauge, I discovered that the sensors were giving me some false readings. I’ll have to keep an eye on those two sensors for the remainder of the trip.

It’s been a rough few days as we have realized how many close, wonderful friends we have here in South Dakota. Last Friday I drove a van for the First Presbyterian Church to transport the attendees of the South Dakota Presbytery from a remote parking lot to the church. The Presbytery is a combination of clergy and lay people from all over the state that come together to discuss issues of importance in the Presbyterian faith. It was fascinating to meet folks from the eastern part of the state that had driven 4-5 hours to come to Rapid City. Then on Friday night Rev. Bob Evans invited us to join him, his wife Gretchen and daughter Danielle for a dinner served at the Camp Rimrock church camp facility west of Rapid City. What a beautifully serene camp setting!! Rapid Creek cuts right through the property and creates a wonderful place for youth and adults to get away and enjoy themselves. We had a terrific camp meal of sloppy joe sandwiches followed by a session where one of the newer ministers conducted a short seminar on “Limited Atonement”. He added enough humor to the talk to make it absolutely fascinating!

Then on Sunday afternoon we attended a special Rotary party put on by our female members. During the winter the club had a competition to see who could bring in the most members - men or women. Well, the men won, so the ladies threw us a party. It was held at the home of Dr. George Twitero, (a Past District Governor) and his wife, Shari West-Twitero. Their house overlooks the southern edge of Rapid City on the hill and their patio faces east where you can see the whole Rapid Valley. It’s hidden in the tall pine trees and George says he has seen all forms of wildlife in his back yard. Dr. George is also our veterinarian and takes care of Nancy for us. Plus, they are both extremely active in First Presbyterian Church. They are special friends!

We had to leave the party early because one of our Hart Ranch friends, Larry McCarty, was having his annual fish fry and invited nearly 50 people to attend. Our restaurant manager, Johnny Kilpatrick, did the cooking and whooped up a good ol’ Southern country boil. Once the shrimp, potatoes, corn, onions, polish sausage, etc. were cooked, he started deep-frying some specialty meats for us to sample. We had the opportunity to taste venison, armadillo, alligator tail, dove, rabbit, and catfish with homemade hush puppies. It was a feast to remember!

On Monday night we met Rev. Bob, Gretchen, and Danielle down at Shipwreck Lee’s for the famous half-pound Shipwreck burger and some beer. It was our last chance to see Bob and enjoy his company before we left. Before we left, Lee had me drive around to the back of the building where he slipped me three six-packs of Leinenhugel’s Summer Shandy, a wheat beer with lemonade. It’s a wonderfully refreshing hot-weather beer that really hits the spot on those hot, humid days.

When I went to Rotary this morning, I made a last trip to Jerry’s Cakes & Donuts to pick up some treats for the guys in Maintenance. We collect the aluminum cans and take them in to the recycling to cash them out. This year the aluminum prices have plummeted to .25/lb., but that buys our weekly donuts on Tuesdays. It was fun to see all the guys I’ve worked with for the past few weeks and gave me something to look forward to when we return in August.
Yes, it’s nice to be back on the road again, but I’m sure I’ll be glad to arrive in Springfield, OH and settle in for a while. If the heat, humidity, and bugs don’t get to us, we’re bound to have a great time.

Wednesday night, July 1st

Al’s Oasis in Oacoma has a good restaurant and we remembered last year when we stopped for the night. We walked into the restaurant and discovered that their special dinner was a three-piece chicken dinner for under $7. We had hoped to encounter another deal like that, but the special dinner last night was a Missouri River catfish dinner for $15. Both of us decided to pass on that - Dottie had a roast beef dinner and I chose the salad bar. We were both tired and I was fighting a strained muscle in my lower back that had been bothering me all day. We had dinner, watched some TV (once I got the satellite dish aligned), and hit the rack early. It was a cool night so we enjoyed the fresh air blowing through the coach with the help of the exhaust fans. Our view of the Missouri River through the front windshield was spectacular!

When we got up on Wednesday morning, we had a bit of breakfast before checking the tires and starting down the interstate. Over the night several truckers and a few RVs had joined us, so we took it easy starting the coach and idling out of the parking lot. We eased up the hill out of the James River Valley and headed for Mitchell’s Super Wal-Mart. The seventy miles we drove were through mostly grassland and plains with many of the farmers continuing the cutting, raking, and baling of the prairie grass.

We arrived at Mitchell and parked in the Super Wally lot. The Super Wal-Mart seems to be bigger than the one in Rapid City and has quite an array of merchandise. Last year when we came through here, I found some waterproof hunting boots that were made with Thinsulate. This store had them marked down to $10 - and I failed to buy a pair! I asked the clerk in the Shoe Dept. and she remembered the boots. However, she couldn’t find any left on the shelf. I also found a small, 1.7 cu. ft. refrigerator that had just been marked down. It’ll fit in one of the bays in the coach and keep my “drinks” cold and out of the big refrigerator. Meanwhile Dottie was busy in the grocery section shopping for needed foods. We also found some nice looking summer dresses for her, so the stop was worth the time!

We continued east to Sioux Falls and the Flying J Truck Stop for fuel. The RV lanes were easy to get into and out of, so we topped off the tank. As we departed Sioux Falls and headed into Iowa, the landscape changed from prairie to endless cornfields. It looks like the corn crop should be good this year as the plants are lush and green and seem to go continuously. We were on Iowa State Highway 9 and really enjoyed breaking away from the interstate to get on the smaller, slower roads. We drove to Rock Rapids, IA and their city park on the west end of town. It’s a beautiful small park with 8 hook-up sites that have 50-amp electric, but no water hook-up. There is a single water spigot near the dump station. They have increased their price from $10 to $15 (a 50% increase) and it was really worth it to be able to turn on the air conditioner and cool down a bit from the humid 85-degree heat.

After a comfortable dinner of burgers on the outdoor grill, we’ll relax, watch some TV, and see the bed early again tonight. We have to up and on the road tomorrow to get to Forest City, IA and the Winnebago Factory tour by 1PM. The roads will all be state and U.S. highways so it’ll be slower and easier.

Thursday night, July 2nd

We woke up to a beautiful morning at Rock Rapids and took our time to get the coach ready to roll. Two of my tire pressure/temperature sensors are acting up and giving me some false readings. To check on the tow tires, I removed the sensors and checked the pressures with two tire pressure gauges. Once I was comfortable the pressures were within tolerance, I re-attached the sensors and just watched the temperatures as we drove on for the day. We left and continued east through the corn country on fairly flat highways. At the end of the day we had averaged almost 9 MPG!
We arrived in Forest City at noon, checked in at the Winnebago Visitors Center, and had a bite of lunch in the parking lot. The factory tour started at 1PM so we took advantage of the opportunity and joined the other six people for the tour. The factory is shut down for the July 4th holiday, but the tours were continuing. The factory is on a huge complex, bigger than Monaco’s, and provides quite an education. At one point the factory was putting out 250 coaches a week; now they’re down to about 50 a week. There aren’t a lot of Freightliner chassis waiting in the storage area, but there are a lot of the Dodge diesel Class C chassis waiting to be built upon. An interesting point was made by the tour guide that Winnebago will begin building a 42’ and 45’ motor home with a tag axle. We saw a couple of the chassis in the storage area, but no more information of the larger coaches. I guess I’m still a little prejudiced to the Monaco brand and the construction techniques they use.

We left the Winnebago factory by 2:30 and headed east for the 30 miles to Mason City, IA. We found the Margaret MacNider City Park on the northeast part of town. It’s a beautiful park with over 80 sites and right next to the city swimming pool. The park is pretty full with the coming holiday weekend, but we found a full hook-up site and are able to get some laundry done while we’re here.

We haven’t purchased a digital conversion box yet, so we have to rely on our satellite TV for any television. I was hoping we might find some local stations that haven’t converted over to digital yet, but so far no such luck.

Sunday night, July 5th

Mason City, IA was truly a relaxing stop and we thoroughly enjoyed the Margaret MacNider City Park with its accommodations. When we got started on Friday morning, we tried to quietly pull the coach out and hook the car. We managed to get out of the park and back on the road headed for the Tiffin, IA and the F.W. Kent County Park, just outside of Iowa City, IA On the way we stopped at a couple of city parks to check them out and send updates to the Escapee’s Day’s End, Don Wright’s Free Campgrounds of the West/East, and Nick Russell’s Gypsy Journal.

When we arrived at the Kent County Park, I saw the signs at the entrance that said all electrical sites were full. I took a chance and drove in to the campground. We saw a Ranger and asked if the non-electric sites could handle a coach our size. He said he thought all of the electric sites were full but we could drive through and look. We took the left loop and started looking at the sites. By the time we had returned to the front, I saw him in my mirror with his red lights flashing. He pulled alongside of our coach and told me there was one site open, to follow him, and he’d take us to it. What service!! I followed him to the open electric site and we said we’d take it. He waited for me to fill out the registration form, put the money in an envelope, and helped me back in. The site wasn’t totally level, but it was useable. We were parked next to a young couple with two kids under two years old. They were fun to talk with and we had a great time until the rain started to fall.

It rained all night long and into the morning. We tried to quietly slip out on Saturday morning in the rain and pulled onto the highway headed for Peoria, IL.

This has been the only adverse weather we have had to endure. We didn’t get into any real heavy rain - just showers that continued all day long. I had thoughts of bypassing Peoria and continuing to the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Park, but it would have been a 320-mile day. By the time we arrived in Peoria we were ready to stop.

The Peoria Elks Lodge was easy to find and we were welcomed by several of the members who were at the bar instead of the golf course. Adjacent to the Lodge is a beautiful City golf course, so many of the golfers had come inside to the bar and were watching Tiger Woods on the TV. The bartender, Jeri, was outgoing and made us feel right at home. We only had a 15-amp electrical hookup, but it was enough to keep our batteries charged and watch some television. One of the Elk members has a son who is on the Peoria Police Dept., so he gave his son a phone call to let them know we were parked at the Lodge. We had a couple of the patrol cars drive through the parking lot during the night to check on us. For dinner we decided to go over the river to East Peoria and visit the Granite City Brewing Co. It was fun to taste-test a couple of their beers and eat their delicious sandwiches. Jeri told us to get back early because the crowds would be huge for the July 4th Fireworks Show. We were back at the Lodge by 7 and went inside to socialize with all the members sitting in the bar. By that time Laura was tending bar and she was a hoot! I had talked to her the previous night to be sure the Lodge would be open. She had assured me there was room to park and she would be waiting for us to arrive. She has a boat and was looking forward to closing the bar and taking the boat out on the river to watch the fireworks show. We were back in the coach by 8PM and watched some late TV. We heard fireworks going off until almost 1AM, but it didn’t keep us from sleeping.

On Sunday morning we pulled out of the Elks lot by 8:30AM. The weather had passed through, but we were headed east - the same direction the weather had moved. We had cloudy weather all the way to the Thousand Trails park and arrived by 1PM (actually 2PM because we’re now in the Eastern time zone). We lucked out when we got to Horseshoe Lakes and found an empty site with good satellite reception. We’re parked next to Fred Kennedy, another Monaco owner and an FMCA Director. We’ll only be here one night because we have to go on to Springfield tomorrow after a stop at the Indianapolis Flying J to refuel. Many of the overnight stops we’ve found would be enjoyable for staying a week or so and exploring the area. That may be a possibility in the future!

Thursday night, July 9th

We left the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails preserve by 8 AM on Monday. I knew we had a 225-mile day ahead of us and wanted to get started early. We took many back roads to get over to Indianapolis. Those roads are fascinating and fun to drive. There’s little traffic, the views are magnificent, and it’s a slower pace. We both enjoy those smaller, less traveled roads so much more than the interstate highways. We got to Indianapolis and found the Flying J truck stop on the south side of town. We were able to get topped off and back on the road in minimum amount of time. From there it was all Interstate 70 to Dayton and Springfield. We finally arrived by 2PM and one of the early arrivals was waiting for us to get us parked.

We got situated near the back of the fairgrounds against a fence with 50-amp electric and water. We can drain our grey water through the fence into an empty field. The water is horrible! It tastes like chlorine, so it’s not really suitable for drinking. Thank goodness there’s a Super Wal-Mart nearby and a supply of drinking water! So far, there are 12 of us here and all of us are busy getting things ready for the Sunday early arrival date. Because of the economy, there are less than 200 coaches pre-registered for this Pre-Rally. Our Parking Crew has measured and marked off almost 300 spots, just in case. The available electric sites are both 30-amp and 50-amp electric, depending on how soon a coach arrives.

Our weather has been absolutely wonderful! We get some warm temperatures during the day and we have used the air conditioner from about 1PM to 6PM. After the sun goes down, the temperature starts dropping and we have the coach opened up with exhaust fans bringing the cool air inside. Sleeping has been great! We are hoping this weather trend will continue, especially when we go north to Bowling Green for the big FMCA Convention. We are signed up for an area where you can run your generator 24 hours a day, so we’re hoping for mild weather. If it gets too hot, I’ve found a nearby RV park that can offer electric hookups for the air conditioner. We need to be in Bowling Green for a short period of time to get a new satellite dish installed on the top of the coach. Plus I want to be able to walk through the vendor’s area to find those things which I just can’t live without.

Once the early arrivals start to come in on Sunday, we’ll probably be very busy getting all of them parked. It should be fun and we’re looking forward to a wonderful rally!

Monday, July 20th

The Monaco International Pre-Rally was fun-filled time in Springfield, OH. My last update talked of the great weather, and it continued through the Rally. On Saturday, the 11th, we had a rainy day where the rain cells passed through and dumped heavily on us for spurts of 15-30 minutes at a time. Most of us got soaked, but we endured it with a lot of laughs. The nightly entertainment was mediocre, but enjoyable. We had some fantastic catered meals that were amazingly tasty considering that the caterer really didn’t know what to expect from the Monaco crowd. Of course, the best part is seeing a lot of old friends that we haven’t seen for a long while.

Probably the most interesting part of the Rally was the appearance of the top brass of the new Monaco RV LLC. Mike Snell, Vice President of Sales attended with Tim Smith from the parent company, Navistar. They assured all of us that Monaco would return and be building coaches, albeit on a smaller, tighter manner. We had a Service Seminar with Garth Herring, Vice President of Service. Garth told us that over 770 employees have been rehired and they are building one diesel coach per day plus all Monaco-branded trailers at the Coburg production facility. The Waukarusa, IN facility will build gas-powered coaches. The Hines, OR fiberglass plant has been moved to Harrisburg, OR (leaving that small western Oregon town with quite a financial loss). Most of the great service centers have been sold or closed down, and all of the factory service is now being done at the factory in Coburg, OR. The Wildwood, FL service facility has been sold to Brett Howard (the former manager of that service center) and he is opening an RV service center, Alliance RV Service.

One of the highlights of the Rally for me was a phone call I received on Thursday afternoon from April Klein, Vice President of Customer Service. Dottie and I have always attended her seminars when she’s at any of our Rallies. She wanted to phone and let us know she wouldn’t be able to make the Springfield Rally, but would be in Bowling Green. She has been one of the folks that I could send an email and get an immediate response. April knew we would be in the Service Seminar and wanted to let us know that she was sorry she couldn’t be there. We talked with her for a good five minutes and it was good to her sound so upbeat and positive.

At the end of the Rally there were 15 coaches that had been driven from Oregon that had to be driven up to Bowling Green. Several of us on the Parking Crew were asked if we would like to drive the coaches up for the display. I drove an ‘09 Camelot 42’ tag-axle coach. It was a three hour drive and another three hour ride back to Springfield. That day was long. About 40 participant coaches were going to caravan up to Bowling Green. We had to be up at 4:30AM to get the caravan out of the parking lot. They had to be in a particular order, depending on which section of the FMCA Convention they had signed up for - electric, general, 24-hour generator, handicapped, etc. Once they were out of the parking lot and on their way, we grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and headed out in our show coaches. When we returned at about 3:30, we were all tired. Dottie and I had a quiet dinner at our coach and retired early.

We left Springfield on Sunday morning and drove the three hours to Bowling Green. We are parked about three miles from all the seminars, displays, and nightly entertainment. Our spot is an area for 24-hour generator usage. I figured that we might need that if it gets hot, since Nancy is a concern for us. We will be getting our new satellite dish installed on Monday morning. Our parking area is pretty quiet and we actually got parked a few coaches away from a couple that we met at the Preston HfH Build. Alan and Cheryl are ministers that contract and travel to small churches that are having difficulties. Alan counsels the ministers and congregations about how to bring their church together and be successful. Apparently he stay very busy with is work and loves doing it. They manage to fit in rallies and Habitat builds between his contract work. We’ll enjoy spending some time with them.

On Monday morning at 9AM we were visited by Gary Swaim from Custom Coach Connections and he installed a new Motosat Executive satellite dish. Our KVH domed dish hasn’t worked correctly since we bought our coach, and KVH doesn’t want to deal with 10-year-old technology. So we decided to get a straight dish where I can push a button and it will raise up, search for the correct satellite, and lock on. It works wonderfully!

The scheduled entertainment includes 42Five (a band of five guys that use nmo musical instruments, but make noises that sound like a full instrumental band), country singer Lorrie Morgan, the Rivolis, and Phil Dirt and the Dozers, a band that will take us back to the 50’s. I’m also looking forward to walking through the vendor area, beginning on Tuesday, and seeing all the “stuff” that I can’t live without!

Monday, July 27th

The FMCA Convention was a blast! We were parked in the 24-hour generator area, which was pretty far from all the activities and vendor displays. In addition to the new satellite dish (that works wonderfully), we got a gallon of Protect-All wax, a couple of bags of DeWafflebakkers pancakes, two new sending units for my tire pressure monitor systems, and some other trinkets for the coach. We saw entertainment on only one night - the 42Five group that did a fantastic job in spite of the generator quitting and they lost electrical power to their microphones. We also got our generator serviced so we’re good for another year.

Lorrie Morgan cancelled due to lousy weather, and we passed on the last night’s entertainment. We had a great time with David & Kay Piper, our Monaco friends that decided to join us on the Habitat build.

On Friday morning we left the fairgrounds a little before 9AM and caravanned with the Pipers to Wauseon, OH, site of the build. We met the other participants and the affiliate representatives, got settled in at the fairgrounds, and prepared for a two-week build. It was decided to start on Saturday morning. That way we could leave on Friday and have an extra day for traveling at the end of the build. When we got to the house on Saturday morning, we found all exterior walls erected, roof complete, and interior walls framed but not sheet rocked. Our task on Saturday was to do as much interior work as we could. We almost finished the sheet rocking, but had some small closets and the bathrooms to be completed. We rested on Sunday, but Monday we were back at work and finished the interior work. The finishers will arrive on Tuesday and start taping and mudding the interior walls. We also started installing the vinyl siding on the outside and will start on the storage shed tomorrow.

The house is a four-bedroom, two bath house and the recipients have been working along side of us. Tanya, the owner, has two boys who are real workers. We’ve enjoyed having them around as they pitch right in do any of the jobs we ask of them. The humidity has slowed several of us down. We have had pretty mild temperatures, but the stickiness gets to us! The daily shower really feels good when we get back to the coaches.

The team consists of eight coaches. Five of us have done prior builds, and the rest are “first-timers”. It’s a great group to work around and we don’t have any “slugs” to deal with. We know three of the team members from previous builds, so it’s much like a homecoming party. We are parked at the Fulton County Fairgrounds with 30-amp electric, water, and sewer hookups. The sewer makes life so much easier so we can take showers every day and do a small load of laundry when needed.

It’s going to be an enjoyable two weeks!

Sunday, August 9th

It has been a wonderfully rewarding two weeks and we have finished our work in Wauseon. The house was in the very first stages of completion when we arrived. We left the house nearly completed with a move-in date projected to be Sept. 15th. We finished putting up all the sheet rock, got in finished up and painted, finished the exterior vinyl siding and all the trim, put down laminate flooring, built a deck for the rear of the house, blew insulation into the roof, and finished a lot of the dirt moving for landscaping. I even had the opportunity to get a little “stick time” on a Bobcat to move and level the dirt around the house. We must have added another 10 pounds with all the good food we ate and the terrific meals that were served to us.

The down side was some expensive awning damage to the coach. We had a short thunderstorm come through on our first Sunday and it ripped our patio awning into two pieces. Carefree of Colorado, our awning manufacturer, uses cotton thread in their acrylic awnings. After a short period of time, the thread rots and the seams and selvages weaken. Our awning had a seam that ran through the middle of the awning. I was sitting inside the coach and watched the seam rip wide open and split the awning into two sections. We were able to roll the awning up on the tube to the travel position and can now drive with it until we get it replaced. Then, a week later, I was sitting in my recliner and heard this “sproing” sound. It was the slide-out awnings spring breaking. I was able to phone Shade Pros in San Diego and get them to overnight a new spring. The spring cost $77 and the freight was $100!!!! But we were able to replace the spring and get it all back to normal ourselves. My thanks to David Piper for all his help in getting the repairs accomplished!

Our plans were to leave Wauseon on Friday morning and drive to South Bend for the night, then on to Chicago. We started working on the slide-out awning and didn’t finish until about 2:30. We were tired, sweaty, and decided to stay another night, have a few beers with the guys, and enjoy a seafood buffet. We were up early on Saturday morning and departed Wauseon on Saturday morning by 7AM and drove all the way to Downers Grove, IL to spend a night with my 90-year-old Uncle Bill Moore and his wife. Cousin Pat came down with husband, Mike, and we enjoyed an Italian dinner with them. It had been almost 20 years since we had seen Pat & Mike, and at least 17 years since we had seen Uncle Bill. We had a great time with all of them in spite of the horrendous heat we are enduring. We were able to park the coach right on the property where Uncle Bill lives, but no hook-ups. The generator has been running continuously with the air conditioning pumping out dry, cool air. This has been a real test for our generator, but it’s working flawlessly.

The drive from Wauseon was actually enjoyable. We avoided the Ohio Turnpike (where they weigh all vehicles) and drove on US-20. It meant going through some small towns, but the flat terrain across Ohio and Indiana was full of corn and bean fields. The houses all look so manicured and neat. As we drove through central Indiana we observed the farms that were Amish dwellings with no electrical wires and horse and buggy barns. We saw several buggies moving along the shoulder of the highway pulled by horses that were nearly running. We had to drive through light rain showers and most of the buggies were covered. It was quite a contradiction of basic living and technology.

We will spend one night in Chicago and then drive about 75 miles north to Kenosha, WI to see Mary Anderson, cousin Paul’s wife. We haven’t seen her for over four years since Paul passed away in Oregon. Our plan is to be there for two nights, Davenport-area for two nights, and on to Waterloo, Ft. Dodge, and Lemars, IA.

Tuesday night, August 11th

We’re on our return trip to Hart Ranch and sorry we aren’t spending more time at each stop. We arrived in Chicago (Downers Grove) and pulled in to the retirement community where my Uncle Bill Moore lives It’s a large retirement complex with duplexes and an apartment building with dining and meeting facilities. My Uncle lives in one of the terrific duplex buildings so they still have their independence, but can enjoy the prepared meals in the dining hall. They have a pavilion that is being upgraded with a parking lot that had several pieces of construction equipment parked there. Since the pavilion isn’t being used, Uncle Bill got permission for us to park our coach in the parking lot where we wouldn’t bother anybody and we could walk to Uncle Bill’s house. It was an absolutely perfect arrangement in spite of the unusual heat wave that necessitated our running the generator for almost 24 hours to keep the air conditioning pumping dry, cool air into the coach. We rarely run the generator for that long a time period, but it worked and we were very comfortable. At 3AM I got up and saw that the outside temperature was still 71 degrees! We had a delicious meal with Bill & Magee and their oldest daughter, cousin Pat & husband Mike. We had a wonderful reunion with all of them and thoroughly enjoyed their gracious hospitality.

Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast with Bill & Magee before we left at 10AM. I was trying to avoid the traffic on I-94 (a toll road) and took a lot of back streets to get north to Kenosha, WI. The drive was supposed to be only 75 miles, but it took nearly 4 hours! We had to get on I-94 at one point and it was stop-and-go traffic to the IL/WI border. We finally got off the interstate and drove the remaining distance on a WI state highway. Illinois is full of toll roads on the interstate system and it gets a little frustrating when you come to a toll booth that is unmanned and doesn’t give the amount of your toll with a motor home and car in tow. We have enough of Illinois toll roads for a while!

We arrived in Kenosha and pulled in front of Mary Anderson’s row of duplexes. We were able to park in her driveway without hanging over the curb line into the street. We were afraid that we might upset the local busybody from the condo association, but our coach was acceptable for two nights. Mary had an outlet for us and we plugged in to 15-amp electric. That is enough to keep the battery charged and we were able to open the windows each night for sleeping. Nancy got a kick out of Mary’s cat, Jack, and they seemed to tolerate each other for out time with her. Dinner was at Mary’s with her son, Tom, and his wife, Linda. I really enjoy Tom and Linda is a computer whiz.

On Monday we drove over to the local Italian drink supply house and purchased a selection of microbrews, some pasta, and a few special items for dinner. We then went to a Wal-Mart that is closing and had some pretty good deals on assorted closeouts. Following that we had lunch at a little bistro that was really tasty with special coffee, outstanding soups and sandwiches, and some unbelievable desserts. We went home for the rest of the day before a dinner of oven-baked chicken and sweet corn.

We were up early on Tuesday morning to prepare for our departure. We were able to leave Kenosha by 9:30AM and went directly west avoiding the I-94 hassle. We made our first stop at the Flying J in South Beloit and I attempted to stay clear of any more interstate highways. It didn’t work - I had to get on I-90 and pay a toll. We continued south to Hillsdale, IL and the Sunset Lakes RV Resort. It was a long day of driving and we were ready to stop for the night. We had been here several years ago, but it wasn’t familiar to either of us. We’ll be here for two nights and a chance to get rested up and clean up the coach with our 50-amp electric service. We are parked in the trees, but I can get satellite with my portable dish. That makes Dottie very happy - today is her birthday, so we had a wonderful steak dinner cooked on the BBQ. Tomorrow we’ll get laundry done and try to visit the John Deere Museum in Moline, IL

Thursday night, Aug. 13th

We had an enjoyable stay at the Sunset Lakes RV Resort in Hillsdale, IL. It’s about 10 miles east of the Quad Cities (Davenport, Moline, E. Moline, Bettendorf, and Rock Island - I don’t get it either - I thought “quad” meant four!) On Wednesday morning Dottie did some laundry while I did some cleaning around the coach. We were both done by noon, so we decided to go into Moline and see the John Deere Pavilion. It’s a huge museum with several examples of John Deere products. They have the largest combine with a 38’ head, a cane harvester, and a gigantic earth mover that fit Dottie perfectly (at least that is what the photo showed). After touring the heavy equipment, we hunted out the Bent River Brewing Company located right around the corner from John Deere. Both of us were thirsty, so we sampled their product and visited with the barmaid. When we were done there, we drove across the river to Davenport to seek out the Front Street Brewery. We had a bite to eat and sampled their beers while we were there. It was a great afternoon! On the way home we stopped at the local Super Wally and picked up some grocery items arriving at the coach by 6PM.

We had an appointment at the HWH factory in Moscow, IA for 8:15 on Thursday morning. I needed to get a new lexan cover for my leveling control pad. When the service tech got the coach up on the rack, he found the small compressor to be “fried”! What was going to be a reasonably inexpensive check-up turned out to be a major weight reduction of my wallet! Three hours later we were good to go and continued on our westward adventure to Hart Ranch.

On the road we found we have a window of opportunity to get my medical issue resolved if we can get back to San Diego earlier than we had planned. SO, our plans have changed once again, and we will be staying at Hart Ranch for only a week. We need to be on the road by the 28th to get back to Southern California. Flexibility is one of the virtues of this lifestyle, so we’re making our plans and adjusting our reservations to get back. It’s a disappointment to have to leave earlier than we had expected, but with health issues we decided there is a priority.

We are in Marshalltown, IA in a city park that is absolutely beautiful! We have 50-amp electric and a water spigot nearby in this heavily-treed, but peaceful little park. We’re happy with the air conditioner running and hoping for a cool night to open up the coach. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Rockwell City, IA and the city RV park. It has 10 sites with 30-amp electric, water, and sewer hookups. Plus, it’s only a 120-mile drive - a nice, easy, short driving day. The following day we’ll go to Lemars, IA for two nights and attend the Presbyterian Church that is served by our former interim minister from Rapid City. She’ll be surprised to see us and it will be fun to hear her preach again.

On Monday we’ll drive to Brookings, SD and the Sexauer City Park with RV hook-ups. Brookings is the home of SDSU - that’s South Dakota State University! It’s a neat little college town and we’ll spend two night there before going to Pierre for one night and on to Hart Ranch arriving on Thursday, a week from today. With a little luck I might be able to work a week and make up for the HWH expense we incurred.

Ah, it’s fun to be able to make and change plans like this!!!