Wednesday, Aug. 8th

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote about our summer. We've been extremely busy the past few months working, enduring some unusually high temperatures, and having a few friends stop in at Hart Ranch for a visit. Our summer has been warmer than usual and all our grass has gone to "summer dormant" brown. We have managed to keep our Center Court green with watering twice a night, but the remainder of the park has suffered from the heat. It has gotten so bad that we were asked to stop watering the unnecessary parts of the park and all washing of vehicles has been terminated. The Hart Development Co., the owners of the all of Hart Ranch (except the RV park) are drilling another water well to keep all the residents in water. We're in a seven-year drought and sure could use about three days of steady gentle rain. We expect to get some rain at the end of August or early September and that will green everything up and probably eliminate the water restrictions.

We have had the joy of having two couples from our group of Monaco friends visit us this summer.Rick and Joann Stone, from Oklahoma City, spent three nights at Hart Ranch and then moved over to Ellsworth AFB for two weeks. They have been touring all the spots in the Black Hills and have afforded us the opportunity to get together several times for a meal. Last week Bob and Marlene Rea arrived for a week. All three couples have had some fun times getting together, eating, talking Monaco coaches, etc. We had the chance to enjoy the Firehouse Brewing Co. in downtown Rapid City, the Rockin' R Restaurant in Hermosa for their all-you-can-eat ribs, and lots of sitting and socializing. Both of those couples are moving on to other locations by this weekend and will be able to avoid the crazy crowds that have converged in Sturgis for the annual motorcycle rally.

One of the high points of the summer was the surprise visit of Dave & Ona Dyas as they returned to San Diego from a trip to Minnesota for a family reunion. They stayed up on the interstate at a Super 8, but we were able to pick them up and take them down to our "home", show them the park, and enjoy dinner at Shipwreck Lee's. It was a fantastic evening with them and a thrill to see them in our part of the country!

I took off work Monday, the 30th, to help in a golf tournament for the Rushmore Rotary club. This is a small morning club of 65 members that I have thoroughly enjoyed in the years we've been coming up here. They hold a golf tournament every year to benefit the Black Hills Children's Home. This year I worked at a "floating hole" and sold chances to get a cash payoff. The tee box was on a slight hill and the golfers had the chance to hit three balls down to a floating hole (about 8' across and filled with sand) for $10. They also got a sleeve of new balls. Anybody who hit the sand and the ball remained on the sand would split half the pot with the Children's Home. We had 128 golfers and 104 participants. When I took the money we made to be counted, I had $1,040 in cash! They told me that was a record amount collected! All totaled we raised over $48,000 for the Black Hills Children Home - not bad for a single golf tournament.

As many of you know, while we are Hart Ranch we stay 21 days up on the nice concrete pads and then have to move to the overflow area for nine days. After our last nine days we moved back up on Monday, the day of the golf tournament. When I started the engine on the coach there was an "Alt Fail" light that came on and stayed on. I shut it down, let it stand for a minute, and restarted the engine. The light was on again. So, I drove it up to the concrete pad site we were assigned and parked the coach. I immediately sent a message out to the Monaco list asking for suggestions. And I went on to the golf tournament. On Tuesday, with some great help from one of the guys I work with, we removed the alternator and I took it the local NAPA where Hart Ranch has an account. They didn't have a rebuilt alternator in stock, but could get one shipped in from Sacramento for about $900 plus shipping (our cost). I told them I needed it sooner so they recommended The Repair Shop in Rapid City. I drove over there and was told they could probably do a rebuild on it and have it done on Wednesday. Wednesday morning they phoned and said it was ready. We drove in to town and picked it up. They head rebuilt the armature, regulator, and replaced two bushings - basically a complete rebuild. It looked like new. The bill was $155 - Hart Ranch cost!!!! I got back to the coach, reinstalled the alternator, and it checked out perfect. Now I know what it is I like about these smaller town businesses!

We are finally on the road again, but for just a long weekend. I have a cousin who is turning 90 yrs. young and his kids are throwing a birthday party. Several family members are coming from different parts of the country and this will be quite a reunion with some cousins I haven't seen for nearly 45 years. We left Hart Ranch Thursday about 1PM headed south for Lincoln, NE. As we traversed along highway 79/385 toward Chadron we saw the brown grasses of the Black Hills slowly change to green. We stopped in Chadron to get a headlight for the coach as the right headlight had burned out. We continued south to Alliance and turned east on highway NE-2. It was still early enough to get some more miles so I pressed on to the small town of Thedford and their city park. We arrived about 6PM after changing time zones to the Central zone.

Thedford is a small farm town that is on the BNSF railroad tracks. The tracks were about 100 yds. from the city park, so we heard the trains all night long. We had four hook-up sites with 30-amp electricity and a water spigot available to us. There was no activity in the park all night long and it was an ideal spot to crash for the night. By 9AM we were secured and ready to travel again. We drove about 170 miles to Genoa checking several small towns and parks along the way. We hooked up in the Genoa city park and drove over to cousin Ike Anderson's home. We had visited them in May and seen their new-to-them home. Ike is in the process of getting the home ready to move in to and I tried to offer some help in laying some carpet in the basement rooms. We worked all afternoon and then went to supper at the Great Plains Café for a chicken-and-fish buffet meal. We finished and headed for the park and the coach. The humidity is high but we weren't able to get plugged in to 30-amp electric - there were other trailers already in the park. We spent the night with fans running, but it was still warm and humid. Saturday morning Ike picked me up and we went to the Café for breakfast before we headed to the house to finish the carpet work. By noon we had mostly completed the job and we went back to the coach to prepare for moving to Lincoln.

The two-hour drive to Lincoln was enjoyable as we stayed off the interstate and took US highways. We arrived at the State Fair Park campground, found a spot, and hooked in to 50-amp electric. We started both air conditioners running and were comfortable inside the coach. Once we got connected we both took showers and rested for about an hour before leaving for the country club and the birthday celebration. The 10-mile drive to the country club was easy since Lincoln's streets are laid out pretty square. It's fairly simple to navigate around this city.

The party was a fantastic success! I had the chance to meet several branches of our family tree that are really extended. We are related to the Day clan by going back to my great grandmother and her two sisters and brother. I have run out a "schematic" to visualize how the relationships meet. It's an interesting path as my name tag had me listed as a first cousin-twice removed. It was an opportunity to hear some great tales about George and his 90 years of life experiences. We had a tasty dinner with desserts and lots of socializing with family members. We returned to the coach by 10PM and retired soon after that. The air conditioner ran all night long since the 10PM outside temperature was still 90 degrees!

On Sunday morning we got up, drove over to the hotel wheremost of the family members were staying and met two of my cousins for a breakfast - John & Ruth Anderson from Eugene, OR and Nancy Obermeyer and her grandson, Austin. Austin is a special guy that doesn't seem to mind spending time with us "old folks". He's a good student, helps Nancy a lot around her house, and is fun to be around. I especially enjoy his company and doing things with him. After brunch we returned to the coach to meet Nancy, our new dog, and sat around and talked until noon. I drove John & Ruth back to the hotel for a rest and I returned to the coach for a short nap with Austin and the pup. Dottie said we all were sleeping on the bed with the dog in the middle - me snoring, Austin crashed, and the dog at peace between us. At 2PM we all met back at George's retirement home for an ice cream social and to meet more family. I was able to talk to George one-on-one and get some stories about my father. We left at 4PM, went to the coach to get some dirty laundry, and drove to a laundromat. We picked up a pizza and came home to rest for the remainder of the evening and plan our return trip to Hart Ranch.

On Monday morning we were up early after having to sleep with the air conditioner on all night. We drove west out of Lincoln and fueled up at a Shell truck stop paying $3.02/gallon for diesel fuel. We headed west on I-80 to Grand Island where we turned north in to rain. The only adverse weather we encountered on the whole trip was in Grand Island where we ran through rain for about 20 minutes. Our route took us along the North Loup River and on to Ainsworth where we decided to press on to Valentine. The city park in Ainsworth had about 8 trailers and motor homes parked at all the 30-amp plugs, so we decided to drive another 45 miles to the Wacky West RV Park. We had stayed there last May when we were enroute to Rapid City. At that time we saw their Schipperke pup and marveled at the energy level of an 8-week old puppy. The folks gave the dog to their grandson who hasn't taken the time to do any training and the dog is going to be an outside dog. It's a shame because she's such a cutie and would be a great house pet with some training. After checking in I gave the coach a quick bucket-wash bath. While I was cooking some brats on the BBQ, the owner of the park walked over and gave us four ears of sweet corn right out of the field. We cooked them up also and had a terrific dinner. We were in bed early and relaxed after a drive of about 312 miles.

On Tuesday morning we were up early and prepared to travel. We drove west on US-20 to Chadron, NE, then turned north on US-385/SD-79 to Hart Ranch. We arrived about 1PM and settled in. Checking with folks parked around us, we heard all the horrifying details of Friday night's hail storm and subsequent damage. Over 70 rigs parked in our storage lot sustained damage to roofs, vent tops, skylights, and some sidewall damage. Many will require complete roof replacements. The hail balls were the size of softballs and had points protruding from them - much like the mace of medieval times. Some were round, but most were shaped like potatoes with numerous points sticking out. When the hail began to fall, the balls would hit the ground and bounce 15' into the air before coming down again. There were holes punched in our plastic picnic tables and holes in the roofs of the steel buildings back in our Maintenance area. We really lucked out with some excellent timing for leaving here!!

We're back at the "work routine" and anxiously waiting for the month to pass. The water restrictions have been lifted so we are allowed to wash our vehicles now. We're glad to be back where we can open the coach at night and breathe the fresh air instead of air conditioned air. Dottie won't go back to work until Monday - after Sturgis week - so she's enjoying the free time during the day.

Saturday, June 30th

It’s really difficult to fathom that we have been here two months already! We are settled in to a work routine, enjoy the folks we’re around, and taking advantage of all that the Black Hills has to offer. Nancy is proving to be one of the best pets we have ever owned - or does she own us?

We are experiencing the every day afternoon showers, the warm days with VERY low humidity, and the hills around us are beginning to turn to the summer brown we’ll have to endure for the next few months. The month of June was beautiful with a little more rain than usual and it caused us to be constantly running the lawn mowers to keep up with the rapidly growing grass.

As the month progressed, we saw less measurable rain in spite of the afternoon showers. Our daytime temps are expected to be near the century mark in the coming week, but that also means 10-15% relative humidity. Most of the workers have to be extremely careful due to their ages - I enjoy the hot, dry temperatures and keep myself heavily hydrated with water and Gatorade.

We received the news that the manager of the Hart Ranch, Tracy Heitsch, has accepted a job with the Rapid City Convention Center. After over 12 years here she will go to a job that offers retirement, medical coverage, much better pay and benefits. We’re all happy for her, but sorry she’ll be leaving. She’s only 36 years old and came to each of the staff members to tell us herself what was coming. She’s been a great fixture here and will be missed. Her replacement, Shirley Petro, the Sales and Front Desk Manager, will take over as of June 29th. There is a lot of consternation over Shirley becoming the Interim Manager. There was a “ceremony” followed by a ham dinner on Wednesday night. We attended but were shocked by the lack of organization of the program and a few comments that were made by some of the staff. So, we decided to do something special for Tracy on Friday.

Gary Smoot, the Grounds Supervisor, and I got to talking and started planning a little “skit” for Tracy. We invited all the working staff to join us for our normal coffee break at 10AM on Friday. Gary laid the groundwork and explained to Tracy and all the attendees that we were disappointed with our drab, gray uniform t-shirts. Housekeeping has beautiful floral smocks and shirts so we used them as an example of what we’d like. About that time Gary got on the radio and called “Car 54, where are you?” I was parked in my cart about 100 yds. Away out of sight and answered “Car 54, 10-8”. Gary said they had a minor weed emergency at the Maintenance Shop and would I respond. I answered and was escorted by our Security van with lights and siren to the Maintenance building. I stopped about 10 yards in front of Gary and Tracy, stepped out of my cart, straightened my holster (a PVC pipe with a collapsible trash grabber slipped inside), went to the other side of my cart and got a spray bottle of weed killer. I was wearing a special-ordered t-shirt that said Lawn Enforcement Officer - Weed Patrol Division. Gary started calling military cadence and I marched forward to Tracy. Gary issued “Present Arms” and I slowly reached across my front to the holster, pulled out the “gitter”, poised it in front of me, flipped it open, and pulled the trigger making the ends come together. Tracy and most of the crowd was laughing hysterically as I recovered the “gitter”. Gary then commanded “Present Shirt” and our new Maintenance Mgr. pulled a matching shirt from behind his back. This shirt had been meticulously folded and I placed my open hands under the shirt. I turned the shirt so she could read it, went down on one knee with my head bowed, and presented her the shirt. The crowd was laughing out of control and Tracy was completely impressed by our little presentation. When Gary gave the command to recover, I stood up and went to an at ease position with a big grin and puffed-up chest to show off our shirts. We also presented her with an old, used suitcase that had been in the trash, and a roll of promotional toilet tissue that we will be giving out at the Lodge. She was in tears with laughter over the whole thing. We all dismissed after that to enjoy some ice cream cake. Our Maintenance Mgr. told me to continue wearing the shirt for the rest of the day as we proceeded to the Center Court to mow the grass. Tracy also wore her shirt for the remainder of her last working day with us.

After the earlier presentation, we are positive she will remember our little gifts to her a lot longer than the previous one. We have had so many people comment to us about the frivolity and humor that we added to that day. It’s amazing what creative ideas can come from a pitcher or two of beer and couple of close friends!

We are expecting to see several friends arrive in the next few days at Hart Ranch. One couple that we met in Tennessee are here now for a few days and we are looking forward to seeing Rick and Joanne Stone next week. As busy as we are, it’s always fun to see old friends and associates that come through this area.

Dottie is busy six days a week at Shipwreck Lee’s doing the mid-day meals. She enjoys the work and makes a little spending cash at the same time. It’s the regular customers that give her the most pleasure - and tips!

We’re both looking forward to a trip to Lincoln, NE the weekend of August 4th. One of my cousins is having his 90th birthday party, given by his kids, and we’ll have the opportunity to meet and see so many of my distant cousins. It will be a fast trip, but a great break from Hart Ranch for a few days.

July 4th is just around the corner - we have no day off for the Holiday! However, the boss is allowing me to cook some burgers for lunch on Wednesday. We’re going to use some of the money we get for collecting aluminum cans and purchase some burger patties, chips, and Klondike bars. The guys in Maintenance really appreciate the little extra effort it takes and makes the day special. It’s a labor of love and lots of fun to cook the burgers, brats, or chicken breasts for those special days and share with the guys I work with. Y’all have a Happy Fourth!!!!

Memorial Day 2007

The best to all of you this Memorial Day 2007 - it’s a day of pondering, reflecting, remembering, and honoring all those who have made our wonderful lives possible. Stop for a few moments and think about the many soldiers who are giving their all for us to be able to exercise our freedoms, live our lives in this great land of freedom, and sacrifice for our sakes.

This Memorial Day is a busy one for us at Hart Ranch. However, we have over 60 sites vacant this weekend - in the past we’ve had a full park for the holiday. I don’t know if the fuel costs, the weather, or what is causing people to stay home this summer. We are enjoying our stay here and can’t believe we’ve been in South Dakota for almost a month!

Our weather has been absolutely splendid! We have an occasional rain shower that has caused the grass to grow like crazy. We have been mowing as fast as we can and still can’t seem to stay ahead of the growing grass. After the rains stop, you can almost hear the blades of grass stretching out and growing. It’s truly amazing and the park looks better than it ever has for this time of year. I have been staying busy every day working a riding lawn mower or handling a weed eater keeping the Center Court manicured. We are spending almost every day mowing the grass and continually trying to get the small jobs accomplished. Weather is a major part of the news each day and the weathermen have a lot of neat tools to view the thunderstorms the radar picks up.

We are back in the part of the country where eating out is affordable. On Fridays we like to go to the American Legion hall for an all-you-can-eat fish’n’shrimp dinner for $7.25/person. Or the Sunday morning brunch at the Rapid City Elks Lodge for $6.95/person. And, of course, there’s always our favorite Shipwreck Lee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill. The Shipwreck burger - half pound of ground beef with grilled onions, peppers, and jalapeno peppers - is one of our favorites! Dottie may start working there next week once the daytime chef begins working the lunch hour.

Nancy, our new Sheltie, is slowly growing to adjust to her new home. It’s difficult to realize we’ve had her for four weeks now, but she seems to be more comfortable in the confines of a motor home. She is showing signs of being very comfortable with us and sticks close to our sides when she’s outside. This morning we heard what appeared to be a bark - she was feeling frisky and hungry when I got out of bed. I started playing with her and she began to jump around with here tail in the air. All of a sudden there was a muffled bark and I think she surprised herself as much as us. She’s on a twice-daily feeding routine and very good about letting us know when she needs to go outside. We’re both very pleased with our decision regarding her as she’s quite a little lady and fun to have around. We take her back to the vet on Tuesday to have the stitches removed from her surgery and the vet will do a general check-up and know the results of the blood work we requested.

We are enjoying our summer and anticipating a busy one this year. We always look forward to seeing old friends, especially folks from San Diego. We are looking forward to seeing Earl & Rita Newell from San Diego this week. They are in the area and hopefully will be staying at Hart Ranch for a few days with us.

Have a great Memorial Day!!!

Happy May Day!!


One of the most enjoyable features of this full-time lifestyle is having the flexibility to change plans and adjust our schedule. Boy, have we ever done that!

We left Branson and drove north to Springfield, MO. We circled around Springfield on the north side, hit I-44 for only six miles, and turned north toward Kansas City. My plan was to spend the night at the Flying J in Kansas City. On the way up we got a phone call from my brother, Bill. He had been out to California for a conference, spent time with our sister Peg in Santa Rosa, and traveled to San Diego for a weekend with our Mother. From there he flew to Colorado Springs to meet his son, Will, who has spent the last four months at a Focus on the Family conference. Bill met up with Will and they were to drive back to their home in Florida via Lincoln, Chicago, and Tennessee. Bill’s phone call was to see where we were and check the possibility of meeting up with them. As chance would have it, we were close to Kansas City and it was only 1:30 in the afternoon. They were in Ogallala, NE headed for Lincoln. I decided that we could bypass Kansas City and press on to Lincoln. Working on my mapping software, I figured we could arrive in Lincoln about 5:30, in time for dinner, and see both of them before they left on Thursday morning. I asked Bill to check with the Quality Suites where they were staying and see if they’d allow us to park the coach in their huge parking lot for the night. They approved, and we arrived shortly after 5:30 after they had already checked in. We met them in the parking lot and headed down the street for the Olive Garden for a relaxing dinner. It was an absolutely wonderful time to see both of them and share a meal while getting caught up on Will’s latest experiences. Even though we drove over 400 miles that day, it was worth all the fatigue we felt to see both of them.

Thursday morning Bill and Will pulled out early for a long day’s drive to Chicago. We took our leisurely time to eat, pack, and drive the 30 miles to Milford, NE and our cousin Nancy Obermeyer. She lives on a farm about two miles outside of town where the peace and quiet can be almost overwhelming. It’s a beautiful farm with about two acres of lawn that she has to mow. It was ready for mowing, so I had the opportunity to mow it on her Snapper riding lawn mower. Nancy had to work both days we were there, but she and Dottie had a lot of fun running errands together.

On Saturday there was a dog show in Seward, so we drove up and checked out the Shelties that were being shown. We met a gracious lady, Carolyn Foreman, from Omaha, who was showing two of her male Shelties. As we conversed with her, we realized we knew mutual friends, Bill & Jidge Holbrook, who raised collies and Bill is a retired AKC judge. One thing led to another and we discussed the purchase of one of Carolyn’s female puppies in May. She was a great source of information on Shelties and we left with her name and address. We had to get back to Nancy’s to pack and get moved up to Genoa.

Cousin Ike Anderson lives in Genoa and I wanted to spend some time there with him. He is in the process of leaving his farm and moving in to town in a beautiful home they purchased. We arrived at the Genoa City Park about 5PM. The park is situated next to the Loup River and is free the first three nights, then $10/week after that! We were only going to be able to stay two nights since we needed to get up to Hart Ranch. We joined Ike and his wife for dinner at the Great Plains Café on Saturday night. It is always good to see Ike and I wish we had more time to spend with them. Genoa is a quiet little farm town with so much going for it. We love the quiet pace, the friendly people, and the relaxing atmosphere we encounter every time we’re there.

On Sunday morning we joined Ike and Dorothy at the Lutheran Church for services. Prior to church, Nancy called from her work and told me she had been perusing the Omaha World Herald newspaper. She found an ad for a two-year old Sheltie female. I phoned the owner and discovered the dog is a purebred, but was the smallest of the litter - definitely NOT show quality! They have had the dog since she was a puppy. They are moving into an apartment and can’t take the dog. She needs some serious grooming (hair between her toes, hair around her ears need to be trimmed, lots of patient combing and brushing, etc.) and was fed M&M’s as snacks by the father of the family. She’s a bit overweight and VERY timid. Other than that, she is exactly what we were looking for - she’s housebroken and comes to you on command. She is a sweet little girl and we are going to love having her. We’re giving her plenty of time to adjust to living in less than 400 sq. ft. She’s learning to live with us, hasn’t barked yet, and loves to be in a lap or share a chair with us. We feel very fortunate to be able to be her new owners. Her name is Nancy and she is beginning to respond to both of us. I’ll have pictures posted on our Blog page. (see below)

We left right after church and drove the 100 miles from Genoa to Omaha to pick her up. We didn’t really know what we would be getting in to, but it turned out to be a very good move for us. We got back to Genoa by 4:30 and relaxed for the rest of the day. Ike and Dorothy drove by to see her and we followed them out to the farm. Ike was fixing the mud flap from the coach where it got a little bend in it from the parking spot at the park. We finished up the repairs to the mud flap and returned to the coach for the evening.

Monday morning Ike brought the mud flap to us in the park and we packed up in preparation for another day of travel. We left about 9AM and drove to Valentine, NE and the Wacky West RV Park. We drove close to 230 miles through some of the most enjoyable, scenic farmland along state highways. The more I drive this state, the less I want to leave. We both feel we could spend a summer traveling through these four Great Plains States and seeing all the small towns that have so much flavor. (Dave and Sandy, we all need to take a month off from the work-thing and spend some time traveling these states!) Plus, it’s an unusual experience to drive along and have oncoming drivers actually wave at you as they pass. They don’t know us from squat; yet they are all so friendly and simply give a small wave of the hand or fingers from the top of the steering wheel. It truly feels like we’re home when we travel though this state. The farmers are getting ready to start planting and the huge tractors and planters are out of the barns getting prepared for the task of getting seed in the ground. Most of the fields have been plowed and are waiting for the planting to begin. It’s a great new beginning of the crop season and everything appears to be in anticipation of the work ahead. I wish we could be here to be a part of it all!

We got to Valentine and checked in to the park to see the owners with a new Schipperke puppy! Their pup is such a cute little thing and brought back some wonderful memories of our Justy. She is about 4 months old and full of devilment! We had to spend some time talking and playing with the little critter and remembering the great times we had with ours. It makes us appreciate our new dog that won’t require the rigors of “puppy-training”. The Schip is a little cutie and just like Justy was in her youth.

We departed Valentine and fueled up at the local truck stop. Driving north into South Dakota we had the realization that we were almost home for the summer and our last four months of traveling were coming to an end. It has been an amazing journey with some awesome memories of friends, food, and fantastic country. Our new dog sat comfortably in Dottie’s lap for the whole trip and seemed to be secure with her new “mom”. We arrived at Hart Ranch shortly after noon and got settled in. It’s great to see a lot of old friends and the park is in excellent shape considering all the minor changes that have taken place. There are several new buildings, the roads are getting some new asphalt, we have some new lawn mowers, and I’m anxious to get started on the grounds. The new Maintenance Mgr. seems to be a great guy and will be fun to work with. I’ll start work on Wednesday morning and there is lots to do to get the park up to speed. Nancy is getting used to her new home and environment. She is enjoying all the grass she has to walk on and we hope to be able to get her in to a vet for a full check-up and eventual neutering.

The weather forecast is calling for temps in the 70s on Wednesday through the weekend and cool nights - great for sleeping! It’s good to be “home” in South Dakota!!

Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails preserve was a little piece of heaven - so quiet, peaceful, and restful! We spent almost the entire week there without taking any day trips as we had planned. The weather was almostpicture-perfect as the sun shone, the temperatures were absolutely mildduring the day, and the nights were pleasantly cool and comfortable!

We had the pleasure of a visit from Wayne and Kathy Johnson for two nights.They came up on Wednesday and were the only occupants in the cabin section of the park. They could walk out their back door and right onto the lakefront. When they arrived on Wednesday afternoon, we all drove to Bolivar and the local Super Wal-Mart. They both bought temporary fishing permits and some bass lures. We spent one afternoon with them on the shoreline and watched them fish. Both of them got bites, but no "keepers". It was fun just sitting and watching them - Wayne takes his fishing seriously, and Kathy does a great job trying to keep up with him. When they left on Friday morning, we were sad to say goodbyes. We've had a wonderful time seeing them and sharing some special time with them.

We had originally planned to go to Memphis on a day trip, but changed our plans a bit. Instead of driving the 50 miles to Memphis, we stayed close to the preserve and got some needed chores accomplished on the coach. I was able to clean the roof, wax some parts of the coach, and do arranging in the storage bays. I went to breakfast on Saturday morning and met one of the active posters on the TTN email list. I also had the chance to talk with the owners of a motorhome that arrived on Wednesday - Maxwell, Victoria, and Jennifer Smart. They have a mid-engine Newmar MountainAire coach and are traveling around the U.S. They will visit all 48 states in one year and do a weekly radio show sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. Their schedule is grueling; even more strenuous than ours is! You can read all about them at www.smartfamilyshow.com. They have an interesting story and were very interesting to meet and talk to

We finally had to pack up and leave on Monday morning. We were able to leave early and get some miles behind us on our way to Mountain View, AR. We drove through Memphis and stopped at the Flying J in West Memphis, AR to top off the tank. We drove on up through mountainous terrain (peaks of 700') and stayed primarily on state and county roadways. When we arrived at the Spring Hill RV Park, we had a little challenge getting parked in a park built for small trailers and campers. Once we were settled, we learned that Mountain View is known for its gatherings of bluegrass musicians. These aren't big name performers; these are the folks that play acoustic instruments and enjoy the basic sounds of banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and dulcimers. The folks gather around the Courthouse each night around 7PM and have their little "jam sessions". It's a fascinating collection of simple folks who love their music. We enjoyed sitting around in circled chairs and listening to the sounds of the players

We found Arkansas to be a beautiful state. The mountains that folks refer to are small by our standards, but very similar to the roads we've traveled in the Cuyamaca Mountains east of San Diego. Lots of rolling hills and heavily treed landscape kept me watching the road. I noticed a lot more poverty than I had seen so far on this trip. We couldn't help but notice the number of mobile homes, old travel trailers, and even old motor homes that had become permanent living quarters for many of the mountain residents. We also saw some of the most beautiful mountain cabins (estates) and some amazingly low prices for real estate

We spent only one night in Mountain View and left early on Tuesday morning headed for Branson, MO. I had looked on the internet for prices of the shows in Branson and my fiscally-conservative traits popped out. OK, I'm just cheeeep!!! I don't care to take out second mortgages for entertainment. Most of the shows were in the $30-40/person price range. We arrived at Branson at the Fall Creek Resort, an AOR park that only costs us $6/night. It is a beautiful resort - huge condos, time shares, and an RV park. We checked in for only one night and cancelled our other two nights

On the way to Branson we received a phone call from Hart Ranch. There have been some interesting developments up there and they are short of help. I had offered to arrive earlier if there was a need - the phone call confirmed that the need was indeed there. We are in the process of changing our plans and arriving by next Tuesday. We still want to spend a few nights in Nebraska, so we'll be doing a little more driving than I had planned. We will take advantage of our location and stop in Lincoln for two nights and Genoa, NE for two nights.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money going to shows in Branson. The resort had a Chinese buffet scheduled for Tuesday night and several of the Branson entertainers dropped by to give us a sample of their shows. We saw Jenna Crispin, the 15-yr.-old who sang in the Clay Cooper Revue at the Orlando Monaco Rally in January. We also heard two numbers from a group called "SIX". They are six brothers who sing with no instrumental accompaniment. They make the sounds of the instruments and are fantastic! If we were to stay longer, we definitely would like to see their show. (Who knows, maybe they could be brought to a Monaco Rally some time!). We both enjoyed the buffet supper and the teases we saw for the different shows. For $7.50/person it was a great evening!

We are getting our first real rain showers in a long time. The forecast calls for the potential of severe weather, but we'll be monitoring our weather alert radio and hopefully sleep well anyway. Tomorrow begins the long drive to Hart Ranch - I know, I'm retired, but I would like to get there and assist in getting the park up and running.

On Wednesday, the 11th, we drove back up to Nashville. The weather had cleared up and it was supposed to be a beautiful day. Our hope was to be able to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Ryman Auditorium. We left the coach about 9:30 in our Kia with the iWay GPS attached to the windshield to guide us. I chose a route we hadn’t traveled in order to see some different countryside. The GPS took us along the back roads where we were able to enjoy some of the pristine farmland.

Our first scheduled stop was the Costco store in Franklin. We didn’t really need anything, but we wanted to do some casual shopping in the store and see what merchandise they carried. Our only purchase was a pair of gloves for each of us. They had some weatherproof gloves that normally cost $9 and they were marked down to $7/pair. The Costcos are pretty much standardized as we have found, but it’s always fun to see the different inventory that each section of the country carries.

Our next stop was the downtown Nashville attractions. When we arrived at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Dottie went in to get the prices. I found a parking spot (typically in a metropolitan area the parking spots cost - this was no different) and decided not to pay the $8 parking fee they wanted. Dottie came running out to keep me from parking when she discovered that the Museum wanted $35/person to visit with a self-guided tour which included the Ryman Theater. (I’m just too tight to pay that kind of money! If a city has an attraction that would benefit a person‘s knowledge, they don’t need to be charging those kind of high rates - keep it reasonable!) We were disappointed, but not too surprised. I found a curb parking spot, put 4 quarters in the machine, and we walked over to the Ryman Theater to at least see the outside of it. I took a few pictures and we walked back down to Broadway, the main drag in Nashville.

Broadway is a line of small restaurants and bars with the names of the famous country singers. We saw the Ernest Tubb Coffee Shop, the Charlie Daniels Lounge, and the Broadway Brew Pub. Whoa there, podner! The Broadway Brew Pub? Yep, a small microbrewery with a brewpub that had over 70 beers on tap! We walked by the window and I could see a young lady inside behind the bar with a black top and two of the biggest…most beautiful…round…brown eyes you’ve ever seen! Gotcha!! We decided to go in and have a refreshing drink. The bar wasn’t very busy so Dana, the young lady, talked with us as we sipped one of their local brews, a Yazoo pale ale. She has worked there for about two months and is making just over $2/hour (plus tips) as a barmaid. Dottie enjoyed chatting with Dana after her experiences in Rapid City last summer. Dana had a black top that had “Drink ‘til he’s cute!” printed on the back and talked me in to buying a white one for Dottie. We really enjoyed our half hour sitting and talking with her.

We left and walked back to the car just in time for the parking meter to run out of time. We drove out of the downtown area and back to the interstate to search out a Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits. Good friend Dale Hilmen, a fellow La Mesa Sunrise Rotarian and an attorney that owns some land in Nashville as an investment, owns the property that is leased by two of the Mrs. Winner’s stores. We found one of the restaurants and stopped for some pictures and some sampling. They had special priced chicken breast filets in a biscuit for only 99 cents. We bought three of the them and a box of chicken to take home for dinner.

Back on the road we stopped at the local Sam’s Club to check out their store and got out without buying anything. The GPS took us on a meandering county road that took us to the Natchez Trace Parkway and back to the campground. We got home about 4:30 and tackled that box of warm chicken. It was a great day of being a tourist and enjoying Nashville.

Thursday was a travel day and we headed for Leighton, AL to spend a couple of day with Wayne and Kathy Johnson. We drove down the Trace until we encountered a detour for retrofitting two bridges. Our drive took us to Florence, AL and the Quad Cities of Florence/Muscle Shoals/Sheffield/Tuscumbia. We crossed the Tennessee River and arrived at the Johnson Estate about 12:30. I drove by the house very slowly to look over the approach and the driveway. They live in a rural setting with a circular driveway. I realized I was going to have to drive to the end of the street, turn around, and make another approach from the opposite direction in order to make the turn into the narrow driveway.

We unhooked the car and I carefully maneuvered the coach into the driveway. With our huge wheelbase, turning the coach so as not to damage the lawn was a real challenge. Between some low wires and tree branches, I wasn’t as successful as I would like to have been, but I got the coach parked facing out into the street with as little lawn damage as possible. As soon as I stopped, Wayne grabbed a tree trimmer and we snipped some branches to prepare for our pending departure. We ran an extension cord and hooked up to a 20-amp outlet, enough to keep the batteries charged.

Our stay with Wayne and Kathy has been a very relaxing respite from the campgrounds we’ve been seeing. Both of them have been wonderful hosts and we have had the privilege of sampling Kathy’s fantastic cooking. On Friday morning we struck out to see the Coon Dog Cemetery. It’s in a remote part of the county and the GPS took us directly to it. The GPS even had the cemetery as one of its many points-of-interest. We walked around and looked at some of the graves and headstones and took some photos. It’s a very quiet location and had the first “occupant” in 1937. There are probably close to 100 graves that are only for coon dogs.

From there we drove to Red Bay, AL and the Tiffin Motorhome Co., the maker of the Allegro brand of motor homes. We arrived too early for the afternoon tour at 2PM, so we found a BBQ restaurant and had lunch. We were back at 2 for the tour and joined 8 others. The plant is small compared to Monaco, but very interesting to see the construction of the coaches. When the time comes for us to upgrade our coach I wouldn’t consider anything but Monaco. However, I have to admit I was impressed with the construction of the Allegros. The plant wasn’t as clean as Monaco's, but the end product is well-made. There are only 13 coaches a week being manufactured and the workmanship was very well done. We toured the plant in about 90 minutes and then had the chance to walk aboard some of the coaches waiting on the line that weren’t yet sold. The top-of-the-line Zephyr is a magnificent coach with some very nice luxury items on the interior. The coaches are built on Spartan chassis with 500-hp Cummins engines. The plant tour was interesting and informative, and Wayne and Kathy also seemed to enjoy it.

On Friday night the Johnsons took us to Dale’s Steakhouse on the river in Florence. We had a fantastic first-class dinner among several high school prom attendees. The young ladies were decked out in beautiful gowns accompanied by their dates dressed in tuxes. It was fun to see these kids and brought back memories of over 40? years ago.

Saturday was a day to stay home with bad weather forecasts. We experienced a huge line of thunderstorms that passed the country and rained on us. In spite of the rain I was able to change the oil on the Kia and grease the u-joints on the coach. I got a little wet, but it was only rain water and the job is finally completed. We were up early on Sunday morning to join Wayne and Kathy for Sunday school and church at the Leighton Baptist Church. Both of us enjoyed the warmth of the congregation and the friendliness we encountered. Some long-time friends of the Johnsons dropped by on their way home to central Alabama and we listened to some funny stories and memories. Sunday night was a quiet evening in preparation for our departure on Monday for the Cherokee Landing TTN park.

On Monday morning I was up early and getting the coach prepared for travel. After securing everything, I got the coach started and slowly rolled out the driveway. With Dottie watching carefully, I was able to pull into the street and make the slow turn without getting the rear wheels in the drainage ditch. We hitched up, said our goodbyes, and began to roll toward the highway. Wayne had made a phone call to a local propane dealer and they were waiting for us to fill the tank. We headed west on US-72 all the way to Walnut, MS and turned north on MS-15/TN-125 before turning west at Middleton on TN-57. We topped the fuel tank in Walnut paying $2.80/gallon for diesel fuel. We drove right past the entrance to Cherokee Landing since there was no sign. After turning around, I found the entrance, drove the 2 miles to the Ranger Station and got checked in. Much to our surprise, there are a few full hook-up sites in the park, and we got one of them. That is a pleasant relief since Dottie can use the washing machine and save some effort in washing clothes. It also means we can take showers in our coach and not have to use the restrooms.

The park is a place of absolute peace and quiet! We’ve been told we will see deer walking through the park and hear wild birds in the trees. Wayne and Kathy will drive up and spend Wednesday and Thursday with us in a cabin we already have reserved for them. It will be a great week!!

We’re on the road again! We left the Forest Lake Thousand Trails preserve about 9AM on Tuesday morning. I had decided to avoid the Interstate 40 traffic and take the back roads, as much as possible. We started out traveling on US64 and US70. The choice was a good one as we discovered the back roads are a lot more enjoyable to drive on. The roads were in perfect shape on US70 since they have almost all been recovered with asphalt. We found almost no traffic on this highway and the homes and small towns are a real joy to drive through. There were a few times that the small towns created a hassle with their signal lights and narrow streets in the incorporated towns. We had a couple of challenges when we had to turn in the mid-city areas, but these weren’t impossible to deal with. The terrain along US70 is rolling hillsides and up-and-down roadways. It probably added another hour to our travel time, but it was worth every minute.

We drove along at a much slower pace than the freeway, but we were able to enjoy the scenery and the roadway. I could hear the chatter from the trucks on I-40 (since we basically paralleled the interstate). As we drove through Hickory, NC, we saw a Super Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club collocated on the same lot. Dottie had a list of things she needed, so we pulled in to the Super Wally and did some necessity shopping. It was a good break, but I was anxious to get back on the road knowing we were moving slower than usual. The real problem with the slower roads is the occasional stop-and-go traffic we encountered. It’s harder on the brakes, a little more stressful in the metropolitan area, and we really use the Pac-brake a lot. But, the beauty of the back roads, the simplicity of the living, and the peace and quiet of the country roads makes up for the hassle in the towns.

It took us almost six hours to travel 170 miles and we finally arrived at Waynesville, NC a little after 3PM. Our destination was the Waynesville Elks Lodge. It’s located on the south edge of town in an old, two-story house. Waynesville is on the eastern slope of the Great Smokie Mountain Range. We enjoyed a couple of Bloody Mary drinks before dinner and retired to the coach for the evening. Our little weather alert radio started going off every 15-20 minutes about 11PM. It was warning of a squall line that had the potential for penny-sized hail and was moving east right in our direction. Shortly after midnight I decided that we should probably retract our slide-outs just in case. It wasn’t 10 minutes before the squall line arrived and dumped some wind-driven rain on us for about 45 minutes. We sat on the sofa for almost half an hour watching the rain come down. It was definitely a horizontal rain and we could see it in the lights outside the Lodge. When it was over, everything quieted down for the remainder of the night. In other adjoining areas of the state there was evidence of tornado activity and extremely strong winds. We were glad we secured the slide-outs (only moments before the weather reached us).

When we got up on Wednesday morning, the ground was wet and showed signs of a good, heavy rain. We didn’t get any hail, but nearly an inch of water had fallen. Thank goodness we were parked on an asphalt parking lot. We pulled out of the parking lot and headed for I-40. I decided to stay on the interstate since I knew we were going to be traveling through mountainous terrain with a lot of up-and-down driving. We had some spectacular scenery through the mountains and only reached a high of 2600’. But it was very reminiscent of traveling through the Rockies in the West. We followed a rapidly flowing river next to I-40 and even drove through a couple of tunnels. The truckers’ chatter on the CB was often entertaining, and at times became disgusting. In spite of all that, I enjoy listening to the CB and getting warned of hazards, construction, traffic issues, etc. prior to encountering it.

We arrived in Crossville, TN and Breckenridge Lake RV Resort. I had heard about this park for several years as it’s one of the home park choices offered by brokers selling used campground memberships. The park is rather small with only 60 sights, but it is clean and well maintained. I’d love to return here and spend more time in the area. The temperatures have gotten cool in the last few days - we’ve lost those warm temperatures that we enjoyed the first couple of months of the year. We saw some temps that were down in the high 30’s on Wednesday night. There is obviously so much to do in the Crossville area and we just didn’t take the time to snoop around and check out the local sights.

We were up and on the road early Thursday morning, the 5th. A little after 8AM we were ready to pull out of Breckenridge Lake and continue heading west. I decided to avoid the concrete slab of I-40 and chose US 70 instead. (It’s interesting to me, but I received an email from one of you saying you enjoy tracking our route on a map and reading about the places we traversed.) We drove US-70 all the way to Tenn. 96 and into Murfreesboro, TN. We visited the local Super Wal-Mart there and restocked some of Dottie’s vegetable supply. From there we continued on T-96 to T-840 and on to I-65 south to Columbia and US412 to the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The Parkway is a sight to see! It is a narrow two-lane road that runs from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. It covers some of the most pristine countryside in Tennessee. We drove in total amazement at the lack of traffic, the quiet beauty of the tall trees and narrow shoulders, and the lack of human trash on the roadsides. It’s a spectacular roadway and we hope to see a lot more of it in the next week. I’d hate to have any mechanical problems along the Trace as there’s nowhere to pull off the road except on what could be a very soft, dirt shoulder. We arrived at the Natchez Trace Thousand Trails preserve and found a spot to park.

This park is huge! It is an old NACO park and I’m very pleasantly surprised at the size and condition of the park. Our experiences with NACO parks in the West is that they are older, not well-maintained, and small in comparison to the other Thousand Trails parks. This park is in excellent shape and shows the pride of the member workers who take care of things. Even now, before the start of the season, the Trading Post serves breakfast every morning and has meals on the weekend nights. The big draw for the park is the Chief Creek Lake. I talked with some of the folks in the store this morning and heard that they catch bass, catfish, crappie, rock fish, etc. There were several boats ready to go after breakfast to catch their limits. The park is heavily treed and we had to search for a site that would allow us to use our satellite dish. Regular TV reception is weak as is cell phone reception. My Wilson cell phone antenna helps to improve the reception, but it still isn’t very strong.

On Friday morning we drove in to Lawrenceburg to get a 20’ sewer hose from the local Super Wally. It’s about 20 miles to town and we looked around to see what we could find. We have also discovered that there is an Amish village close to here, so we’ll be sure to drive over there for a visit.

On Saturday, the 7th, we had a very pleasant visit from some old friends from our days in Selma, AL. Wayne and Kathy Johnson, who now live near Florence, AL, drove up to Natchez Trace TTN to spend a couple of nights with us. We reserved a cabin for them and they arrived about 1PM. We had a gone down to the Ranger Station to make sure everything was ready and they pulled in while we were standing there. It was a wonderful reunion and a thrill to see them!

We spent Saturday night at the coach and had chicken barbequed on the new grill. The temperatures were still forecast to get down in the 20’s, but we cooked the bird slowly over the heat outside. We caught up on all the news for Dottie and retired for the night.

The cabin we had reserved had a window air conditioner, two beds, and most of what was needed for food preparation. Although Kathy is a fantastic cook, she didn’t need to do any cooking up here. The cabin was comfortable, but not lavish. This was our first time renting a cabin and we discovered that the process was easy and well worth the effort to have good friends join us.

On Sunday morning we arose to a temperature of 21 degrees and prepared for church. The minister that conducted the service has a church of his own in town. He comes out to the preserve to conduct a worship service and then rushes back to town for his own service and Sunday school class. He led a very relaxed service with a few hymns and a message about Easter and its real meaning. It was a very short service followed communion for those that wished. We, along with most of the worshippers, remain for the communion service. When the minister was completed, he wasted no time in getting in his car and getting back in to town.

Wayne and Kathy offered to drive us to Nashville to see the Opreyland Hotel - wow!!! What a place! It reminded me of the Mall of America in Minneapolis. It’s a huge hotel complex with several sections and the whole complex is covered and climate-controlled. There are many different themed areas and it was amazing to walk all the way around the hotel complex. We couldn’t begin to see everything and were amazed at the prices in the stores and restaurants. Since it was Easter Sunday, the buffets were charging only $35 per person! We decided that we weren’t really that hungry and would wait to get a bite of eat on the way home. This is a place to make as a destination and see the huge hotel park.

On the way home we found a Famous Dave’s BBQ restaurant and stopped for an early dinner. The food was excellent and we enjoyed the break from the car. We arrived back at the park by about 5:30. Wayne went to their cabin for a short nap, and Kathy came over to the coach to talk with Dottie and share more stories. When Wayne woke up, he came over and we sat until almost 9PM telling stories. It was a fun-filled day with good friends!

On Monday morning we were up in time for breakfast down at the Country Store. We talked about our stay with them in the next few days and are looking forward to seeing them and some of the sights they want to show us. They left about 11AM and headed back to Leighton, AL, their home. We stayed in the coach and got some washing and other odd chores completed. I got a new GPS, and Lowrence iWay 250c. There is a learning curve on this little device and I’m having a great time playing with it and learning how to use it. We have the GPS with our mapping software, but that works with the laptop. We needed a device to use in the Kia without having to haul a laptop with us. This little gem is really amazing in the database that it contains and the way it warns you of pending turns. So far, it has exceeded my expectations. Maybe it’ll make things easier navigating around areas where we’re not familiar with the roads.