Scary Sights

Our great-granddaughter had a Halloween party in the parking lot of her school, on Saturday  It was a trunk party where the parents did up the backs of their cars and the “goblins” went trick or treating.  They had little games and balloon art.  Great idea as it wasn’t crowded and some of the trunks were very well done.  And the grown ups  really got into the costumes.   Scary.

               

 

Grandson Robert, Kersten, Roinn and Kylee.

From there we went back to the house where our SIL had smoked ribs, and they were out of this world.  Went back again to night for left overs, and good byes.  Short visit, but it was good to see everyone before going west for the winter.  Long journey ahead, twelve hundred miles.  Got some new audio books, with John Gresham's new one, among them, so that will make the time go fast.  Our friend Barb gave us one in Coffeyville, and it was pretty darn good, really made those miles fly by.  Thanks Barb.

Life is Good

Braving the Blizzard

It was not all that bad, but for us wimpy snowbirds this was a major storm.  We had hoped that we would not have to deal with snow as we are only here for a week.  Just needed to get a few things done, and pick up some “stuff” from storage.  Being as we will have storage at Jojoba it will make it easier to have some things there, as we will be spending most of winter time there. 

Roinn was so intense at his workout yesterday, and I got lots and lots of shots of the back of his head, very few from the front.  He is in the first grade, but because of his November birthday almost 7. Very good big brother.

Kylee, is so precious, she is all girly girl, think Roinn will have his hands full once they get older, she takes martial arts on Saturdays too.  No ballet for her! 

The sun is out, got the water going, (which was a major job, it was 24 degrees this morning) then got to get my hair cut, nails done, hit the commissary, busy, busy.  Having a family gathering Saturday, which will be nice.  Everyone is so busy with their every day lives, that it is hard to get all together.  So for now we will enjoy the time we do get to spend with one and all. 

Life Is Good

Pic, Pic Pictures

Pictures have been lacking in the last few blogs, so I’m remedying that.

What we did best and most at Defeated Creek, loading the plates so we could………EAT.

Lisa Hembree & Ric-Tony Hembree & Dave Sussman

Big Bird

Here we have Donna with her new grandbaby, is that a proud grandma?

Netters & Bridget, we all had our cameras out.

Chuck, teasing Fred, Chuck is now known as “Three Finger Chuck”. Never stand between Fred and his food!

Down the road we go. No pictures from Coffeyville, camera never came out, darn.

Cotton field along the way.

Lots of t-shirts in those rolls.

Road Art

Color in Colorado

Pikes Peak

View out our window this morning. Yes, that is snow, but the temperature is suppose to be in the 70’s tomorrow, so will just call it a nice treat…..we are out of here on Halloween.

Tonight we are going to see our great-grandson at his martial arts practice, that is if the snow lets up…lol.

There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example
I am sitting here right now thinking how nice it is that wrinkles & fat don't hurt.

Life is Good

We Are So Lucky

This past month we have been meeting up with old and new friends, and what a wonderful time we have had.  Some times we feel like pinching ourselves, just can’t believe that we could have been so fortunate to have met so many wonderful people. 

After leaving Defeated Creek, saying good-by to Lisa, Tony, Tez & Ric, along with Rich & Mary, Jenny and Don & Dave, we traveled into Branson with Mac & Netters.  There we split company as we were staying at the Treasure Lake park, where John & Bridget are.  Also Mike and Lisle are also there, and we had not seen them in a couple of years.  We had a wonderful gathering and dinner, with a Suzie and Don and their friends popping in for a quick visit.  The next day Nolan & Donna along with her daughter Carla, with Donna’s new little grandbaby, joined us at Golden Corral, where we all ate too much.  From there we went back to the campground and talked and laughed till we hurt.  If laughter makes you live longer we should all make it to 100.  All was fun & games till we had to say our “see ya down the road” farewells.  We got away early in the morning and made Coffeyville before noon.  There we met up with Barb & Bob Williams, Ginger & Jesse,  John & Laurie Newby, along with one other couple whose name escapes me now.  Dang!  Barb had prepared dinner which we all enjoyed, unfortunately the weather was threatening rain, and lots of lightning, and we had to break up early, but then most every one was having to work the next day, and their day was going to start at 4:30. And it was just the start of their 4, ten hour days.  Everyone is counting the days till December 23, which will be the end of their employment.  

Today our travel day was smooth, the roads in Kansas are wonderful, at least the ones we drove today, so it looks like we will make Colorado Springs tomorrow, if all goes well.  After all the trouble we have had these past few months, I’m not saying anything is final until it is over and done. 

Looking forward to seeing our daughter and family.  Especially the great grand babies, not really babies any more, almost 4 & 7.  Growing way too fast. 

Life is Good

Moving On

This morning we are packing up and leaving Defeated Creek COE campground, feeling as rested and loose as can be. Yeah, ready to meet the ole cruel world head on. The weather has turned and it is ugly outside, glad all my jobs are pink.

Last night we had a finale dinner with everyone in Cookville, at a fabulous Chinese restaurant, excellent. Sorry to be leaving our friends Lisa and Tony, know that they would love to be able to join us, and who knows....... some day.

Keeping this short, must get things done, see ya in Branson,Missouri.

Unwinding at Defeated Creek, Tennessee

Once the last check was done on the work at Mor/Ryde we were out of there faster than…….,well fast! The travel day was very uneventful, and we made great time. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and getting a good shot was almost impossible. Sixty miles an hour and a dirty windshield seen to that.

The traffic heading north in Louisville was backed up for at least 15 miles,

sure glad we were heading the other way, we had smooth sailing. We pulled into Grandma’s RV park, and across the street were a couple from the Montana rally. They were smiling behind their hands as I was putting the leveling boards under the tires, as they had just had the level-up system installed. Maybe next year. The next morning we took our time as we only had 140 miles, but they were all on back roads, up and down, curvy and slow, so it was more like 300, but we were all set up by 3 in the afternoon. This is such a pretty place.

Out our back window.

No trains, no traffic, a wonderful place to recharge our batteries. Unfortunately a lot of the people who had made reservations have had to cancel, so the remaining few are sort of spread out. Once a reservation is made and in the computer, changing the site is not possible. But we are doing fine, dinner at one site, campfire at Lisa & Tony’s. Tony is the official fire builder and a fine job he does! He also has the wood. The first few days the weather was perfect. But it has gone to normal, little rain, still nice and warm, and the best part NO wind. That will be here tomorrow, now that I’ve said that. Our friends Ginny & Don got here Monday, and Tuesday night he ended up in the hospital. They now have him in Nashville, and are checking his heart out. We are all hoping for the best, and he was in great spirits yesterday when we seen him.

We all piled in the vehicles the other day and went to Tony’s favorite catfish place. If I had to get there it would never happen, we ended up in Kentucky after taking a dozen different roads, but it was by far the best catfish I’ve ever had. It was all you could eat and they meant it. Some of us couldn’t finish the first serving, which was huge, where as others more than made up for it. Delicious! About the only other outing we have had is girls day out, where we hit Bed Bath and Beyond, Trader Joes, and a few other places. Of course there was lunch which was at the Cheesecake Factory. Now right outside, written in cement, was the saying “Life is short, eat dessert first”, but did we pay heed…….oh no, we had lunch, and were so full we couldn’t even think about dessert. Darn.

Have another few days here before we start west. Hope to make a short stop in Branson, then see our good friends in Coffeeville, who are working at Amazon, then on to Colorado Springs for a quick stop. Gotta get out of there before the snow falls.

Life is Good

P.S. the wind is blowing!

Camping Inside of Mor/Ryde

We were up very early this morning, Chuck backed the rig into the shop and we were free for the day.  Spent the first couple of hours in the very nice guest lounge here.  Met another couple who were having some work done, and low and behold they knew some of our Hitchhikers friends.  Barb and Roger Maxie!  What a small world we RVers have.  We then took off and I had my nails done real quick and we made a run to the surplus store in Michigan for a few things, now that we had the correct measurements.  From there we thought a quick lunch at the Rise N’ Roll, but we decided to hit the cheese factory first.  Bad move, we are now in possession of a whole lot of cheese, never shop on an empty stomach. 

Taken through a very smudged window, now that is a lot of cheese in the making.

  Finally made it to the Rise N’ Roll, split a sandwich, and did not even buy any of there fabulous donuts. 

Wash day=Monday in Amish country.  Telephone booth, they are allowed, but not in the house and no seat or chair in them.  Of course with the cell phones those customs are going the way of the horse and buggy…..hmmmm.                         

                     

Phone booth, they are allowed, but not in the house and no seat or chair in them.  Of course with the cell phones those customs are going the way of the horse and buggy…..hmmmm.                      

                 

To kill a little more time we went to see the movie The Help.  Had read the book, and the movie was great, held pretty true to the book, but filled some of the gaps, take more than 1 Kleenex if you’re a softie.  Finally we got back to Mor/Ryde and there was our home …..in pieces, but almost ready to go. 

                               

Tomorrow should see us hitting the road if they are done early enough, other wise bright and early Wednesday. 

Life is Good

Montana Rally & More

What a great rally the Montana Owners Club had. And of course there was way too much food and drink, but it all contributed to the good time we had. The seminars were very informative and all the reps were extremely helpful. There were 4 to 5 Keystone reps who addressed any problems we were having with our rigs, appointments made, and with in the week, everyone left doing the happy dance. We were so fortunate that they discovered a major problem with ours, like the frame and the hangers were no longer connected, (something like that) but the fact that it was not safe to take on the road. Sure scared this ole lady, when I think of all the miles we had probably traveled with it like that. We spent a couple of nights in their campground while they got everyone scheduled to getting it fixed, and we were out of there. If you are ever going to need major work Elkhart is the place to be. Everything they need is here, all the parts, anything and everything. Being there was no bill for all this, and we are over 2 years out of warranty, well, it don’t get no better than that.

We are now in Mor/Ryde’s camping site, and they will get the work done starting Monday, that we had scheduled for earlier this week, but could be done due to the other problem. There will be a bill for that, but hopefully this will resolve the issues we’ve had. Then our rig should be better than new! Must be time to think of buying a new one…..NOT!

The beautiful home the Montana group went for an Amish dinner. Ran into this couple at the rally, they were there for the rig weighing, and joined us for the dinner. They put on the the very first rally we had ever attended in Branson.

Howard & Linda Payne http://www.rv-dreams.com

The McHenry’s Mac and Nette's Road to Retirement are in the area, and we have met up a few times. Tonight we decided that we had to try Lunkers as we had not done that this trip yet. Chuck and Mac had prime rib and cleaned there plates, but Netters and I had lasagna, hers was regular, I had the seafood. Good, good, good. But we both brought home more than we ate. Portions that would feed a family.

Today the sun finally came out for the entire day, that can make your mood change. We have had rain for an entire week, and yesterday the wind was wild. Time to move south, and we are trying so hard, hopefully by Wednesday.

I have been so remiss in keeping this blog up, that at times am tempted to quit, but maybe in my “golden years” it will give me something to look back at, shed a tear, a little smile, and just enjoy these days all over again.

Life Is Good

Heading On Down the Road

Walls Drug is a memory,

as are the views of South Dakota.

And beginning of a bummer week.

But our patience paid off and we were on our way again.  Really had to twist Chuck arm to get him to stop at the Corn Palace, once he got the wheels rolling he was in go mood.  But he admitted that the stop was worth it. 

Each year they completely change the design, so basically it is almost always being put together.  The turrets and spirals had yet to be decorated.  Quite interesting, and the inside auditorium is also done.                                    

                                

We stopped and had lunch with Dave & Bev in a great little local café.  We had planned to spend a few days earlier, but glad we got to have a nice visit.  Other than that we just took our time, although 1000 miles in 3 days, is a little more than we usually think about doing.  But we wanted to get here with time to spare before the Montana rally, which starts Wednesday.  Getting our axles, wheels the whole 9 yards looked, to see if we need to upgrade/repair, what ever it takes. 

Our first day here, Saturday, we had to pay a visit to Rise N’ Roll.  If you  ever are in the vicinity well worth a stop, the caramel donuts are to die for. And Chuck wants everyone to know that he had a donuts for one and all.  Then we headed for Shipshewana only to find the flea market wasn’t open…….but Yoder's was!  We came back through Goshen and hit a few of the stores.  A shopper I am not, but let me tell you, Chuck almost had to drag me out, think there are nail marks in the carpet of Target Super store.  It has been at least a couple of months since we have been around the big stores, once I got in I just looked and touched like I was in heaven.  Back to earth, today was laundry which means we are good to go. 

Tuesday we take the RV by MorRyde and see what their suggestions are.  Then we will move to Goshen where the rally is, after it is over, we will come back and have the work done.  Once that is taken care of we will be making our way to Tennessee for Lisa’s Gathering.

Life is Good

Purgatory

That is what we are thinking we are in.  Left Gillette, heading east, final destination was to be Elkhart/Goshen.  Just a buzzing down I-90 when we get a ding, ding.  Overheating???  Stopped and sure enough we had water coming out the bottom of the engine pretty serious like.  Well luckily we had cell service, Good Sam RS, once again. This was shortly after noon, and each time we thought someone was coming to our rescue, near the scheduled arrival time, we would receive a call saying they were not coming.  They were actually hinting that we might be there till the next day.  We could see a water tower, Kadoka, SD, in the distance and as it was getting dark we agreed to a tow there.  Bad move.  That ended their responsibility….have a good day, idiot.  We found a dodge/ford/gmc dealer (one size fits all) 20 miles away, but we had to arrange the tow there. Thank goodness for cell phones and the internet.  We were lucky after 3 days they installed the water pump, but there is a small part that is needed to keep the pressure up or down or something, anyway they don’t have it, NO ONE has it ANYWHERE.  A shipment is scheduled to arrive in Denver this coming Tuesday, so even with overnighting looking at Thursday at the earliest for getting on the road.  But they did warn us that it was only a scheduled shipment. 

Woke up yesterday and the fridge was not working.  Luckily switched it to gas, went and got a couple of bags of ice, and it cooled off. Seems to be working, not switching it back till we are in Elkhart. 

Hopefully this will one day be one of those funny stories for around the campfire someday, but right now, well we are still finding a little humor in it. That is it, done moaning, whooo is me.  Enough. We have some friends passing through next Tuesday and they have promised to stop, so looking forward to seeing them.

Tomorrow is the 9/11 anniversary, 10 years ago, we were sitting on a plane in Sacramento waiting to take off.  Compared to something like that, we are totally blessed. 

Life is Good

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL..

 

Last night, we joined the other rally “left overs” for a surprise 50th birthday party for Marcia Jones.  Chasingthe70s  Think she was truly surprised,  and we all had a great time.  Happy Birthday, Marcia.

Up early this morning, hitching the old horse to the wagon to start the trek down the road.  We are heading for Iowa,, where we have friends that we will spend a few days with.  Want to make a stop and take in the Corn Palace too.  So with plans laid out, we will soon have Gillette in our rear view mirror.  Made some great memories, enjoyed it very much.

Life is Good

Escapade 2011

Almost 700 rigs, double that for attendees, and a good time had by all.  Our leaders, Bob and Molly Pinner, along with many volunteers did an outstanding job. 

There were vendors galore, nightly entertainment, many seminars to choose from, and of course all the “happy hours”. 

Best of all, seeing friends we have met over the years, and the chance to make new ones.  We also got to meet a few of the fellow Jojobaians, we can’t wait to see our new parking place in Jojoba Hills in California.  When closing ceremonies took place we were ready for it all to come to an end.  Busy, busy turned into tired over the week. Now we will take a few days to let it all sink in, visit with friends, as most are staying for at least a few days. 

Class of 07 adopted about 8 couples this year, so we are becoming quite a large ”family”.  We had a happy hour earlier this week with a large turn out.  Tonight we are having a baked potato gathering. That is always fun, everyone brings a baked potato and one topping, and that lowly potato turns into a gourmet treat.

We are having our RV weighed when we leave here on the 6th, hopefully we are not too much overweight.  Be wonderful if we were under weight, something that I personally have never had to deal with.  We have taken a lot off the rig, and replaced it with much lighted items, so I’m hoping…… sort of like taken off your shoes before stepping on the scale.  I did go through the cupboards and donated lots of can goods, even 5 pounds of sugar, to the food drive the Escapees was having for the food bank in Gillette. Okay, that is like taking off the earrings!  It will be nice to have a storage shed on our lot, give us some place to store things that we only need when we are sitting for awhile. We may not have a stick and bricks, but we have “stuff” stored all across the USA. 

Our last minute purchase at the rally, a Adventure Caravans 7 day tour for the Rose Parade.  This will make the 4th time we have done this and each time has been better than the last.  I think of all the things we have done or seen this is by far my favorite. It is so nice to just park the rig, and let some one else do the driving, AND parking.  Highly recommend it to anyone thinking of taking the parade in.  My favorite part is the post float viewing, it is amazing to see some of the uses of fruit, vegetables and flowers up close. The floats are parked for a few days which gives you plenty of time to have a good look.

Life is Good

Rally Round

We spent six days in Cody, had a great time.  The RV park was ever so nice to us, letting us use part of the restaurant at night to play cards.  They also did a breakfast buffet which was quite good, and the price of five dollars was very reasonable.  Chuck took advantage of it, I believe 3 times, but I only tried it once.  Not so much of a morning person, I kind of like to ease into the day.  Three of the group was checking into the rally one day earlier than the rest of us, so they ran on ahead.  Being as we had to check in before noon, we decided that we would spend the night closer to Gillette, making for a short drive the last day, so we bedded down in Buffalo.

Waiting for Thanksgiving, well maybe not, they looked kind poorly.

The drive over the pass into Buffalo was very scenic, with a climb to almost 10,000, it still was an easy trip.

 

Made for an easy drive 70 mile jaunt the last morning.  Once here it didn’t take us long to get settled in.  What a wonderful place to have a rally.  Huge facility, and everything is under one roof. What a fun time we had, an update is in the works and will have that up soon.