Bremen GA

Today we shot through the rest of Arkansas, through Tennessee (well, a small corner of it), Mississippi, Alabama and into Georgia.  We are at a Cracker Barrel in Bremen, which means neither of us had to cook dinner or dishes.

 About 90 minutes from Marcia's friends house, we plan to go by a Blue Beacon Truck wash in the morning on our way there...spend 3-4 hours visiting, then head south to home, which is around 450 miles to the south.  Should be home Monday.

It was an uneventful day until trying to decide where to stay for the night.  After striking out on 3 other possible choices (one full, one had bad cell signal, one was a Loves which had 8 RV hookups in a very loud atmosphere) that I decided Cracker Barrel was it even though the generator would need to run to keep AC going.  Well, turns out the temps are in the low 60s and the generator only ran from 6:30 to 9 pm!  

The journey is nearly complete...

Quick Visit With Dean and Caryl

No pictures, but we enjoyed our 7 hour visit with Marcia's brother Dean and wife Caryl.  Amazing to us both, Indy did a little happy whine and dance when we went up to the door and entered their home.  She even gave them both a quick kiss...but with her nothing lasts long as she growled at Dean about 30 minutes later be he 'dared' to lay his hands on my shoulder as he past behind me! 

They cooked us a nice scrambled egg & sausage breakfast, and later wonderful beef, shrimp, veggie Kabobs with some Cauliflower Rice that they get at Publix in the produce section...just microwave it in its bag...way better tasting than the frozen ones.

Tomorrow we hope to get to the Panhandle and stay at another Cracker Barrel.  Leaving mid-week means that Spring Breakers have not affected us at all...but when we get to Mobile area and across Mississippi's Gulf Coast it will be a different story.

At Alma near Fort Smith

In Cracker Barrel, Alma AR, parking lot...saw everyone we planned to see and more.  EVEN saw the newly remodeled Dave Burdick Watson Chapel Library and the branch manager who is a REAL sweetheart.  Sorry no pics, writing from my Kindle. 

Off early in a.m. to get through most, if not all, of Oklahoma.  The threat of bad weather is much higher for the speed than before, Sun & Mon look about the same, so we should be fine.

Hope to be in a park tomorrow and will share some pics.

30 Miles From Home...Cracker Barrel Here We Are

Internet is SO SLOW right now due to congestion that I am not having any pics.  Started travels at 7 am, got here just after 5 pm, but lost an hour moving into Eastern Time Zone.  Our condo is 30 miles to the west-southwest of us, but we can't park there, and the RV park next door can't get us in until Sunday.  We are in the right time zone, even the right county...so close but so far away.

Today the traffic got heavier and heavier as we neared Tallahassee...stayed that way all the way here.  Two accidents slowed progress to 25 mph for a mile or so, not bad considering how it could get.

Paid $3.029 for gas in Quincy Florida, just off I-10 west of Tallahassee.  Saw one sign for $2.99, just one...

Hope to write more tomorrow, but realistically, it might be a few days later.  Glad to be ALMOST HOME!

A Fiery Start to Our Day

Frankly, our day rarely starts out with the ability to capture a fiery sunrise.  We had just entered Central Time Zone before our stay last night at the Balmorhea Saddleback Mountain RV Park.  With the time being 7 am, and the first hint of light starting on the horizon, I started the coffee pot, and nearly climbed back in bed.  Ten minutes later as I sat at the foot of the bed, Marcia says, "Time to get up!", and so we did.  The park was fairly quiet considering it is so close to the Interstate, and also that trucks park behind the Valero Gas Station where a few had refrigerator trailers which kick on and off all night long.  But it really did not bother either of us...we noticed the noise when we needed to use the facilities, and especially when super bladder doggie needed to go out at 2:30 am.  (quick scan for snakes and I let her out)

We were about half way to Fort Stockton when we noticed a black smokey cloud trail headed from the south to the north over the highway.  Five minutes later as we made a few minor turns with the road, and we see this.  Hmmmm....what is going on up there?

YIKES!  Now that is a Fiery Start to ones day!  The driver was off to the side with some trucker who had stopped short of his burning rig.  Knowing that Diesel does not explode, I felt it was better to go through, on the far left side, instead of stopping and taking space where fire trucks will need to do their work from.  Still a bit scary for a few seconds...  Credit to Marcia for getting this shot of the burning truck. A good 5 minutes later we see the first of what was 7 fire trucks headed west on I-10 from Fort Stockton.  Nothing about it in the news as I write this, and who knows if the trailer ended going up in smoke too???  If so, that toy that made it off the ship coming over from China just went up in smoke!

We pulled into Fort Stockton 15 minutes later, and there was not a fire truck in sight...sure hope nothing catches on fire around here.  Fill up with gas at $3.059 per gallon, the cheapest we have paid in a LONG LONG time!  There was no where to park for breakfast, so we continued to the first picnic rest area (no toilets, although there were signs all over the lawn and walls of picnic facilities that it was being used as such.)  After a quick breakfast, we headed on and about 25 minutes later we came to a real rest area.  It was there that Indy enjoyed the little red leaves from that beautiful tree.

Another 30 minutes or so and we pull into another rest area and what do we see????  GRASS!  Real green grass that is soft to the footsies of poor deprived Indy who has not seen real grass for days!

From there on it was much the same, mixed with a bit of a rain shower here and there, and temps that never climbed above the low 70's, mostly in the higher 60's.  Stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Kerrville, which is where we are now.  We both had a chicken meal, and we are tucked in the back parking lot for the night, no other RV's in sight.  Tomorrow is the big challenge...driving through San Antonio AND Houston all in the same day, and on a Monday.  Wish us luck (although we have done it before...)

Gas City Indiana for Family Visit

 

We left the Cleveland area by 8:30, and arrived at the Cracker Barrel in Gas City by 2:30.  Around 4:30 Marcia's cousin Byron and his wife Jenny arrived and we had a delightful dinner and visit.  We last visited with them, at the same Cracker Barrel, back in April of 2017.  Originally planned to stay in the parking lot, but the hot weather pushed us to a nearby RV park where we have hooked up electricity and positioned ourselves for a quick get-away in the morning...the car is hooked up behind the motorhome, but out of view.

Stopped at a rest area along I-71 for breakfast around 9:15, continued south on the Interstate and quickly exited for US 30 heading west.  OH NO!  Construction Zone!!!!

They were fixing a couple bridges and repaving about 5 miles, and for the most part that was our only 'white knuckle driving' for the day.  I just hate driving with barriers on each side of the road and no place to pullover if you have any problems.

For much of our drive we were on four lane highway, blue skies, and light traffic.

There was a short 25-30 miles where we were on a two-lane highway...passed through a couple small communities where the speed limit dropped to 35 mph for a mile or so.  But even that was easy driving.

We saw a lot of this...Soy Beans and Corn fields.  Here they are side-by-side, with Soy Beans on the left and Corn on the right.

Finally we reach Indiana!  And almost immediately we see signs for "Flagman Ahead".

Well...this is the flagman...gets paid $80 per hour and never fails to raise or lower the flag.  As we came up the construction zone, they were done and calling it a day, so we were nearly the last one to be flagged by the automated flagger.  Soon we were on I-69 headed to Gas City's Cracker Barrel.

And now, for the picture of the day...

I HOPE YOU TWO KNOW JUST HOW BORED I AM DOWN HERE!

Trip to Orlando Area - Loving My New Phone

 

Since we were only going to be gone for two nights, it did not take long to gather what we needed, a little food for Wednesday night and Friday morning, and off we went.  Tuesday I went over to the motorhome and turned on the fridge, and did a quick vacuum job and a few other quick things.  Wednesday Marcia had her second Doctor's appointment of the year at 10 am, which went faster than usual.  Sometimes with this doctor we have had to wait for an hour...Wednesday we got there at 9:40, did the required paperwork, and they called her at 10:05...by 10:30 we were out of there.  Took Marcia home, and I went to get the motorhome filling up the car with most of what we were taking.  By the time I got back it was 1:30, and we were on the road before 2.  First thing, a motorhome bath at Blue Beacon Truck Wash about 35 miles to our northeast.  As usual, we were not the only RVs getting cleaned...

 

This baby here must be owned by a racing enthusiast.   In no time at all we were in the wash, and out.  Next, we got gas at the Flying J...just our luck, the pump I pulled up to did not work, but the other RV pump opened right up and I slipped in over there.  Full tanks, we are clean, it now close to 5 pm.  As was our plan, we drove ten miles south on I-75 and pulled into the rest area for the night.  The ADA site is nice and wide, I pulled as far to the left I could, up against some grass, so that it would leave plenty of room away from any other RVs which might pull in.  I like this rest area because trucks have their own area...but you know how that goes...some truckers come over to the RV area, especially if the truck area is full.  Although it was a bit warm at first, we did get to sleep around 10 pm.  Around 4 am I look out our kitchen window and what do I see?  There is a motorhome right next to us...and when I say right next to us, I mean it was in our parking slot!  I could open the door, but that was about it.  Had Marcia needed to get out into her GoGo, that would have been very difficult.  On top of that, this motorhome did not have ADA plates or placard.  We pulled out around 7:30, and left that motorhome there...I can only hope a Florida State Police came by, they deserved a ticket big time!  And that is a $250 ticket!!!

We made it over to Orlando at 10:15, I picked Marcia's friend up at 10:45, and by 11 we were in LongHorn Steakhouse.  (Yes, the "H" in LongHorn is capitalized).  The ladies had Salmon and I had a Ribeye thinking I would save a little for Bubba...but it was so good, cooked perfectly medium-rare, that I just couldn't save Bubba any.  About 1:15 we left the restaurant, I took her friend back to where she is staying, and off to Sanford we went.  Marcia's brother Dean and his wife Caryl arrived at the Cracker Barrel about 20 minutes after we did.  We all sat and talked in the motorhome until 4, went in to eat, and by 5:30 we were hunkered down for the night and they drove the 20 minutes to their house.  And what a night it was!  Above you can see the storm system that moved through Central Florida last night, hitting Sanford around 12:30 am.  It was way worse over in Tampa where they had a probable small tornado and considerable damage in a few areas, including a construction crane falling across I-275, but thankfully not hitting anyone.  An oak tree landed right on top of a lady's 5th wheel in a mobile home park, but thankfully she was only pinned under the rubble and not seriously hurt.  For us, it was windy for about 10 minutes, and it rained, a bit hard for a little while.  However, there went our nice clean motorhome because the wind picked up dirt and dust and we have massive water spots all over the driver's side of the motorhome.

Bubba did real good on the trip, despite the fact that I forgot his treats!  I think he was hoping that we were headed out to California so that he could see his Uncle Arny and Aunt Sandy...but sorry buddy, that is way off still.  

So I have had my phone for about 10 days now, and I really like it.  Compared to my other Flip Phones, this one is rugged, and it can do things the other Flips could not do.  Here is a list of the goods...

1. As spammers call me, I can quickly and easily add those phone numbers to a "rejection list", so I won't be bothered by that number again.  I 'wish' that I could export and import to that list, but it won't allow that.  I can physically input numbers, but that just isn't worth it.  So far I have 16 numbers in there.                                                                 
2. The phone does have a much better reception, both to and from the phone.  I have talked to mom a number of times and she could hear me fine.  It is even better over the GPS-Stereo-Phone in the motorhome.                                                                              
3. I love the notepad feature on all of Flips, but this one allows me to enter some info and then move down to the next line and enter more info.  This is REAL NICE when making lists, such as shopping lists, or a list of things to take to the motorhome on a trip.  All my other Flips would make me put in numerous spacebar hits until it moved to the next line.  Past Flips had small limits to how much info could be in the notepad, but I have not come close to finding the limit on this one.                                                        
4.  This phone weighs in at 6 ounces...that's twice as much as other Flips I have owned.  But it is real, real rugged....I will have a hard time breaking this one.   The buttons are also bigger than most, and the screen is bigger too.                                                          
5.  This camera is a bit better than my other Flips, and it is the only one which has a flash.  I forgot my camera for the trip, so the pictures at the truck wash and of Bubba were taken with this phone.  Better than my other Flips, but not much better.  If you look at the picture of Bubba, you can see streaks running up and down the picture.  But there was no lights on, this was at 6:30 in the morning, and with my other Flips I could not have gotten any picture...it would be all black.

And there are a few bad things... I am having a hard time getting use to the new phone rings, notifications for texts, missed calls, etc.  There are more choices, but the sounds I was use to just are not on this.  The text messages come into a thread for each phone number that sends you a text.  If you use Facebook Messenger, it is much like that.  I have not gotten use to this yet, and I typically delete threads pretty quick.  The biggest drawback is that I need to charge it nearly every day...it is a energy hog.  Overall, I am very pleased with this phone.

Three Hour Cracker Barrel Visit, then off to Benson

 

We got up at 7 am, got everything ready, and we were at Cracker Barrel at 8:45 am to meet our friend Laurie.  Laurie's mom and Marcia were very, very good friends for nearly 50 years...so Marcia and Laurie have known each other for just about 50 years now too.  We spent 90+ minutes inside Cracker Barrel, then we moved into the Motorhome.  At 11:30, we had to get on the road so we could get to Benson by 3 pm...we made it at 3:05.  It will be 27 degrees tonight, and is already at down to 42 degrees at 6 pm.  BURRRRRRrrrrrrrr....

As we left the park we saw some of the many Wild Burros that are in and around Lake Pleasant.  This is the first time we have seen them, and with no one behind us except a Park Ranger, we were able to enjoy a short view of the Burros.  Cute little things.

 

While we were at the dump station so that I could clear our tanks, Marcia got a picture of this Cactus Wren on top of a Saguaro.  We love Lake Pleasant, and we are so happy we were able to get in without a reservation this time.  For $32 per night, there isn't a better deal in Phoenix for a quality place to plug in your motorhome.

Yesterday when we traveled to Phoenix from Barstow, the snow on the mountains and hills along the Mojave Desert made the trip just that much easier to take.  The white gave such character to the normally brown, dull mountains.

 

 It was a joy to finally leave California by crossing over the Colorado River into Arizona...

It had been 4 months since we were in Oregon...and much too much has happened since then.  Dad, after 91 years, is now with our Lord and Savior...and Skruffy, after 10 years and 2 months of being my best little buddy, and Marcia's best little buddy for nearly 9 years, is sitting on dad's lap, barking directions to anyone and everyone within hearing distance (which is a huge area with her loud mouth...which I still don't know where she got that loud mouth from...)  Both are gone, but not forgotten, and we look forward to the day that we have a huge reunion in the hereafter.  

I figure two more COLD nights, then we will be past San Antonio, and into warmer night air.

Hellfire and Brimstone

At Maumelle Park, Little Rock, AR

Oh, you think things are going so well…and then KABOOSH!  It suddenly felt like Hellfire and Brimstone had broken out!

It started last night at Cracker Barrel in Vicksburg.  After what seemed to be a fairly easy drive from Wilderness RV Park to Vicksburg, staying on I-10, then I-12, then I-55 for nearly all of it (instead of taking the shorter yet harder drive through Hattiesburg and Jackson Mississippi), we had a good dinner at Cracker Barrel, ask to spend the night and got the normal, “you bet” from the manager.  Around 9:30, some fool starts playing his car radio booooming extremely loud, which lasted about 30 minutes.  I told Marcia it was probably some guy waiting for his girlfriend to get off from work...and it probably was.  About 10:30 we both called it a night…and soon after that is when all hell broke loose.  The manager did not warn us that it was Cleaning Night…that they had scheduled deep cleaning with a high pressure steam cleaners…that run on the loudest generator you can imagine.  On and off throughout the night until 5:00 when the dumpsters were dumped by the garbage truck.  Then seeing a new victim to clean, the steam cleaner guy starts up again and washes down the huge garbage bins.  By 5:45 the noise subsides...but by 6:30 I told Marcia I have had enough as now we can hear cars pulling in, and highway traffic zooming along the Interstate.  Why did we wait that long?  Because the steam cleaner blocked our exit with his van, so we were stuck for the duration...although I could have unhooked the car and backed out…staying seemed to be the lesser of two evils, and decided to stay put.

Our drive through Louisiana and up US 65 was just fine.  Just 2 to 3 miles short of Arkansas, Skruffy lets out a bark.  She has trouble getting down off the chair, but with a little help I got her off while I still drove, and she came over to Marcia, and I got her up on Marcia’s lap.  She acted very peculiar…like she knew she was near her old home.  She barked and howled and we all had a good time.  In Lake Village I stopped to walk her and Bubba, and back to her chair she went.  Then, seeing we went through Hellfire last night, the heavens opened and we were POOOOOOURED upon.  When I say poured, I mean poured…all the way to Little Rock.  Sometimes it was so heavy I could barely go 45, and boy it was hard to keep it on the road sometimes.

We had reservations starting tomorrow through Thursday at Maumelle Park…but we arrived a day early, and we took a walk-in spot for one night because someone is in the spot we will get starting tomorrow.  Pictures of one of our favorite parks will follow later…for now, I think we are both going to take a nap, assuming that woodpecker in the tree above us doesn’t get too loud.  Time to LOAD the GUN….

NOTE:  It sure is nice to be back on the road....

500 down...Cracker Barrel hot night

At Cracker Barrel in Crestview Florida

Other than some very heavy rain and wind in Southern Mississippi, the trip today went well.  Having made the trip from Arkansas to Florida many times after we got married, I felt very comfortable with our route.  Leaving at 8:30 am, we pulled into Cracker Barrel by 8 pm having traveled 500 miles or more.  Unfortunately, it is 80 degrees with 70 percent humidity...but it is what it is.  No pics tonight...time to catch some hot ZZZzzz...

Made it back to Arkansas

At Cracker Barrel, Alma, AR

We left Blue Springs right around 9 am, had light traffic most of the way.  Stopped in Joplin Missouri for gas, coffee (at Flying J), and an RV Wash (Blue Beacon next door).  The line to get washed was a little over average, taking nearly an hour to get through, but at least our baby motorhome is clean again!

Stopped in Alma because Marcia’s first husband has a cousin living in the area, Jim, the son of Sophie whom we use to stop and see every time we were in the area.  Jim and wife Pat came over from Fort Smith to the Cracker Barrel, and we all enjoyed a nice two hour visit with dinner.

Yesterday I picked my youngest son Ryan up at the KC Airport, flying in from a SACA meeting in Milwaukee.  Ryan is the chapter president of the Student American Chiropractic Association for Cleveland University - Kansas City.  He loves it anytime he can be an advocate for the Chiropractic field.  He graduates next April.

 

His dad, however, needs to learn how to take “stealth shots” with the camera better…this is him getting in the car at the airport with guards looking at me with that “You have 30 seconds at the curb buster” type of look.

On the drive to the airport I was able to get this shot of the Royal’s Baseball field…tried to get Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chief's too, but this is the best I got.

Just before I went out to get pictures, this truck pulling a small trailer pulled up.  WHY they felt so compelled to park right next to us, is beyond my comprehension.  As of now, I don’t know if they are going to stay the night or not.  It is not that this was the only spot available…there is an empty spot right next to it, and the parking lot is not that full.  I know they have a small black dog, it stared at me as I took Skruffy and Bubba out for their last walk of the day…big buggy eyes, did not bark, just stared.  Hoped that the rest of the family, “IF” they stay the night, are not loud either…but they came out of the restaurant, got the dog, got into the truck and OFF THEY FLEW! 

Drab Kansas, Cracker Barrel Layover

At Cracker Barrel, Junction City, Kansas

Yep, we did make it to Cracker Barrel, Junction City Kansas…all 357 miles!  The last time we drove that far in a day was back in June when we drove from Citrus Heights to Crescent City on our way to Oregon.  We were just under that twice on our way from Citrus Heights to Lake Jordanelle back in August when we left California.  For the most part lately, we have been keeping under 250.

  

Today, the entire day, the weather was very drab…turn on wipers, turn off wipers, looks like the sun is going to pop out, the sun does not pop out.

After being surrounded by the Rocky Mountains for so many weeks, it was strange that the tallest thing we saw was windmills.  With around 15% of the windmills standing idle, despite a constant 10-20 mph wind from the North-Northwest, it made me think….   What if only 85% of the cell towers actually worked, would people care?  What if only 85% of the hydroelectric generators worked?  What if only 85% of the new cars actually ran??  What if your electricity was only available 85% of the time???  It seems that so many times when I pass windmills like these, that 15% of them are sitting idle despite a good wind.  Makes me wonder why…

Had a nice sleep at Flagger Reservoir, although a third RV came into the area around 10 pm.  We were the first of the group to leave, after feeding the dogs at 7:30 (now it will be 8:30 since we crossed into Central Time).  Arrived at Cracker Barrel about 5:15, about nine and a half hours later…stopping for coffee at the first gas station we could get into, at the Kansas Welcome Center to cook breakfast, at the first Pilot/Flying J in Kansas to get some real coffee, at a few rest areas, and at a Flying J in Salina for gas.  Had a good dinner, and scored a Blake Shelton and a Brad Paisley CD, each for $3.99!   As far as I can tell, we are one of two RVs staying the night in Cracker Barrel, and I re-hooked up the HHR just before writing this blog so we can just pull out and go in the morning.  Hope the coffee at the nearby truck stop is better than the Conaco we stopped at first thing this morning.  And we will probably stay at the first rest area along the way for a much longer so that by the time we pass through Kansas City…the traffic will be light.  We only have 150 miles to go tomorrow…

Cracker Barrel for Dinner and Sleep

At Kerrville, TX

We planned on going to Boerne, Texas today…to the Walmart.  Once there, I bought some stuff, and decided to head on to the Rest Area about 30 miles down the road to dump our waste tanks and fill with water.  On the way there I saw that a Cracker Barrel was just 5 more miles down the Interstate, called them, and they said that certainly we could park there all night, just let them know we are there.  I replied, “Oh, we will be coming in for dinner, no doubt about that!”  She laughed.

Today we went through two large cities….Houston around noon, and San Antonio right at 4 pm.  Yep, a white knuckle drive at times, but I have driven through much worse.  Decided not to stop and see my oldest brother Jim and wife Carol (Sorry you all), but we just need to get to Sacramento by Wednesday so that my two sisters and Arny can go to the Sacramento Kings game on Thursday.  We will be sitting with Arny’s mother, getting her to bed, stuff like that.  THEY (Sandy and Arny) do this EVERY DAY, TWICE a Day!!!! (well, Sandy gets a break Monday through Friday due to her real 40 hour per week job)  Yes, taking care of an elderly (the mother is 95 years old) takes a lot of work and dedication…and I love to give them a break anytime we are in the area. 

All is well with the battery system.  I guessed right…that the alternator was expending so much energy to the bad battery with corroded connection, that it did not have enough juice to share with the house batteries other than keeping them around 12.4 volts.  Today when we stopped, the house batteries were up to 12.8  and the engine battery was 12.9.  Of course, over time they drop down a bit…but even after dinner in Cracker Barrel, and having lights on for awhile, our house batteries are still at 12.75, which is great.  Of course, my credit card company texted, emailed and phoned me today wondering about two purchases in the $100 realm at two different Walmarts in two different towns just 27 hours apart…but a text back and an email back fixed that right up!  Actually, I don’t mind that type of call…except if I don’t know the phone number, I won’t answer it.  So that phone call resulted in a phone message, and it was hard to understand until we stopped at the rest area and could listen to it without the noise of the highway.  Perhaps if it wasn’t going through the bluetooth to the radio/gps, I might have been able to understand it better…but that is not as safe doing it that way while one drives.

Tomorrow is going to be a LONG LONG day…we are going to get through Texas, and we have 508 long miles of Texas left…

Pictures?  Well, we have taken a few...maybe in the next post I will share a few...

Took the Motorhome out for a 250+ Mile Ride

At home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area

Ever since Marcia’s friend of over 50 years moved to just north of Jacksonville, we have tried to get together with her while we are in the state.  A couple of years ago we met in Gainesville, which is about 125 miles from us, and 100 miles from them.  So on Tuesday, I went and got the motorhome at 7 am, getting back shortly after 8 am, fed Skruffy, we loaded up and were off by 8:20.  It was a nice ride, the motorhome ran very smooth, and no leaks in the plumbing either!

Pulled into the Cracker Barrel at 11:30, after stopping at the first rest area we came to on I-75 for a Skruffy break, and two more rest areas down the road, just shy of Ocala we stopped for a Dave break.  (BOTH of these rest stops have separate areas for RVs from the Trucks….nice.)  Jerry, who was driven to the Cracker Barrel by her daughter Ruth, arrived at 11:45, and we did not leave the place until nearly 2:30.  It is so great to see these two ladies talk and talk and talk…what a friendship they enjoy dating back to when Ruth was just a toddler.  Skruffy did well in the motorhome, although I did go out to visit her around 1:15…gone are her high anxiety days of being alone…but she does much better when Bubba is around.

This has been the week for going out to restaurants.  Mary, our fabulous next door neighbor who keeps a solid eye on our condo while we are gone, turned 82 on Tuesday.  We took her out on Monday to celebrate, and she wanted to go to Tiffany's Restaurant in Palm Harbor where they serve Lamb Shanks as a special on Sunday and Monday. (Like the ones pictured above, and they came with a salad and a veggie.)  Tonight we took Marcia’s brother Mike, wife Sandy and daughter Alysia out to Longhorn for their annual birthday dinner.  Their actual birthdays were within the past few months, but this was the first time we could get together due to sickness within their family, and their granddaughter got married a few weeks ago….so they have been busy and sick at the same time.

One more medical test next week, and a quick meeting with the neurologist to go over the results of the test he had run, and Marcia will be done for the year.  We have pulled silverware and other cooking items out of the RV to run through the dishwasher, and it is time to start putting things back in again.  Yesterday I got the oil changed for the HHR, and tomorrow I get the oil changed for the motorhome.  The next few weeks will be busy getting ready to take off again…

Someone Take This Tire Bug From Us!

While at Desert View Campground I came to believe that the tire extender had a leak on passenger's front tire.  So I removed it when we were idle, put back on while we traveled. Monday, I decided it was best to drive back to Mather Campground and empty tanks and take on fresh water.  Got back and took off the extender, which has the tire pressure monitor attached to it.  Reattached to leave this morning, and that tire had dropped 10 psi over night.  Thank goodness the gas station, which has an attendant from 9-5, is actually open all night, and has free tire filler going 24 hours a day.  So we went in, filled tire to 70 psi and drove on to the east before turning south...headed for Discount Tire in Flagstaff.

At Cameron Arizona we turn to the south on 89.  About 10 miles south our sensor goes off just after hitting a patch of rough Arizona roadway...we are down to 60 psi again.  We drive on, hoping we can get to Flagstaff, but at the 20 miles away mark, we are down to 52...time to find a turnout and call roadside assistance.  That take 2 hours, and the guy cranks us up to 80 from 20 which it slowly dropped to.  It only reads 78 on our monitor, and he follows us into Flagstaff, thank you for that.  Discount Tires takes another 2 hours...it is the tire stem.  This is the same tire which was dropped in Little Rock while brakes were being fixed, which broke the good extender that we had...well, it also did damage to this tire stem, which broke apart as I watched the guy remove the tire.  Thank goodness I keep a supply of these tire stems for the chrome wheels, which are different than the ones for the inner dual tires, because that saves lots of time.

After, I went to a Napa Auto Store and got a new extension too, so we should be fine.  I knew Flagstaff had a Cracker Barrel...and that is were we ate, where we will stay the night, and in the morning we are headed back to Discount Tire and have them check and fill all tires while we are cold (it is 3 miles away, and it will be 42 tonight), and then off we will go.  Ok, so it delays us a day...we have no real time schedule right now anyway.

(Posted using my handheld device...I think everything is typed right...sorry if it is not)

RV Brakes, another Cracker Barrel, more storms

Today is was another visit to DJ’s Auto Repair in North Little Rock.  Last October while traveling from Kansas City to Little Rock, we had a leak in our brake line.  DJ’s got us in, fixed the leak, did a rear break job, and did it for what we felt was a reasonable price.  This place is BUSY, so they must be something right.  The staff are all just as friendly as can be, and it because of their owner, Don (DJ) and David (hiding behind the counter, right side).  Even harder to see is Ebony, left side also behind her computer.  Interesting thing…she was born and raised in Sacramento area.  In fact, back in late ‘70’s I lived in a duplex which was 1/2 a block away from a unit she would live in years later.   Her parents were from Arkansas, and after dad retired, she said they decided to move back.  One can understand why financially…sell your house in California for 1/4 million to 1/2 million, and that will buy you a mansion in Arkansas.  And taxes…much less expensive to live in Arkansas.  Taxes are less, gas is less (just paid $2.10 in Russellville a few days ago), and food prices are less…but some things are more expensive…but not much.  Anyway, Ebony is a great addition to DJ’s.  But as with other automotive places, getting and keeping good techs is hard.  Don’t know why the youth of today cannot see how much $$$$ they can make having a career fixing cars, trucks, etc.  LOTS of money to be had for a good tech with experience.

 

Here is a picture from our last visit…did not get the camera out of the RV this time, and it was raining when we left (here is our post from last visit).  They own another building behind this one, so they have around seven or eight repair bays, of which at least six were going today.  This visit they replaced the rotors, put on heavy-duty breaks, new wheel bearings, checked the ball joints more closely and decided they were fine after all, and checked the rear driver breaks because they smoked on me just a bit in the Smoky Mountains.  All was fine, and the best guess is that a wasp had made a nest near the brakes which burned when the brakes were used going down a 7% slope.  All of this and they finished in 3 1/2 hours (2.5 hours labor), parts from Napa, and the final bill of  under $700.  I looked up the parts online afterwards, and they charged about 5% more than had I bought directly from Napa.  So again, we are very happy with DJ’s, a GREAT place to have some work done.  And YES, I can really tell the difference with having new front brakes to go along with the brakes we got back in October.)

Living in Pine Bluff, 40 miles south of Little Rock, I had eaten at this Cracker Barrel a number of times.  My Children’s Librarian wanted a rocking chair that she could sit in while reading to the kids during Storytime…went to this Cracker Barrel to get it for her.  They still sell rocking chairs…but for about $40-$50 more than I paid for Miss Ann’s rocking chair.  Never thought I would one day sleep in their parking lot, but that is exactly what we did last night after eating dinner inside and talking to the manager.  He said, “Of course you can”, almost as if we did not need to ask…but we ask every time.    It is conveniently just 4 miles from DJ’s, and they wanted us there between 7:30-8:00.  We arrived at 7:15, I unhooked the car, and went in at 7:30 to let him know we had arrived (as if they could not see it out their front window).  Exactly 8 am, they shop floor manager came out and we exited the RV for the HHR and drove away.  Breakfast was on our mind, and we went to a nice little place which is well known for its catering…Two Sisters Café,  just a few miles from DJ’s.  We were the only customers inside, although there were a number who drove through the drive-up window.  We had bacon, sausage, cheese omelets, which were delicious.  The hard thing was passing up ALL the goodies they sell…all sorts of sweets and goodies which are not on our diet.

By noon we were headed out to Maumelle Park, a COE park where, with the senior park pass, is only $13 a night for electric and water, and no need for reservations this time of year.  By noon the new storm front had come upon us too, so I was soaking wet after hooking up the HHR and driving to the park, unhooking, parking and setting up.  But the storm kept coming and coming, and at 5:30 I called my good friend from the Library and we moved our dinner to Thursday night instead of Wednesday night.  Glad I did because I went to the store to get tonight’s dinner, and there were branches down throughout the park.  While at the store, my phone went off announcing a flood warning in the area.  By tomorrow it will all be gone, I’ll see my doctor, the four of us will have dinner, and on Friday we will be headed west.

Seeing Family in All Forms

In my last post I mentioned how we had stayed at Four Cracker Barrels four days in a row.  We ate at all four, and we checked with staff at all four.  The answer was always, “You are more than welcome…”   The picture above was taken on Tuesday the 25th, which just happens to have been mom’s birthday.  It was near Gas City Indiana, and was very quiet…as have been all of the Cracker Barrels we have stayed at.  WAY better than at rest areas or truck stops.  And only at the last one in Southwestern Michigan did we have company…two ladies in a Canadian RV Van from Canada.

Here is a picture of Marcia (left) Byron (middle) and I (right) taken by Byron’s wife Jennifer inside Cracker Barrel just before Byron had to leave after a two hour lunch.  Should have had my camera, but just never thought about it.  Jennifer and us stayed another hour or more talking…what a joy that was to meet these relatives of Marcia’s…just as it was to meet Connie and Jim the next day in Michigan.

Yesterday we drove over to Gary where we visited the graves of Marcia’s “Yiayia” (Grandmother) and her Mother and “Pa” (her step father, her brother Dean’s father).  It was cold…at 49 degrees, with a slight wind. 

   

Marcia lived in the same room with her Yiayia for 22 years.  Her step-dad was very close to her, and then there was her mother…it was all a bit emotional in a nice way.  The Iracleanos graves are closer to the road, to the left of the Lavedas graves (her Uncle Tony, Grandfather Constintine and Uncle Anthoulis and Yiayia).  Marcia walked out to her Yiayia’s grave…but it was very cold and it took us longer to find her ma and pa’s graves.  Since they were closer to the road, we stopped and she paid her respects from the warmth of the car.

There were LOTS of family in the graveyard…including her Yiayia’s sister, Marigo Karagas, grandmother of and John, father of, Kerry Karagas who passed away this past November and who’s wife Ginger we have had dinner with a number of times this winter.  (Ginger, you might want to print a copy of this picture for you family album.)

We are at the Cedar Lakes Ministries RV Park in Cedar Lake, Indiana.  We stayed here back in 2012 when we came through the area, and found it as it is now, a nice, safe place to stay while being fairly close to Chicago.  Unfortunately, the people we wanted to see in Chicago who oversee our retirement IRAs could not move us up on their calendar…but after we see Marcia’s cousin Lee and wife Ginger tonight, we are off to Arkansas tomorrow where we will first go to Fort Smith, and then to Little Rock. 

We then head out to Phoenix for the Celebration of Life for Marcia’s friend Joyce, who passed on Wednesday.  Laurie, who is the youngest daughter of Joyce, posted this picture on Facebook from back in or around 2005/06. of Joyce (left) Parker (middle) and Marcia (right).  Parker died in 2011, and Joyce had a very hard time without him.  Marcia has known Joyce for nearly 50 years.