We Have our own Little Caravan!

WHERE ARE WE? Great Bend, Kansas

I tried to get us on the road by 9 but 10 came and went and we were still hanging around camp.  Ed and Lessie came for coffee and the chatter got away on us.  We said our goodbye's and pulled out about 10:30.  We have 2000 kms to go to get home and we need to cross the border on Monday morning so we have to average 500 kms a day to get there.

First stop was for some fuel.  Its going to be an expensive trip with 2 thirsty motorhomes to feed fuel to!!!  We figured we might as well both be full to start with.  Sheri acted as the fuel jockey and did a good job of getting us filled up.

She had a supervisor as well.

We followed Route 66 for a while and Dani got lots of pictures.

I got out the old paper atlas to figure out our route today.  It seems easier to be able to see the whole picture rather than a small map on the phone.  

We saw green grass, cobblestone streets and even trees growing out of things in our travels today.  The winter wheat will be turning soon in northern Texas and some of Oklahoma.  It brings back memories of when I did the custom harvesting run here in the states for 4 years in the late 60's and early 70's.   

So we just drove today.  We love to just go short distances each day but we seem to get to the point where we have to boogie to meet our schedule!!  We almost got our 500 kms today!!! We will do that for the next couple days and then we can have a break for the whole summer.  That's it for today.  Good Nite!!!

Our trip today.

A Few Projects and Supper Out

WHERE ARE WE:  Norman Oklahoma

Today started out with some rain.  We just sat and enjoyed our coffee with Ed and Lessie and watched the rain.  We have a few chores for today but they can wait till later.

Once the rain stopped I got busy doing some fixing.  Our outside Kwikki steps quit working and I have done most of the troubleshooting and it is either the door switch or the main brain of the steps that has given up the ghost.  When we moved before, I had to go underneath and put a strap in place to hold them in the in position.  Then whenever we stopped, we had to be part monkey to get in and out.  So today I bypassed the brains and the switch and made a temporary fix to get us home.  I am the master of duct tape and wire so now we just touch the right wires together in the MH and the steps go in or out.  Not pretty but it works.

Speaking of duct tape one of the deficiencies that the Motorhome had when we bought it was the broken mount on the passenger mirror.  The techs there duct taped it but it wasn't anywhere close to the right angle so I had to rip the tape off and redo it with some screws as well as a little bit of tape.  Hope we can make it home where hopefully a new one will be waiting for us.  

We decided to take the kids out to Cracker Barrel for supper because they have never been there.  

They were quite impressed.  Sue played the peg game and got down to 1 peg first try.  Dani battled away until she matched Gramma's feat!!

We all had fantastic suppers with biscuits as well.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.  And so between them both you see, they licked the platter clean!!!

Sheri pouted a wee bit because she didn't get chocolate milk.

This will be our last outing with Ed and Lessie this trip but we hope to continue the tradition next time.  Good Nite!!!

Today We Picked up Percy

WHERE ARE WE? Norman, Oklahoma and Fort Worth, Texas

We were up and ready to roll south by 9 am this morning.  We are taking the Jeep and driving the 335 kms down to the RV Depot just outside Fort Worth.  They are getting new front tires installed this morning on the MH and then all we have to do is make sure the money wire transfer has arrived, get some insurance and registration from Manitoba Public Insurance and we can head back to Oklahoma City.  Round trip is almost 700 kms.

On the way down, we stopped at a rest area and there was this car just parked in the truck parking area.  It had the back tire missing and by the marks it had been driven there and abandoned.  There was a note from the cops on the window asking the driver to contact them.  Bet thats not gonna happen!!!

We crossed back into Texas for about the 3rd time this week.  We have driven over 1000 kms doing this deal on this particular motorhome.  

When we got to RV Depot, we were met with our name on a little board inside the showroom door. Awwww that was nice!  Our salesperson Teresa has been so kind to us and made this whole process a pleasure for us.  

No fault of hers though that our wire transfer had not gone through yet.  We called to confirm it had left our bank and was somewhere in limbo.  It baffles my mind that in this age of modern technology, something like a bank wire transfer can not be instant!!!  We needed to call Manitoba and get a temporary registration on the MH so we could drive it, but we couldn't do that until we had the title in our hand and that wouldn't happen until the transfer cleared.  About this time we were wondering if this was all worth it.  I often think that our son Derek would have loved to travel this way and while I was walking around the MH I saw what I believe was a vote of confidence from him for our purchase.  

Do you see it??

Yup there it was....a dime on the ground right behind the MH.  People think that our loved ones leave dimes behind to show that they were there.  I don't necessarily believe in that stuff, but I have been finding a lot of dimes on the ground since Derek passed away.  It put a smile on my face just thinking about him!!!

About 3 pm the money finally arrived in their bank account and then we got all the paperwork.  MPI demands that all paper work be faxed rather than scanned and emailed so we had to find a fax machine,  There was one in a back office and we sent the paper work.  Then we waited half hour for a phone call back to confirm what we sent, then another half hour for the permit which had to be signed and faxed back. While I waited, I slipped across the street to Whataburger for our supper.  We figured it will save us stopping later on.

Our first meal in Percy

We headed into the RV store and purchased an Electrical management system to protect our rig from crazy power.  We need one in Mexico for sure.

Now everyone at the RV place goes home at 6 pm and at 5:50 we still had not received our temporary registration.  At 5:55 it arrived and we were set!!!  We hooked up the Jeep and away we went on our 4 hour trip back to Norman Oklahoma.

Percy handled the Jeep like nobodies business and we had a tough time staying under 70 mph on the interstate.

No time at all and we were back in Oklahoma again.

The kids sent us a picture of their dining out experience.  They didn't come with us but stayed home and took care of Archie and did some touring on a city bus.  It didn't look like Archie was much of a problem.

When we got home Ed and Lessie and the kids were waiting for us to see the inside.  Here are a few pictures for now.  The kids have already moved their stuff in and will be sleeping in here until we get home.

Some people have been asking why we bought a new motorhome.  Did we not like the Ponderosa or what is the reason.  The reason(s) are that we have been looking to downsize for a couple years now.  As we grow older the big old 40 ft pusher will become more cumbersome to drive and park.  It is 22 years old and although it has less than 100000 miles, it is aging.  Things are starting to wear a bit although it has lots of life left in it.  We have grandkids that like to visit and we had no beds in the Ponderosa other than our bed.  The new one has a drop down bunk and the dining area for beds so we can have them over for the night.  And it doesn't have a lot of room for the unnecessary stuff so we can get rid of what we have accumulated.  It will be a bit of a cleansing for us.  We feel good about what we are doing and believe it will keep us on the road for a lot longer.  Will we miss the Ponderosa....yes we will, but we will adapt to this one soon enough.  We will keep the old one for the summer unless someone really wants to buy it.  We will see.  So for now its bed time.  Good Nite!!!

 

Do Shrimp Poop?

WHERE ARE WE? Norman Oklahoma

Kind of a do nothing day today.  A trip to Walmart and then we prepared for supper.  Sue was making an alfredo for supper and was putting shrimp in it.  This was still some good Mexican shrimp which had not been de-veined.  In Mexico you just eat them without de-veining which makes it much easier.  Anyway Dani was helping Gramma and she was learning to do the job with Gramma's magic de-veining scissors. 

Then came the point where Dani wanted to know why there were 2 veins to take out of each one.  Gramma pointed out that the second one is not a vein but actually the shrimp poop intestine.  At least that is what we figure it is.  I heard a little squeal from her as she realized that she had been handling shrimp poop.  LOL

It all turned out good and we had a wonderful shrimp and chicken alfredo.  

We invited Ed and Lessie to join us again and had a wonderful evening of dining and chatting.

We finished the evening off with an old friends photo.  We love to spend time with these folks when we can.  Good Nite!!