Last Day at Griff's RV Park

This is one of my favorite parks. Did you ever have one of those parks where you wish you could take it with you and transplant it whereever you are? I really wish this park was in AZ, especially the width of the sites. Oh well that is why we have a home on wheels, if we don't like where we are we can leave.

As my previous post showed we made it to Omaha. We had a great time over Easter weekend, the only way it could have been better is having Robert, Sarah, Mason and Madyson with us, but they had just returned from a long journey so we understood, besides we had a great time with them this past weekend, more later on that. We had  three campsites, adjacent to each other and the weather was good, so it was a great time. Amy & Clancy have a new camper, very nice, with bunkbeds in it for the kids. I believe it will give them many enjoyable times camping. This is the group:

West Omaha KOA went out of their way to accomadate us. Saturday night they let us use the clubhouse, no charge, so we bought pizzas and wings from them. Didn't know KOA had pizzas, yes they do and they are good. We have had them before, especially if you don't feel like going out to eat or cook, they will deliver them to you at the time you specify, within their hours of operation, and they are only $10. Anyway as you can see from the picture we did enjoy ourselves.

We headed to Griff's RV Park, Altoona, IA on Tuesday the 10th. We have a back in site for the first time here and we have the open field behind us, before we had the dumpster and other campers, so it is nice for a change. We do have a  pesky robin wanting to buy the camper, he keeps making deposits on it. I have two ladders tied to the back of the camper and and he tried to build a nest there until I took one ladder down. Now all he does is bang up against the window, I think he sees his reflection in the window.

We went to Honey Creek State Resort, http://www.honeycreekresort.com/, this resort was built by the state of Iowa and is very nice. We met Daniel, Marie, Emily, Isabelle and Eli there on Friday. The resort has a water park and we thought the kids would enjoy it, they did. The reason for the visit was to see my mother, for her to see the little ones, she had never seen Eli. We had a good time visiting with her, but I am sure the kids wore her out.

My brother Larry and his wife Kathy along with their granddaughter Megan and her friend Brianna. The bigger kids are Megan (L) and Brianna (R).










We came back to Griff's on Sunday afternoon and went to Mike & Sheri Cord's for dinner. Their daughter Daun from California was there, she is a trauma nurse at a hospital in LA and a nurse in the Air Force Reserves. Mike had open heart surgery in March and Daun came home to take care of him. I am glad she did because Mike can be a stubborn person and after meeting Daun I know he was in good hands.

Monday night for Happy Hour a bunch of the regulars in the park got together in the clubhouse. It is always good to see them and hear about their winter. The majority of them go to Texas, down in the valley, for the winter, now I went to Mission to pick up our truck and I thought it was too windy but their are a lot of people who like it. The best part like most places in the south is it is warmer than up north. Now this past winter is an exception but most winters it is warmer in the south.

Thursday saw us pick up the rental car and head for Wisconsin. I use Enterprise because they are close by in Ankeny and they seem to have as good a rate as others. We left about nine and it rained most of the way. We had a Dodge Avenger and it did not handle very well in the rain. It seem to me the ruts and water in the road affected the way it drove more than any other vehicle I have driven for quite a while. But with all that we did arrive safely at the Holiday Inn Express in Beloit, WI.

We went over to see the kids as soon as they got home. Mason and Madyson have grown so much. We stayed and visited with them until time for the kids to go to bed. Friday we met Robert for lunch at Milo's, it is the same type of sandwich shop as Jimmy John's or Subway. Friday night was a visit to the beauty supply store for the ladies and Birds Unlimited for me. I found a bottle for Sarah to mix her humming bird feed in and I thought if she had that maybe, just maybe, we would get out the humming bird feeder we have had for five years. We will see if that happens.

Saturday was soccer day and it was fun to watch the kids play. Mason has come a long way from the first time I saw him play or not wanting to play. He does a good job of moving the ball and doing some of the things he needs to do on the field, I am sure he will continue to get better. He will be good at what ever he wants to do in life. Madyson is playing also and it was fun to watch her. She is only four so her skills aren't there yet but the little squirt is going to be good at whatever she wants to do also. In the afternoon, Robert brought the kids to the hotel to go swimming. They are like fish out of the water, Mason is becoming a good swimmer and Madyson is still learning. I told Mason he needs to be a good swimmer because I can't swim and someday he may have to help me if I get in the water and have problems.

Sunday was a relaxing day in that we didn't do much. The kids wanted to go swimming but the hotel had the pool so the kids couldn't go swimming. We headed for Rockford to Granite City for dinner and then to Barnes & Noble to get some books. I told each of the grand kids I would buy them some books when we saw them this year and we have done that. I have to check with Emily and Isabelle, I think they only got one book each so I may owe them a couple more.

We got home yesterday afternoon, after stopping and visiting with Carl & Merilee in Iowa City. We were going to stop and see Dave & Sheri Frantz, who are camp hosting at the Amana's but I ran out of time. When we do stop I want to be able to spend some time with them and not feel in a hurry. So, Dave & Sheri, we will see you in Sept for sure.

Today is laundry day, well Sarah is doing the laundry and I am writing this blog. Although I did carry some clothes up to the laundry for her, she did some in the camper and some in the laundry room. The camper's washer is leaking, we are going to Excel on the 29th for them to see if they can fix the washer. Don't know what we will do if it can't be fixed.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for the KOA in Gretna for a couple weeks minus the days at Excel and then on May 8 or 9th we head for Hill City, SD for the summer.

Until later, Dreams Do Come True.

Vietnam Veterans

I forgot to post this back in March but the statistics stated in the articles attached haven’t change any. I don’t get to political but on this issue I am adamant about how the country treats the veteran.

http://vietnam-veterans.us/popup/facts.html

Sarah and I attended a breakfast honoring all veterans, American & Canadian, it was put on by the Marine Corp Veteran’s Alliance, http://www.allianceofmarinecorpsveterans.com/, in the Phoenix area. They had a flag raising ceremony and one of the officers read a prepared paper which I would guess he wrote using the statistics from this article, http://tucsoncitizen.com/veteranveritas/Veterans/vietnam-veteran-statistics-vietnam-veterans-dying-rate-vietnam-veterans-morbidity/.

These are scary stats and something no one wants to think about but the facts are the facts. There are not many WWII veterans left and the Korean war veterans are dying off fast also. It would be nice to have a pro veteran Congress, at least more so than we have now, but I applaud the veteran organizations for keeping the veteran’s cause in front of the American people and Congress. The Congress has increased the VA budget but it still lags behind what is needed. More veterans, who would normally die in battle, were saved in Vietnam by the use of the helicopter and a lot of the advances made in medicine have come from war time injuries. With the current war going on even more injured are going to be needing the help of the government, this is the debt the American people owe the veteran. There are many reasons why a person will join the military but in every case that individual has pledged to give his or her life to defend the Constitution of the United States. Freedom of speech is a great freedom to have but too many people forget who has gained this freedom for us and the price others have paid to maintain it.

Over 600 tickets were sold for this event, they plan on holding it each year from now on. It was a great event and we plan on going to it each year we are in Mesa.

Thank a veteran for their service when you see them.

Gretna, NE

We made it. We spent Tuesday night at the KOA in Salina, KS, nice park we have stayed there before. They are working on upgrading the sites, our site had three sewer hookups on each site, at least you don't have to have three sewer hoses to hook up. Yesterday morning I wanted to head for Gretna but it rained all night and I didn't know if it was going to continue to do so all morning. We lucked out and had a break in the rain so we broke camp and headed out. Of course in unhooking sewer, water and electric I sank four inches into the mud. Oh well we are here and looking forward to seeing the grand kids this morning.

All is well. We had a great trip from AZ, head winds all the way. I need to fuel the truck so I can get an accurate cost for fuel. Although there was the one fuel stop where I inadvertently selected the farm diesel and had a great rate of $3.75 per gallon, but once I noticed my mistake I cut it off and only got 10 gal pumped. It shouldn't skew the numbers to bad.

We have a minny Cain family reunion this weekend here so we have to get busy. Need some supplies from Wally world.

Dreams Do Come True

On the Road Again

We left Mesa Regal at 8 am yesterday and had an uneventful trip to Las Cruces, NM. We went through some beautiful country, had a lot of wind but no problems. The Las Cruces KOA is a nice park. It sits on a hill and gives you a view of the valley and city of Las Cruces.

We left Las Cruces this morning at 8:15 and drove to Dalhart, TX, we are in the Corral RV Park. This is a nice park I didn't hook up anything but electric again tonight. We will leave early tomorrow morning for Salina, Ks and there we will hook up everything, I'll be ready for a shower.

We should be in Omaha by Wed mid day. Looking forward to seeing the kids.

Dreams Do Come True.