On the Road to Mesa

We left Centerville, IA on Saturday morning about 7:30, I knew it would be a long drive, in order to get to the Excel service center by mid to late afternoon, we arrived at four. We had an enjoyable drive, the weather was nice and the roads were good. We traveled mostly two lane roads, a short distance was on I 35 going to Cameron, MO where we picked up US 36 into Smith Center.

Sunday we went to church and then out to the Geographical Center of the USA. There wasn’t a lot there but we got pictures of all of it.

Monday was spent meeting and getting to know the other folks who were at the service center to have work done on their units. Jerry & Ann are from O’Fallon, MO, Bill & Ludella are from Olathe, KS, great folks and we hope to see Jerry & Ann in AZ this winter. You see Bill & Ludella are sitting in the site just behind us in Guymon, OK. They are on the way to Mesa also.

Ted was our technician and he accomplished everything we wanted done to the camper in one day. He managed to get the sofa moved to the area where the recliners were and got it secured so it won’t interfere with the slides going in and out. Ted also showed me the technique they use in the plant to caulk the campers. I will try it in AZ and see how long it takes me to get it right. I also had to buy two batteries because the two we had went kaput. I neglected to check them often enough so now I will add that to my lists of checks each month.

Monday night six of us went to dinner at Pooches Bar & Grill, it was very good food and reasonably priced. I had a pork chop that was an inch thick and six by four, done just right and juicy, I could cut it with a fork.

We stayed Monday night at the service center, free no $$, which is a great thing they do for the Excel owners. We were up early Tuesday morning and I headed in to see if I could get a propane tank filled, I forgot about it on Monday. Jack, the manager of the center, said no problem. I took the tank out of the camper and put it on the scale and headed back inside to wait for it to be filled. Fifteen minutes or so later I moved the truck to the camper to get ready to hook up and dawg gone if the tank wasn’t filled and put back in the camper. You can’t ask for better service than that.

Our goal for the day’s drive was Guymon, OK and as I mentioned above we made it. We arrived at Corral Drive In RV Park, this park has a drive in theater associated with it.

Tuesday night we went to Caktus Jack’s for dinner, Sarah and I split a hamburger, it was huge and very good.

I checked the weather and what to my surprise snow was forecasted along with winds of 30-35 mph gusting to 55+. I told Bill we were going to spend Wednesday at the campground and leave on Thursday. He was fine with that. The snow came down in big huge flakes and was quite pretty but it didn’t stay on the ground. The wind was blowing pretty good all day long and that reinforced my decision of not getting on the road. That night we went to the Pizza Hut to eat.

Thursday we took off about nine and headed for Santa Rosa, NM and the Santa Rosa Campground. It was an easy drive and we arrived early afternoon. We got checked in quickly and after a trip to put fuel in the truck we relaxed the rest of the afternoon. The campground had a restaurant that would deliver to your camper but we elected to eat at the restaurant. The food was ok, my steak was a bit chewy but we had a good time with Bill & Ludella.

Friday was going to be a bit of a drive so we left shortly after eight. I tried to set the GPS to route us through certain towns but I didn’t trust it. We went west on I 40 to Moriarty, NM and then south on route 41 to route 60 over to I 25. We were on route 60 and this guy was walking toward us on the side of the road so I moved over as I passed him and gave us the middle finger salute. Not sure what his problem was but something was bothering him.

I 25 was a good drive there were a couple of good pulls and the truck performed admirably. We arrived in Deming, NM about four and after unhooking and setting up I went to fuel the truck. Then it was time for dinner, Sarah had asked the lady in the office for a good place to eat. She said The Rancher’s Grill was good, well I have to say it wasn’t . I had the 8 oz. rib eye steak, so did Bill, mine was ok but not that good, Bill’s was so tough he couldn’t eat it. I will say they have a very good salad bar. Now in there favor there was a pretty good crowd eating so evidently the locales like the restaurant.

Saturday was going to be another long drive so we left early again. It was raining and windy when we started but as the day went on it cleared up. We drove I40 to route 70 to route 60 at Globe, AZ. Most of the drive was plain but when we left Globe the scenery was incredible. Going up the mountain was quite interesting but going down was an experience in both the drive and the scenery. Here are a couple of pictures.

Most of the down hill was a 6% grade with one 7% grade in the mix. There was also a tunnel, not very long, but a nice change of pace.

We made it to Mesa Regal RV Resort about two in the afternoon. We checked in and were shown to our site. Then the fun began, the site was quite small and it was impossible to get in to it. I was able to miss the park model on one side of the site but the grapefruit tree kept getting in the way. So Sarah went to the office and they gave us a different site, it was bigger than the other one. It took me 30-40 minutes to get the camper situated the way I wanted it. Then the lady who showed us the site came back and said she wasn’t sure we could stay in that site and to check with the office on Monday. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy, so we only hooked up the water and electric.

Sunday was a good day with church and shopping at Wal Mart, Camping World and Fry’s Marketplace. The rest of the day I spent watching football.

Today we were in the customer service office right at eight, I wanted to make sure we were there before anyone else. A nice lady named Melanie helped us with our problem. She verified we could not stay in the site we were currently in so she gave us three sites to look at. The first two were small and would give us the same problems we had already been through. The third site was the one, it was a back in and all I had to do was line up in the street and back straight into the site. We have more room than any of the other sites so this is the one. We got set up and met the neighbors and all is well in the world.

We begin our work this Wednesday, they are short help not everyone is here yet, we have met a couple of the other workers and I believe we will really enjoy this gig.

Remember – Dreams Do Come True.

Veterans Hospital, Des Moines, IA

Today, Oct 24th, is the day I have been dreading for six months, but more on that later.

We arrived at Griff’s Valley View RV Park last Monday, Oct 17th, and got settled in for our short stay. We immediately renewed an acquaintance from our previous stays, John Evans. Now John had quite a scar this past summer with an infection he had in the esophagus. The doctors do not know what caused the infection or can they give it a name, but with Someone watching over him from above and an abundant of prayers down here John has recovered to be able to continue his lifestyle. I know his wife Kathy made many a trip from the campground to the hospital and indeed stayed at the hospital at times when no one could predict which way John’s illness would go. We are grateful he is getting better and continues to improve each day.

We also had a great visit with Dick & Judy Wichael and Richard & Rose James, we spent the better part of Tuesday afternoon in Dick & Judy’s camper visiting and catching up on what has happened over the summer. This is what full timing is all about, getting together with friends you meet on the road and enjoying the good life on the road. Earlier in the day we took care of dental appointments, all is well for both of us.

Wednesday, Oct 19th, Sarah had her annual physical, everything was normal on her tests so she is good for another year. We had lunch with Norma Cairo, the better half of a couple I have known for over forty years. Sarah and Norma had to hit the local beauty supply store to stock up on whatever it is they stock up on. That night we had dinner with Norma and the other half of the better half, Orren,  which I believe to halves make a whole. We went to Prairie Meadows, the local casino and horse track. Wednesdays is the night of lower priced prime rib, although the cut and the quality is not lowered. We had a great time and a very good meal. We do have fun when we get together. Next time we are together I need a photo of the two of them. We hope to see them sometime this winter in AZ.

Thursday, was a day at the camper, laundry etc.

Friday the 21st was the beginning of my hell week, actually it only lasted five days but it seemed, at times longer. I had appointments with the Pulmonary and cardiac clinics.

Now the pulmonary clinic, for those of you who have never had these tests, it is the premise of how much of a blow hard you are. You sit in this little box and blow into this contraption to see how much capacity your lungs have I guess. Here is a good site to explain what they do: tp://www2.nau.edu/~daa/lecture/pft.htm/~daa/lecture/pft.htm

I was able to get through the test without much trouble. Although, when you have this guy standing next to you saying take a deep breath and then blow as hard as you can until he tells you to take a deep breath again or you begin to see stars and images of your long lost relatives, whichever comes first. Good news is my lungs are working fine.

The next was a cardiac ultrasound. This site explains this procedure: ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echocardiography. Now the doctor called it cardiac ultrasound but echocardiography is another name for it and I guess for dummies like me the first is easier to say but I always had trouble remembering what the name of the procedure was. Anyway, I was able to get the procedure done a couple hours earlier by going to the department and asking if they had any cancellations. So instead of 12:30 I got in at 10:30, at least I saved sitting around for a couple of hours. The technician did run into a bit of a problem, it seems the images he was getting were not of the quality he wanted. I thought well you should get better equipment, I didn’t even give it a moments thought that it could be my fat body blocking the signals. They, of course, had a solution and that was to give me an IV and put some type of dye in it, this worked and he was happy with the results. Someone said it is a radioactive dye, I suppose they might be right I did have a certain glow the rest of the day.

Friday night we met Mike and Sheri Cord,  they have been friends since we moved to Des Moines several years ago. They were our co-managers at Illahee Hills when we managed the facility there and Mike worked with me at Marsh the whole time I was there. We went to Felix & Oscar’s: http://felixandoscars.com/. They have some of the best pizza in town. We had a great visit with Mike and Sheri, Mike has a site on EBay called “qualityucantrust” he sells shoes at great prices, check it out you may see something you like. Mike said he had a couple of books for me and I suggested I would call him the next day and we could meet.

Saturday, Oct 22nd, we met Tiffany, Matt, Bryon, and Alexa,  for lunch at the Red Lobster in Ames, IA. It is fun getting together with them. We don’t see them enough throughout the year but we have fun when we do. However this time I was a bit rushed because of having to get ready for Monday. Carl and Merilee had come over earlier in the morning so they joined us for lunch. I don’t remember the last time they had seen Alexa but it was good to get together.

Saturday was also the day I began my liquid diet for my upcoming colonoscopy. I won’t go into the details of the prep but those of you who have been through it know the details, I will say the VA has you drink 4 liters of the prep and it isn’t fun.

Monday was the day, I was at the VA by 9:30 for my ten o’clock appointment. Everything went right on time and I found myself in the recovery room and going home by 12:30, so the day wasn’t too bad.

Tuesday morning I had to be at the VA for my annual physical which began with lab work at 7:30. I saw the nurse at 8:30 and the doctor at 9:00. All the tests were good and I don’t need another colonoscopy for ten years.

Later we went to lunch with Laurie Robinette, she is a manager at Marsh and I worked with her there, We met her at Culver’s and had a great visit. Thank you for the free yogurt.

Then that evening we met Candi and Russ Cerniglia for dinner at the Drake Diner, www.drakediner.com. We hope to see them in AZ this winter.

On Wednesday we left for Centerville, IA to visit mom and my sister Tara. We had a great visit and enjoyed being with mom. We stayed at Honey State Park, http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/StateParksRecAreas?state_park_list=honey_creek.html, not to be confused with Honey Creek Resort.

On Saturday we took off for Smith Center, KS to the Excel service center to have some things taken care of on the camper. Then it is off to Mesa, AZ. I will wait until then to write again.

Dreams Do Come Again.

Correction to Previous Post

It has been pointed out to me that my parents raised SIX children not five as I stated, “I still don’t know how my folks raised five of us without going off the deep end”.

Tara, I apologize, I didn’t mean to forget about you.

Good Bye Omaha, Hello Des Moines

Our time in Omaha is over. We had a great time with the kids, it is interesting to see them go from not really knowing you and in Eli’s case he didn’t know who we were, to acting like you have always been there. We were able to watch the kids at different times so Marie could run errands etc. Again it was a lot of fun but it does get tiring. I really wish I had their energy. I still don’t know how my folks raised five of us without going off the deep end.

We got to celebrate three birthdays while we were there. Eli’s first birthday, his grandmother’s, Marie’s mom Elia, birthday, she is a few years older than Eli and Eli’s great grandmother, Jewell Marie’s grandmother, birthday, now she is a few years older than Elia. We had a great time with all.

I did lose my mind one day and helped Daniel rake leaves, I felt guilty since I mowed Robert’s front  yard when we were in WI so I helped Daniel with the leaves. He has one of the vacuum gizmos to suck up the leaves and grinds them to a fine mixture and then he puts them in the bags the city governments makes you buy so they can pick them up easily. The yard looked pretty good when we got done. Daniel still has a couple trees that haven’t lost their leaves yet so he'll be doing this again.

We had rain on our trip over to Des Moines this morning but other than that it was an uneventful trip. Not much going on this week other than doctor appointments and visiting with friends. So I’ll make this short and I will write more later.

Dreams Do Come True

Adventure for the Day

Wednesday the 12th my uncle Ernie and aunt Shirley came got us for a day of adventure. We stopped in Ashland, NE for lunch but before eating we went into artist Gene Roncka’s Gallery, www.generoncka.com. He has a photo of Ashland taken from 200 miles above the earth by Nebraska’s own astronaut Clayton C. Anderson. The Gallery is small but has some beautiful paintings, Roncka paints buildings a lot like Kincaid where the windows glow as if the lights are on in the house.

After buying some post cards, this was the only size pictures I could afford, we went to Cheri O’s Coffee House & Ice Cream Parlor, http://www.cherioscoffee.com/. The food was very good and the apple pie with ice cream was excellent. The purpose of our adventure for the day was to go to a licorice factory, then we discovered it was a place that sold licorice, this did not diminish our quest at all. But before we got to the licorice store we stopped at Baker’s Candies, http://www.bakerscandies.com/, in Greenwood, NE. They make a melt away caramel unlike any I have ever tried before. Of course I had to spend a few dollars there, they had the bridge mix I love.

Then it was off to Lincoln to see if we could find the licorice place. We did, it is a block from the Amtrak station in the Haymarket District and is know as Licorice International, www. licoriceinternational.com. Here is a copy of their brochure,

  

This is the store. They have licorice from over 40 countries. I didn’t know licorice was made in other countries but then again I never really gave it much thought. There is an Irish Toffee licorice that is very smooth and does not have the heavy licorice taste, it is very good. Australia has several different types of licorice. I bought a couple different ones, my favorite is the chocolate cover strawberry licorice. When you go in the store you see these shelves arranged by country of origin and you can sample each licorice to make sure you like what you are buying. It was a great visit and of course I bought several different types of licorice.

I highly recommend the Licorice International store any time you are in the Lincoln, NE area, you won’t be disappointed.

After buying plenty of licorice we headed back to the camper and visited for a while. It was the end to a great day and visiting places we would most likely not have seen. Thank you Shirley and Ernie for the great day.

Dreams Do Come True.

Our Last Week in Omaha

We are down to our last week in Omaha, we go to Des Moines next Monday and then we start with the doctor appointments, I have five and Sarah three, but then we are done for another year.

Eli and his sisters have kept Sarah and I busy and tired. Here are some of the things we have done, more will come later.

Sarah and I went to see the Holy Family Shrine, on a day where we didn’t go into see the kids until in the afternoon. The shrine is located not to far from the campground on the south side of I 80, you get a good view of it eastbound on I 80. Here are some pictures and their website, http://www.holyfamilyshrineproject.com/. It was a great visit.

Inside the chapel looking out past the altar.

I really like the etching of the Holy Family in the glass. According to a panel in the visitor center this piece of glass is 16’ x 8’. It would be interesting to know how they shipped it. I’ll bet it was VERY CAREFULLY.

This is the entrance to the visitor center and the rest of the shrine.

TThis is what you see from the interstate.

Since my last post we have been to  Pooley’s Pumpkin patch, this was a great place for the kids, www.pooleyspumpkinpatch.com. This pumpkin patch was not as crowded as the one we went to last year. They some animals for the kids to see and hold. The kids didn’t have to stand in line to do anything which made the visit better for the kids. We did eat there, now I know I have been accused of writing about nothing but food but this place had the best cheesecake funnel cake I have ever had. Well actually it was the first one I ever had but it was very good.

We found a Yogi Frozen yogurt store within a Scooters Coffee shop. Now if you have never had the pleasure of this type of store it is a bit different. We have been to a couple like establishments in Lenexa, KS and Rockford, Il. The yogurt is self served and is dispensed from wall mounted machines and then you put the toppings you want on the yogurt. The cost is by weight which can be a bit high if you load you cup up with heavy candies. But it is so good.

We have been able to sit with the kids a couple of times so Marie could run some errands. It is interesting to watch the three kids play together. As with Mason and Madyson it was fun to stay with the kids but I totally understand why we have our kids when we are young, I was tired at the end of the day and to be truthful Sarah worked harder than I did in playing with the kids. We have really enjoyed our visit to WI and now NE. Once we leave here it will be a while before we see them again and I am sure there will be some big changes in them when we see them next.

I am trying to learn how to build a web page, I did it once many years ago but it all seems to be more complicated now or maybe I have killed off to many brain cells and there aren’t enough left to process the instructions to build a web site.

More later.

Dreams Do Come True.

West Omaha KOA, Gretna, NE

We made it to Omaha after getting the brakes on the camper fixed in Des Moines. As you may remember we lost the brakes on the camper going to Green Bay, WI. After several phone calls I found a camper dealer in Appleton who said they would look at the problem and see what they could do. We set the appointment time for 9 am on Monday the 12th. We arrived before nine and I spoke with the service manager and gave him our information. We went to sit in the waiting area, they had wi-fi which was a plus, twenty minutes later the service manager came and told us they wouldn’t be able to fix the brakes because they didn’t know anything about disc brakes.

We got back in the truck and called Camping World in Madison, WI. They told me they could work us in that afternoon, I told him we would be there by noon. I was a bit worried because we had been there before and their parking lot is very crowded and I was concerned about getting in there and not being able to get out. However, as always my concerns were unfounded. When we arrived I went into the service desk and explained what I needed and was told by them that morning. It turns out they were trying to work four other campers in that afternoon and wouldn’t be able to get to us. We then made the decision to continue on to Iowa City and see what we could do later in the week to get the brakes fixed. I knew the truck could stop us without trailer brakes and I knew we had no BIG hills in our path. However, I forgot about the hill on Hwy 151/61 going south out of Dubuque. We crested the hill at about 40 mph and then I saw the stopped vehicles at the bottom of the hill, it looked like a 10% downhill grade, all I know is the truck worked well and we were able to go down the hill slowly so as not to run into anything at the bottom.

We arrived at Colony Country RV Park about four and got set up. The site we had wasn’t too bad. I had a small hill to back up on but the camper sat on level ground. In fact it was probably one of the most level sites we have been on and it was a gravel site. We had good satellite coverage and the site was quite roomy, at a bigger site than we had in De Pere.

I made some phone calls to get the camper brakes fixed and on a suggestion from Jason at Bob & Joe’s RV I called Mid-State Truck & Auto Center in Des Moines. They could get us in on Monday the 19th, I told them we’d be there.

We spent the rest of the week visiting with Carl & Merilee, Amy, Clancy, Maverick, Lilly and Kayla. We had a great time. Of course I ate too much but it was great. On Sunday Bob & Judy and Cynthia stopped by Carl & Merilee’s and we go to visit with them.

Before we knew it we were getting the camper ready to move out again. We got on the road at our usual time 8:30 and after an uneventful trip arrived in Des Moines at 10:30. Mid-States were able to get us in right away, so after backing the camper into an empty bay the technician got under the camper and quickly diagnosed the problem, a broken fitting on the brake line. They had NAPA come over to get the broken line and take it back to their place to make a new line. The service manager told us it would be about two before the camper would be done so we unhooked the camper and left. We went to the mall and walked around and had lunch. When we got back to Mid-States I got the bad news, NAPA made the line with the wrong connection on one end, it didn’t work. They had to take it back and redo it, so we didn’t leave Des Moines until 4:30 which put us in Omaha at 7:15.  The good news is the camper has brakes again and we are set up in Gretna, NE.

Wednesday was Eli’s first birthday,he is a cutie. Actually his birthday is today but his party is Saturday.

As we found in Wisconsin with Madyson and Mason, the little ones here, Emily, Isabel and Eli are not so little anymore. We are enjoying being with them.

Today we went out to eat with my uncle and aunt, Ernie & Shirley, to Stella’s, http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/248/1151124/restaurant/Omaha/Stellas-Hamburgers-Bellevue, the hamburger we had was one of the best I have ever had and it was huge. If you are ever in the Omaha area  you have to go there and have a burger.

Well, that is all for now. More to come later.

Remember, Dreams Do Come True.