What a life this is.

Some of you may think we are nuts but Sarah and I did some horse-trading Friday; we got a good deal on trading the camper for these:

Doesn't she look good on this?



What a life this is.

Besides our new rides, we got a new Lexus so when the weather is bad we will not get wet. Anyway, a good trade, more on this later.

We have been in Wisconsin this past week.

Friday we drove to Milwaukee to visit the Harley Davidson Museum, a service buddy Jim Aubuchon is a tour guide there. He retired from J C Penny’s and since he is a Harley enthusiast he went to work there as a guide. I took a bunch of pictures and will put a link into this so you can look at them if you want.

Jim is a great tour guide, his knowledge and enthusiasm is very apparent, we had a great time and the museum is worth every penny of the cost. It is a remarkable collection of motorcycles and much more. The amount of other memorabilia pertaining to the history of motorcycles and Harley Davidson in particular is amazing. We spent two and a half hours looking at everything but we did not do justice to what you can see and learn. The Café is also a good stop, the food is very good and the servings are large so you should not go away hungry. Of course, there is the gift shop where you really get a good idea of the devotion of the Harley enthusiasts; the amount of clothing and other items you can buy is quite extensive. I bought a t-shirt; I need to lose some weight before it will look good on me, surprise, surprise.

The pictures you see above were taken at the museum, we have not traded for anything, we are having too much fun in the fifth wheel and do not plan on giving that up anytime soon.

Friday night was Mason’s birthday dinner, he chose Olive Garden, it was fun and even better because Robert bought. Sarah Ann’s parents and sister were there, Dick & Terri and Catherine; it is always good to see them. After dinner we went back to the house so Mason could open his gifts, he did ok in that department.

Saturday morning we were to go to Mason’s last soccer game of the season, but it was raining and they canceled the game, yea. I love watching him play but not in the rain. Next year we will spend more time here and get a chance to see him play more then.

In the afternoon we went to Mason’s birthday party at Kids Spot in Roscoe, IL, this is a gymnastics and dance studio, they had a room filled with gymnastics equipment. The kids had a blast and I will bet all of them slept well last night.

Today Sarah isn’t feeling well, she had a sore throat last night before going to bed so we are staying away from the kids for a bit this morning, we will see them in a little while. We are leaving WI today and traveling to North Liberty to spend the night at Carl & Merilee’s then on home tomorrow.

We have been blessed with good weather but it looks like next week it begins to get cold, oh well it had to happen.

Busy couple of Days.

Yesterday we met with Betty, Jane, Linda, Mary, Ginny and Betty’s husband Glenn at the 1855 Salon & Grill in Cottage Grove, WI, http://www.1855saloongrill.com. This was a very good choice it is a new building, very nicely decorated. We had a table in the back so the ladies could visit; Glenn and I were able to enjoy ourselves also. I even remember a couple of the ladies and I did remember Glenn, I was afraid I would not remember anyone.

We went back to the hotel and rested up for dinner with Jack and Belle. Jack and Belle lived across the street from us in Marshall, WI. Jack and Belle have three daughters they were in school with our boys. We met them at the Olive Garden in Madison, we had not seen them for quite some time and it was a great visit with good food and conversation. Jack is looking very fit and Belle the same as she did ten years ago. Jack has gotten into wood burning, he said he is burning designs on birdhouses and doing other such projects. He said he went to the library to get a book on wood burning and the librarian said she had a wood burning book for him; it turned out to be a book on burning wood, not quite the same.

Today we drove into Madison and went to Costco; I wanted to see if they had any portable hard drives, specifically Western Digital, they did so I bought one. I gave Robert an external hard drive and forgot to get all my files off it, so I wanted the WD to collect the files.

A great surprise for us was Joyce Knapton contacting us and we were able to meet her for lunch today at Pasian’s, http://www.paisansrestaurant.biz/, I called her house last night about 10 and Wayne, Joyce’s husband answered, he said Joyce was in bed, so he and I talked for about a half an hour. So it was great when Joyce called. If you are ever in Madison and in need of a meal this is a very nice place to eat. Seeing Joyce was great, she looks the same as we remember her, I do not believe she has aged at all. It was a great meal and we enjoyed seeing Joyce very much. She even bought our lunch, thank you Joyce.

After lunch, we picked up some hair supplies for Robert and Sarah Ann at Marshall Supply House and Sarah Jane bought a couple of items for herself.

We drove up to DeForest to Camping World it is amazing we drive 400 miles to see the kids and we went to Camping World and spend money. I guess that is the hazard of full timing you visit all camper sales facilities and Camping World’s.



Since we had busy day so far we went back to the hotel, well we did stop at Wal Mart on the way, I had to buy a sweat shirt for the soccer game on Saturday because if it is as cold as then as it was today I will need it.

We went to Mason’s soccer game tonight and I about froze so I needed the sweatshirt. It is fun watching the kids play soccer; the kids are young and still learning to play soccer. It brought back memories of coaching the boys when they were first learning to play a sport. I enjoyed the game but would have liked it better if I had not been so cold.

Madyson was prepared for the game with her new sunglasses, to bad the sun was almost down by the time the game began. Isn't she cute?

As Sarah stated today we are doing everything we had planned on doing in 30 days we are doing it in 5 days. I am beat but loving every minute of it. Dreams Do Come True.



Recap of week

I have not written anything for a few days, of course some folks may say that is good, but I feel bad about it so here goes. This is a summary of the last week or so.

Last Monday the 11^th, we had lunch with my aunt and uncle, Shirley and Ernie, also their sons Mike and Dan and Dan’s wife Heidi. We met at the Olive Garden in Omaha, great food, great company and great conversation.

Tuesday 12^th, laundry day, it is nice having the washer and dryer in the camper. We needed to get a bike rack for the camper so we can take our bikes with us when we leave Omaha, Daniel told us about the Bike Masters so we went for a look see, we bought a Thule bike rack from them. Since it was a floor model it was assembled all I had to do was put it on the camper, mission accomplished.

That night we ate dinner at Daniel and Marie’s, then went to see Jewell, Marie’s grandmother. She is at the Brookstone Meadows, Elkhorn, NE; this is a very nice place. My favorite part of the building is the room with the ice cream machine, chocolate or vanilla.

Wednesday 13^th, another day of laundry, not much to do but did get it done, well Sarah did anyway. Then it was time to find the post office, we had a letter to mail. You would think it would be easy to find the post office in a town as small as Gretna but find it we did.

Thursday 14^th, for a long time I have heard about Mahoney State Park and it was time to see it. Sarah and I drove out to the park, paid our daily entry fee, $4 for the day, $20 for a year – good at any state park. Mahoney is a very nice park, I was very impressed, they have two campgrounds, many trees. I though the campsites pads were rather short looking but I saw a 35-37 foot Mobile Suite parked in one of them but there is not much room to park the tow vehicle. All but 4 or 5 sites are 30 amp, no water or sewer, the 4 or 5 have 50 amp and full hook ups. The rates range from approximately $18 to $25 dollars a night. I talked to the camp host and he said the sites are reserved a year in advance.

The Buick was overdue for an oil change and with an upcoming trip to Wisconsin; it was time to get the oil changed. We found Plaza Buick in Omaha, very nice people and very reasonable price $29 and it included a car wash. I spent the time walking around their showroom looking at new and used cars, all in doors. Then it was off to Daniel’s where I fixed spaghetti for dinner, it was delicious.

Friday 15^th did not have a whole lot going on. I took Sarah’s computer to Daniel’s, the fan was making noise so I ordered one online, it turned out to be the wrong one. We had to take the entire computer a part, there were 113 screws to be taken out and the number of pieces is unbelievable anyway, we got it a part I just hope we, Daniel, can get it back together.

Saturday 16^th, we spent the morning with Daniel and the girls while Marie was at a baby shower. Sarah and I went home after this to get things ready for a cook out with Daniel and family. Daniel, Marie, Emily, Isabel, Eli, Elia and Eddie, Marie’s parents. Daniel made the hamburgers and a sauce to go over them, delicious.

Sunday we went to church and then drove over to Ashland, NE, it is suppose to have a historic district, not much there but I did get the paper. After lunch, we went to visit Daniel Ertz; he ended up in the hospital with blood clots. Ernie and Shirley came in also followed later by Heidi and kids. Later in the afternoon Ernie, Shirley, Heidi and the kids came out to the camper and visited.

Monday 18^th, we went with Marie and the kids to buy fleece blankets for the girls, then it we met Daniel for lunch at the mall. We went home about one. I took the truck out for exercise and to get it fueled, at $2.99 per gallon. Since we are in Wisconsin this week I got the propane tanks filled, $29 to fill both tanks. We took off about five to try to find Toys R Us but did not get that done so we went to see Jewell her birthday is Tuesday and we would not be there.

Today we left the camper at six this morning; we made a couple of stops, Cynthia’s for some mail and Marsh to pick up a package, other than those two stops we stopped for lunch and breaks. We arrived about three thirty, called Robert to find out what was going on tonight. We met Robert, Mason and Madyson at the house, took Mason to Doodles for his art class and then to Jimmy John's for dinner.

It has been a great day; we are in Wisconsin for the week and look forward to spending time with the kids and seeing friends we have here.

A few pictures of West Omaha KOA and the grandkids.

This is the entrance to the campground.

Another picture of the campground.

Grandkids and others on a jumping bag in the play area.

Sarah with Isabel and Emily.

Eli is looking good.

That's it for now, sorry about the length but Dreams Do Come True.

A Long Post, but Great News.

Saturday, 10/2 we went to see my mom in Centerville, IA, we got there by ten so Sarah could cut mom’s hair. We won’t be back until April 2010 so mom will have to her hair cut in the facility salon. Brother Larry and Kathy, his wife, arrived a little after noon. We were all there to see mom but also to partake in the picnic style lunch being served, hamburgers, hotdogs etc. After lunch, the ladies played bingo and Larry and I went out to the Honey Creek Resort, this is a development built by the DNR of the state of Iowa, in my opinion it is a very nice resort with golf course, campground and cabins ranging from 1-4 bedrooms. Here is a link; http://www.honeycreekresort.com.


Kathy won most of the prizes playing bingo; I don’t think she kept anything other than some gum. They had a good time. The day went by fast and before we knew it, we were heading back home. It was good to see Larry and Kathy; we will see them in Sarasota in January. We bade goodbye to mom and assured her we would see her in April.

Sunday, 10/3, the Hawkeyes played football Saturday night, the game was on TV so I watched it until we had to leave to pick up Cynthia at the airport, she was returning from her Greek Island Cruise. This morning when we got home from church and the grocery store I turned on the TV, now remember I watched the Hawkeyes Saturday night; the TV would not give me a picture or sound. I tried resetting the satellite receiver, I tried the TV antennae, and I even tried to make sure all there were no loose wires. Still no TV picture, the Bears were playing but I didn’t get to see the game.

I sat down and wrote a letter to the president of Excel, explaining to him about my dilemma and assuring him we have no complaints about the construction of the camper but I do have a problem with the electronics we have in it. I was very nice I wasn’t too upset and tried not to sound like a whiner. I emailed the letter to him and set about to wait for an answer in a day or two.

Having gotten all of my frustration off my chest it was time for marguerites and visiting with the neighbors. Dick and Judy, next door, John and Kathy, Larry and Loretta, four others who I don’t remember their names joined us. I believe we went through two bottles with the tequila all mixed in and Dick made some marguerites with tequila he bought in Mexico, all I know the drinks were very good and I slept well that night.

I always check my emails before going to bed and when I did, low and behold, I had an answer from Excel. Now, in this day and age, you can make the best product in the world but if you don’t have good customer service it will be all for nothing. Brian Tilled, president of Excel, said they would take care of everything and I should Jack at the service center the next day. I called Jack and we have arranged to get all the problems taken care of. I will always recommend Excel to anyone interested in buying a very good RV.

Monday another day in the land of retirement. We met Russ and Candi for dinner and Russ handed me a gift, I told him he didn’t have to buy me anything, he said he didn’t the gift is for Eli our new grandson. Therefore, I put the gift in the car and we had a great meal, we were at Jesse’s Embers on Ingersoll in Des Moines.

I forgot to mention Monday morning when I got up, I turned on the TV and it worked, maybe we have a haunted TV.

Tuesday was a busy day. We met a cyber friend Janie and husband John, http://flamingoonastick.blogspot.com/. Janie is a good writer and photographer, check out her website. We had a great time visiting with them, they have the same camper we do only a bit shorter. It is always interesting when visiting with other full timers; it seems whatever problems, situations, and challenges you have had with your camper or new lifestyle. Others have had them and when you talk about them, you realize they are just part of the process of the lifestyle you have chosen to live. Sarah and I hope to see Janie and John again somewhere down the long highway of life we are traveling.

Sarah had two doctor appointments pertaining to her foot both went very well. She can shed the boot and begin walking with her tennis shoe instead of the boot. She still wears the boot once in a while but most of the time she is in tennis shoes. Tuesday we met Mike and Sheri for pizza. We got to see their photos from their trip to Italy. Mike and I worked together at Marsh and we wanted to see them one more time before we left.

Wednesday we didn’t do anything today but get ourselves geared up to move out on Friday.

Thursday we began our day with a trip in to see Cynthia and to get whatever mail she had for us. We also got to see her pictures of her cruise. She had a good time and that is what counts.

The rest of Thursday was given over to getting the camper ready to move. I fueled both vehicles for the trip. I tried something I haven’t done before we hooked the truck up to the camper Thursday so we wouldn’t have to be doing that so early in the morning.

Friday morning I was up before six, showered and outside unhooking water, sewer etc so we could meet our start time of 7:30, we needed to be at Bob & Jo’s at nine. We did it and were on the road a couple of minutes early.

The reason for stopping at Bob & Jo’s was to have them check our furnace it wouldn’t work. When we got there, I turn the truck and camper over to Jason so he can back the rig into the shop etc. He took the outside plate off the furnace and tried to get it to run, it wouldn’t work, so he tapped the side of the blower housing sometimes the fail-safe switch will stick, no luck. Next, he checked the propane tank and it was empty. Now this tank was not empty when I was trying to get the furnace to work because I was cooking with gas on the stovetop in the camper. I switched the tank over and the furnace worked, so we should have heat now. However, I80 through Omaha is one of the roughest roads I have been on in a long time so I am hoping we will have heat.

We arrived at the West Omaha KOA around noon, checked in and then it was time for me to back this rig into our site. Now I have never backed this rig into a site, this was my first time. I don’t believe I did too bad, it took me four times of pulling forward etc. to get it the way Sarah wanted it situated in the site. I put up the satellite dish and it found the satellites it needed but we had no TV, the bedroom TV worked just fine. .

We went to the kid’s house for dinner, we had pizza, and the girls cornered Sarah and me to read to them. Emily told me the story of 101 Dalmations and then I read four or five books to her. It was a very enjoyable time.

This is the beginning of our full timer travels and we are so looking to them. Dreams Do Come True.

Hitch Itch

Now I understand what the term Hitch Itch really means, we are getting anxious to move to our next destination.

Last Saturday, 9/25, it rained all day and we didn't venture out except to go to church in the evening. The nice thing about a rainy day once in a while is you have the opportunity to get done whatever you have been putting off for so long.

Sunday, I made a meat loaf and put it in the crock pot for a couple of hours, it was delicious, I made enough to last all this week. Late afternoon Tiffany, Matt, Bryan and Alexa came by. It seems Alexa's school has the kids selling dough to make rolls. It won't be delivered until late in October so I asked Alexa what she liked and bought that and told her to keep it. It was good to see them, it will be March or April before we see them again.

Monday I began walking again, I have to lose some weight. Four laps around the perimeter of the campground equals three miles, so that is what I try to get in each day. So far so good.
Did some laundry and vegged out the rest of the day.

Tuesday we took the truck to Ankeny Auto Spa and had it washed, waxed and detailed, they did an good job on it. I wish I could find someone to wax the camper but I believe I will wait until we get to FL. Of course Tuesday night a new NCIS was on, in my opinion it is one of the best shows on TV.

Wednesday we finally made it to the DMV to get the address changed on our driver's license. We should have done it before now but I kept putting it off and we needed to get it done. The DMV is an interesting place to go, it is a great place to study human kind. I am always amazed at the different characters you see there. The amazing choices of dress people choose to wear out in public, there is an email running around on the internet showing the various choices of dress people choose to wear to Wal Mart. It isn't that bad but still fun to observe. We went early in the morning, there were three agents working and about fifteen customers to be helped, we were still there almost an hour. Then off to Wal Mart, Sarah has the idea she wants to make a tie blanket, it seems you buy material to make blankets and cut strips about four inches long around the perimeter of two pieces of material and tie the strips together forming a blanket. I guess they will hold together. In the evening we met Orren and Norma for dinner at Prarie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. We got there before they did so I went off to try my luck. I found a penny machine and inserted a twenty and began playing. It seems to make any money on the penny machines you have to play the max which actual cost fifty cents not a penny. I played four times at max play and I got some type of bonus thing, I didn't have a clue what to do next. I was pushing buttons and looking around when one of the employees must have seen my confusion and took pity on me. He helped me with what to do and I ended up winning twenty-five dollars. I played a couple more times and won another four dollars, I cashed it in because I knew if I kept playing I would lose it all. So our dinner didn't cost me anything. Wednesday is prime rib night at the casino and it was good. It is a buffet type setting and there is plenty to eat. We were there three hours and had a very enjoyable time. We always have a good time with Orren and Norma.

Today I wanted to go to the Iowa Military Museum, I have seen the signs for it for a long time and decided to go. So Sarah and I took off early this morning, didn't have any problem finding Camp Dodge but the museum isn't the easiest building to find. They are a work in progress but they had a lot of items already on display. Outside they have a series of tanks ranging from very old to fairly recent and what I believe is a F100 Super Sabre jet plane. Inside the exhibits are still being built on a lot of the displays but it is still worth a visit. There is one room that has a large exhibit of military rifles and pistols. There was one exhibit where someone donated there medals and I thought my brother Larry should donate his dress uniform with all his medals and ribbons it would be an impressive display.

Then we stopped at Starbucks so Sarah could use the gift card Mason and Madyson gave her for Mother's Day. Sarah got her coffee and also bought a batch of coffee to make at home. That will keep her wired when she drinks it.

We came home and I worked on some things on the computer. I found a disk that had some old files for the Family Tree Genealogy program we have. I tried to merge a couple families and it confuse things so I wanted to find the files for before I merged them. I lucked out and found some files I had saved on a disk in 2005, these turned out to be what I was looking for, now I will work to update all those files.

We have an appointment at Bob & Jo's, where we bought the camper, for them to look at the furnace, as you know it isn't working. I did work Monday night but not since, so I sent an email wanting to know how soon we could get in to get it looked at, they set an appointment for 9 am on Oct 8th. We will begin our prep work the day or two before and leave here by 7:30 am on the 8th. Once the furnace is fixed we will continue to West Omaha KOA in Gretna, NE. We will be there a bit over a month, with a week in WI without the camper.

So until next time, Dreams Do Come True.

Happy Birthday to Eli Daniel Hoenig

We got up Friday morning with the temperature outside at 50 degrees so I turned on the heat pump, nothing, I tried the furnace and it came on for a few seconds but then shut itself off. I tried the heat pump and it did the same thing. So I waited a bit and tried them both again and the same thing happened. It warmed up during the day and I was ok. I emailed the service center at the factory and thought I’d wait to hear from them, we have a small electric heater I got out and it warmed the place up so we weren’t cold anymore, but Saturday morning the same thing so I called the dealer. They told me to check the wiring and make sure there were no loose wires. Since it was raining I told them I would wait until it quit raining. It rained all day Saturday so the day was a bust as far as pulling a bunch of items out of the basement and then crawling in there to see if the furnace had any loose wires.


Sunday, it was raining so no checking for loose wires. I went and put gas in the car and got my free paper, I haven’t paid for a paper in a long time. At the Kum & Go gas stations here you get a free paper with a fill up.

Sarah’s brother Bill and wife Mable were going to be in Ottumwa and so we decided to drive down to see them, Cynthia went along with us. Ottumwa is a little over an hour away but it was rainy and foggy the whole trip which was fine because there isn’t anything to see between here and there. We had a good visit with them and topped it off with going to Hy-Vee and had desert. Well, I bought three egg rolls; I was hungry, and a piece of chocolate cream pie. It was all good and along with the good company, life is good.

Still not call from Omaha, so I guess we will stay put until the call comes. We are not moving the camper but I do not want to go over to soon either because Sarah needs to be careful how much she is on her foot and I am afraid she would not watch that if we go over there to soon.

Today, Monday, I got up at seven and did my three laps around the park, took a shower and had breakfast. Then I decided to look at the furnace and see if there were any loose wires, there were not any. Our neighbor Dick came over and he looked at the setup for the thermostats and we decided to turn the air conditioner on and try to get it below 70 in the camper and then see if the furnace would come on.

Tuesday, we finally got the call Marie was going to go to the hospital and our grandson will be born soon. We left Des Moines about 10 am and arrived in Omaha a bit after noon. I went to Sonic and got lunch for everyone, it was good.

Eli Daniel Hoenig was born at 5:14 pm, weighing 8 lbs 14 ozs, 20 inches, black hair, blue eyes.

Eli and his sisters Emily and Isabel. I don't think Eli will lack for attention.

Grandma and her helpers.

Grandpa couldn't get any help.

Both mom and baby are doing great. Congratulations to Marie and Daniel, you have a handsome baby and he is cute as a bug's ear.

Thursday, the baby and mom came home today. Sarah and I went to see Marie's grandmother Jewel today, she is in an assisted living facility recuperating from back surgery. It was good to see her and she really looked good for having had back surgery within the last week.

We head back to Des Moines tomorrow, we still have a problem with the furnace I want to get back to getting a solution to the problem. Either way we will probably be in Omaha before Oct 15th.

Dreams Do Come True

Sarah is getting better

This has been a beautiful day I slept until eight, I have decided I shouldn’t be sleeping this long but I don’t know if I want to get up earlier. I might try getting up at 6:30 but then I might not either.

Monday we took the camper over to Bob & Jo’s the dealer we bought the camper from to have them take out the washer and dryer that wasn’t working and put in the new Whirlpool wash and dryers the factory sent to replace the old ones. The technicians that did the replacement were very good, they did it within the time they said they would and even fixed another small problem we had in the unit. The biggest problem they ran into was the old washer vent was at the top of the dryer and the new dryer has the vent at the bottom so they had to cut a hole in the side of the unit. The good news of this is the factory will patch the old hole with fiber glass when we visit them. We ran the washer and dryer today and what a difference they are from the old ones.  So much quieter you don’t even know they are working. It is nice to have the ability to wash in the unit. Friends Russ and Candi called and wanted to go out to eat at Smokey D’s BBQ, we did and it is a great place to eat. When In Des Moines stop and eat at http://www.smokeydsbbq.com/.

Tuesday, Sarah had two doctor appointments the first was at the orthopedic surgeons, he said she could get rid of the crutches and go to a cane, he said the fracture doesn’t show any clear bone growth but he is not seeing anything that isn’t good news so Sarah has an appointment on October 5^th. Next we went to the worker comp doctor and he gave Sarah the same instructions, get rid of the crutches and go with a cane. So we went and bought one and Sarah seems to like it much better than the crutches. We received a call from long time friends Orren and Norma; they wanted to go out to eat, so we did. We went to Fuddruckers, we split the Nacho’s and some onion rings this turned out to be way too much to eat but I did make a good dent in it.

Today was laundry day. We are still waiting for the call from Omaha saying get over her the baby is on the way. So I took the towels and clothes over to the laundry and Sarah did the whites with our new washer, but we got it done. I wanted to have it done so when the call comes we can have clean clothes.  This afternoon we sat outside with the neighbors and visited, it was great.

This past weekend the local Lion's Club held a cow pasture golf day.

A week ago I saw the owner on a tractor mowing the pasture for the golf outing. They cut holes for each of the eighteen flags to go in and then on last Friday there was an army of guys with riding lawnmowers cutting out the fairways and greens. Here are a couple pictures:

I hope they had other facilities on the course than this one, a person would lose all sense of modesty with this one wouldn't they.

This last picture shows the 13th hole and behind it to the right of the road is a pond that tells me if you over shoot the hole and the ball lands in the water you better not go get it.

Now some pictures of the campground starting with our camper and truck:

We are having a great time in them and look forward to many years of such.

More pictures of the campground;

This is the front of the newer clubhouse, on the right is the laundry area, the middle door is the game room and  the way to the showers and the door on the left is the club room.

The back of the clubhouse.

then we have the moose and the bear.

I like this picture, but it was difficult to get the eagle to sit still to take this picture.

Anyway this is a beautiful campground and I would recommend it to anyone needing a place to stay in the Des Moines area.

Well that is it for today remember Dream Do Come True.