Rapid City, SD

We made it, actually yesterday was a beautiful day for driving. It is always windy up here and yesterday the wind was behind us giving us a bit of a tail wind. The 8.9 mpg wasn’t bad considering some of the hills we went had to climb.

It has been a while since my last post so here goes the catch up post.

We left Griff’s RV Park on April 29th and headed for West Omaha KOA, we arrived at 12:30, setup the camper, had lunch and headed into town to see the kids. As you may or may not know the reason for our visit, other than seeing the kids, was to attend the Berkshire-Hathway, BRK, stockholders meeting, I have a few shares, no not the A shares those are really out of my league. Anyway, if a person has at least one share of stock they are entitled to 4 tickets to the meeting. I enjoy going to see the vendors who come in for the event, these companies are all owned by BRK. Some of them sell products at the event with all the proceeds going to a local charity. Benjamin Moore paints sold teddy bears for $5 and the money went to Ronald McDonald’s House, DQ sold dilly bars and small blizzards for a dollar and all money went to a local charity. Of course I donate my share, I love dilly bars.

I wasn’t able to get the meeting shirt, they were all out of them. I did buy two shirts at the BNSF booth with Buffet and Munger’s picture on them.

River Forest RVs is one of the companies owned by BRK and each year they have a couple RVs at the meeting. This year they had three motorhomes, small, med and large. The class A was customized for the BRK meeting with the name Berkshire on the front and sides of the vehicle. I didn’t go inside, the line was to long.

I did buy the obligatory Warren Buffet peanut brittle at the See’s Candies area, I do enjoy it. Of course I bought some of their chocolate and some lollipops for the little ones. I don’t need the chocolate but it is really excellent candy.

BRK also owns NetJets a fractional air plane company, meaning you buy a fraction of the coast of the plane and it gives you X number of hours flying time on the plane. The cost is $8000 to $125,000 buy in, then there is a monthly cost and an hourly cost. I looked at the least expensive plane, flying time about 4 hours, it was $8000+ to buy in, then $1890 per month and an hourly fee on time of that for 25 hours a year flying time. Sounds expensive but I guess if you can afford a plane this is probably the best option unless you have billions like Bill Gates, who was there and we did see his plane parked on the tarmac.

It was a fun time and since I don’t know if we will get to the meeting next year I wanted to go to this one.

We left Omaha Monday morning about 8:30 and had a pleasant drive to Mitchell, SD. The campground I had wanted to stay at wasn’t open yet so we stayed at the KOA which hadn’t been open long. Not a bad place to stay if visiting the area but as with all KOA’s it wasn’t cheap.

We stopped in Mitchell to see niece Amy and family. Amy, Clancy, Maverick and Lilly moved from Huntsville, AL last year when Clancy took a job in Mitchell. We had a great visit but neglected to take any pictures. We will rectify that when we stop on our way back to Sioux Falls next week.

We left Mitchell about 8:30, I guess I am stuck on the same departure times but that is the way it goes. As I stated before we had a tail wind and had good fuel mileage. Our friends Mark and Sharon Brueck were in Sioux Falls Monday night on their way back to Rapid City, they called us when they got on the road and to make a long story short we met up with them at a truck stop at exit 152 on I-90. We had a great visit, ate a bit of lunch and they headed out, we will see them today. They have left Audrie’s B&B where they had worked for several years and have taken positions at Sheridan Lake campground, it is a federal park. It will be a nice change for them.

Here are a couple pictures of our drive over yesterday.

This was a rest stop with a great view of the river and valley.

No way was I going for a walk on this path, even though it was probably to cold for a snake to be out, my luck I would have come across one who didn’t own a thermometer.

We found Lake Park Campground and Cottages without incident and got set up in good time. Our site is next to the office and Laundromat. I was fortunate to be able to get satellite even with a big tree next to us.

Someone is good with a chainsaw, this is a one piece sculpture of the eagle and branch.

So we are here for a week, this campground is very pricey and the only reason we are here is because Daniel and family are coming in on Friday for a long weekend. In addition, Marie’s mom and dad and her brother and sister and their families will be here also. We were asked to join them and here we are.

The temps aren’t to bad, mid fifties today mid thirties tonight but it is always windy.

We are going over to see Mark & Sharon’s new digs today and the rest of the time we will see what gives.

Dreams Do Come True.

Getting Ready to Move

We are heading to Omaha Friday so I can go to the Berkshire-Hathway stockholder meeting. I enjoy going, not to hear Buffet but to see all the things his companies bring in to show the attendees. So with the departure utmost on Sarah’s mind we went into cleaning mode this morning. I have to admit I like the look of the camper after we get done. I dust and clean the counter tops with a cleaner we have and Sarah vacuums and double checks what I do. I still need to take some wood cleaner and go over all the wood in the place but if you have ever been in a camper there is a lot of wood to cover. I’ll have to see what the summer brings.

We haven’t done a whole lot since the last blog. We have been out to eat a lot with family and friends, I need to walk more. Sarah does get me out some but I need to do more, I just can’t get motivated, I suppose I need to get my MP3 player out and listen to music in one ear and Sarah in the other ear and then I would probably walk more. It isn’t that I don’t like walking with Sarah or walking period, I just need to feel like I am accomplishing something. Although, most of the time we do cover a lot of topics in our walks.

Last Friday Sarah and Cynthia, her sister, were going shopping, I was going to stay home but before Cynthia got out here Sarah cut her middle finger on her right hand and we tried for 45 minutes to get it to stop bleeding before we decided to go to the doctor. She has two stiches in the finger and next week I get to take the out. Now it isn’t that big of a deal to remove stiches, I did it as a medic in the service. Of course that was forty some years ago but I believe I will be able to do it with no adverse effects.

Here’s my bridefeeling very little pain. Of course the doctor numbed the finger and then, as you can see, she has one of several glasses of wine in her hand. So, yours truly, reverted back to the role of man slave and I took care of her for the next couple days until the pain went away. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t mind being at her beck and call, it gives me a chance to do all those things she does daily and won’t let me do. Anyway she is feeling better and so I let her do the vacuuming today. I believe we have the inside of the camper ready to roll, I have a few things to get done this afternoon and tomorrow but no hurry.

Stay tuned for our adventures this summer we will be going to Omaha, Rapid City, SD; Mitchell, SD; Sioux Falls, SD: Centerville, IA; Des Moines; Omaha; Kansas City; Centerville; Mt Pleasant, IA; Elkhart, IN; Chicago: Milton, WI; Green Bay, WI; Des Moines; Omaha and then head south to AZ. It will be a busy summer with our longest stay at anyone time will be in WI where Robert lives. With all this traveling I should be able to come up with a few pictures and things to write about. I guess we’ll see.

We have winds of 15 mph with gusts to 35 mph, so I may not get all of my chores done outside today. There is always tomorrow.

Till later – Dreams Do Come True

Today is windy, I need to reinstall the tire pressure monitors, Pressure Pro,

Rainy Day

It is raining here and the wind is blowing with gusts up to 35 mph, just a miserable day outside, but a perfect day to be inside and work on my to do list.

We went to Beloit, WI last Thursday to visit Robert, Sarah, Mason and Madyson, it was a lot of fun. The kids told us all about their trip to Disney World and showed us their picture albums. We sure enjoyed hearing about their trip. Friday Robert took off work so we were able to spend time with Madyson and him, then in the afternoon went and picked up Mason from kindergarten. I had a ball playing with the kids however I found out quickly I can’t play very long before they have me tuckered out. Of course if I would lose 50 lbs. I might be able to go a bit longer but I don’t have the energy or stamina I use to have. Must be old age.

Saturday we went to Madison, Sarah wanted some items from the beauty supply place. We picked up those items and then went to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse, Sarah and I split the pork chop dinner. I was impressed the chops had a very good flavor and were very tender. After eating we went over to the mall, I wanted to go to the Apple store to get a IPad but they were out. I expected as much but I figure I will keep checking and eventually I will be in the right place at the right time and get one, unless someone comes out with a tablet for the same price that will get my gmail the way I can on my laptop.

A couple of weeks ago I called around to find the best price I could on a set of four Michelin tires for the truck and the local Ford dealer had the best price on them. Then last week I took the truck in for an oil change and was told the transmission, transfer case, differentials and the power steering was not checked at the 30,000 mile check. Since we pull a heavy camper I wanted those items done, so today the truck is getting new tires and the other items serviced also. Sarah and I discussed it and decided we wanted to maintain a preventative maintenance routine on the truck to hopefully prevent as many mishaps on the road as possible.

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Beloit;

Madyson is the one in the black, she is at dancing, they are tapping. No, that isn’t a real tiger, but it is a big one. Ah swimming with dad. Robert and the kids came over to the hotel to swim.Coloring eggs for Easter.

That is all for now, remember Dreams Do Come True.

Griff’s RV Park, Altoona, IA

I can see out of the back window, we washed the camper on Wednesday the 5th. It took us about two hours, me using the brush and rinsing and Sarah washed the windows. The only problem we had  was I couldn’t reach high enough on the front of the camper to get all of the bugs off because I only had a four foot ladder, I have since bought an eight foot ladder. The other problem for the day was the wind, I was quite wet when we finished but we got it done and the camper really looks nice.

I took the Motorola Xoom back to Costco for a refund. It didn’t handle the Google email like I wanted it to and Sarah wasn’t liking it for that either, plus it was quite heavy. So I believe I will get an I Pad sometime this summer.

I rented a car for a trip to see my mother in Centerville. We were going to only go down for the day on Thursday but my sister, Colleen from AZ, wanted us to come down on Friday, spend the night at my other sister Tara’s house. So that is what we did and we had a great time.

Paul, Tara’s husband, Tara, me, Colleen and mother, Sarah took the picture.

We all went over to Tara’s Friday night and had pizza and played a game of Sequence. Since there was five of us one sat out while the other played. After a dozen or so games it turned out that Sarah was on the winning team each and every game, best of three. I told her to buy a lottery ticket.

Saturday we took Colleen back to the airport and Sarah’s sister Cynthia met us there. We had lunch and visited a bit. Then it was time to bid adieu to Colleen and we left her at the airport. I haven’t heard from her but I am guessing she got home or her husband would have been calling wanting to know where she was.

Sunday and Monday were breezy days with tornados in the NW part of the state. We had gusts up to 50 mph, it did shake up the camper a bit and I had the satellite dish down, luckily we can get the local channels on our regular TV.

Monday was a day for a couple of appointments, one was a dental appt for me. I was very happy to see my teeth have had no change since the last cleaning.

Tuesday, Sarah had a dental appt in the morning. We killed a bunch of time running errands and then I had an appt at the VA for my CPAP. I wanted to make sure I had the correct mask since I had gotten a new one. I was a bit early but was able to get right in. Larry, the VA person, tested my machine and asked me if I wanted a new one. My machine was 4 or 5 years old and losing some of it’s gusto. I told him sure I would take a new one, it is smaller and fits better by the bed. He asked if I wanted to keep the old machine for a spare because he was just going to throw it away. I said sure and left with two CPAPs. I used the new one last night and I did notice a difference in the performance of the machine. I am glad I went to see about the CPAP/.

Last night we went out to eat with good friends, Norma & Orren. We went to a new Mexican restaurant, well we had never been to it, and the food was very good and the portions were very generous. I don’t remember the name of it but it was good.

Today I took the truck into get the oil changed and a couple of other things checked on it. The dealer said I should get the transmission serviced, the power steering system checked, and the transfer case and differential all serviced, it would total a little over $600 dollars. So I have to make the decision if we want to get this done now or wait a while.

Tomorrow we rented a car and are going to WI to see Robert, Sarah and the kids. I am looking forward to having the kids tell me about their trip to Disney World. That will be fun.

For now, Dreams Do Come True.

Return to Des Moines

We left Salina, KS about 10 am on Sunday, Mar 27th, and had an uneventful trip to Smith Center, KS. I had been watching the weather and as often happens the snow, sleet and rain they forecasted did not materialize during our trip. We did get a dusting of snow Sunday night with a light covering of ice but all of it was gone by mid morning.

We backed up to one of the bay doors of the Excel service center and unhitched the truck and plugged in the camper. As you may recall from our last visit here the technicians pull the camper into the shop at 6:30 am so I had to have everything buttoned up before then.

I won’t go into all the details of what work was done on the camper, the removing of the old dryer vent and the fiber glassing over the hole was the major issue to be taken care of and Jim, the technician, did a magnificent job of filling in the hole. All the items on my list were taken care of with the same professionalism we experienced in our visit last November. Thank you Jack and your crew.

We left Smith Center last Thursday, yes I know Sarah it was only suppose to be a two day visit and you wanted to get to Omaha to see the grandkids. We had a rainy trip to Omaha but we did finally get to the KOA in Gretna a bit after noon, unhooked, set up the camper and headed for the kids house. Of course our main goal was to see the grandkids, especially Eli to see how big he has become.

This picture rivals any picture I have ever seen taken by a professional photographer. This picture was taken by Eli’s mother Marie, who I believe could be a professional photographer, she is that good.

We had a great visit with the kids. Emily and Isabel are getting big also. Emily reminds me of my grandmother Ertz, because were playing Chutes and Ladders and Emily cheats just like grandma did at cards. It was funny and Isabel copies what Emily did so I didn’t stand a chance of winning, but I had a lot of fun.

I did buy Sarah a Motorola Xoom tablet pc at Costco, it is a neat item but it won’t let you access your gmail contacts in conjunction with gmail so I am going to take it back today and look for an alternative to it. I want Sarah to have something she can easily use and be able to do her emails, web browsing and read her books so we are going searching today.

We are back at Griff’s RV Park in Bondurant, IA on the NE side of Des Moines. We will be here for the month of April and then we are on the road again. We do have a couple of side trips while we are here and I am renting a car for them. A trip to see my mother in Centerville and a trip to Wisconsin to see the grandkids up there. So our only full weekend we spend here in April will be Easter weekend.

As I am writing this I look out the back window and can’t see anything for all the dirt on them. I guess I will have to get out and wash the windows. This week and next are for doctor appointments etc. and some reacquainting with friends.

So until later – Dreams Do Come True

On the Road Again

Friday morning we weren’t in any hurry to get going, it was going to be a trip of only 139 miles. We were at the Oasis RV Park in South Haven, KS, you can see the park from the interstate exit. Now the GPS told me to turn right at the exit and even though I could see the park on the left I turned right and of course I should have turned left. I trusted the GPS, I will dig deeper into the directions from now on. Actually that is the first time it has been wrong in finding a RV park. The park is ok for an overnight stop but not long term, showers and laundry room are the only amenities and nothing else. So we left about 9:30, I don’t like going through large towns except during the middle of the day. We did opt to run the toll way, $3.75 for the 40 mile trip. There was some construction in Wichita but other than that we had a good ride.

We arrived at the KOA in Salina, KS about 12:40 pm, got to our site and set up. We drove into Salina, it seemed that all the businesses were located on ninth street, the street we were on, this was later verified by the campground host. Salina isn’t a very big town, 47,707 but it does have some old homes. If you are interested, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salina,_Kansas#History, this link gives a nice history of the town. I didn’t realize it had an air force base here back in the fifties and sixties. Anyway we will be here until tomorrow Sunday, when we continue our trek north to Smith Center, KS, then on to Omaha.

Because of the great Southern cooking I have been eating I am forced to curtail my culinary exploits and eat at home more frugally. So those of you who have commented about the amount of food news in the blog will be disappointed. Although last night we had pizza, the park here cooks Hunt’s pizza and it was very good. Ok that is the last of the food comments. Unless something good comes up.

Till later – Dreams Do Come True

Dallas, TX Area

Thursday.
We arrived at Hidden Cove Park Marina in The Colony, TX. At one time this was a Texas State Park but was sold to a private company. It is a very nice park but there are a few things they could do to enhance the camping experience, at least from my perspective and style of camping. The most important is the sewer hookups, not all sites have them, the PCV pipe is not buried deep enough to give a “normal” hookup.
The entrance is padlocked at 10 pm but you are given a code to the padlock if you come in after 10, why not install the key pad gate entrance or card reader, I suppose cost is a factor. The sites are fairly easy to get into and you are not sitting on top of the adjacent site. The Marina part comes from being on Lake Lewisville, it has a lot of fishing but from what I hear is primarily a boating lake.
Friday
Wal Mart was on the agenda today, we didn’t need many items but it always seems we take a trip to Wal Mart whenever we park for a few days. I guess we are always needing something.
Bill & Mable came to Dallas today to see some friends and they stayed the night at Teresa’s before joining their friends for the weekend. We went to eat at a Greek restaurant, I don’t remember the name, but the food was great. We got back to the campground just before they were going to lock the gate, so I didn’t get to try out my combination lock skills. I remember they weren’t too good in high school.
Saturday
Dallas Arboretum, if you are ever in the Dallas area this is a must visit. I am not a garden person but the flowers in this place are spectacular, tulips were in bloom when we were there, roses are coming up next I would love to see those. The different color of tulips was amazing, I did not realize there were that many different color of tulips.


Sunday
Cowboy Stadium is another must see in Dallas, regardless if you like the Cowboys or Jerry Jones this is a fabulous facility. We spent a couple of hours touring the place, the screen above the field is HUGE, I have seen it on TV but to see it in person gives a whole different perspective.

This is the tunnel through which the Cowboys enter the field.
Of course we have to have a picture of the cheerleaders.
Ray Roberts Park was our next stop for the day. This is still a state park and in many ways is much better than Hidden Cove and much cheaper. They have no sites with sewer, water and electric only, so most every camper had a blue boy underneath them. The sites were a bit closer together but they were still far enough apart to be private. They were all back ins and all of them had an iron pole to hang a lantern.
Monday
The Original Pancake House, http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/index.html. The signature Apple pancake is fabulous, it could pass for a desert, I would put some cinnamon vanilla ice cream on it.
Red Building Museum, http://www.oldred.org/, is the old courthouse used until it was outgrown and a new one was built across the street. I found it very interesting, we watched three videos each giving a different piece of history and then the exhibits in the area of the video gave more detail of that particular time. We didn’t get to see everything but what I did see was worth the price of admission.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, http://www.jfk.org/, is all about the Kennedy assassination and having lived through that period of time I found it very interesting in that there were aspects I had not heard before. A must visit for anyone in the Dallas area.
Tuesday
We had lunch with Beth & Ken, my youngest brother Larry’s sister-in-law, we stayed with them last March on our way to Mission, TX to pick up our truck. We ate at Stan’s,http://www.stanslakeview.com/, they have very good food, I had the shrimp Po-Boy and while it was good it wasn’t as good as Bubba’s in Thibodeaux, LA.
Wednesday
Today we went to the post office, Wal-Mart, Sally’s and gas station, then home for lunch. I I talked with Larry and Kathy and they told me Brad, nephew, was named Coach of the Year, http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/All-HE-Hoenig-032311, congratulations Brad and all the girls on the team.
Our campsite here is good except for the sewer hookup, Have you every seen anything like this. There is no way to secure the hose from the camper to the sewer pcv pipe so I tried taping it to keep the hose from coming out. I didn’t do a very good job because it leaked bad, thankfully I only had the gray water tank valve open so the only thing that went onto the ground was laundry water. I am going to unhook everything this afternoon and then dump the black water, toilet, tank tomorrow at the dump station before we leave the campground.
Other than that this has been a very nice park.

We have had a great time down south this winter but now it is time to head for the north, a stop at the factory for a repair of the old dryer vent hole, Omaha to see the kids and finally Des Moines to visit with family and friends and go to a few appointments. May will begin another series of road trips and new adventures.
Dreams Do Come True.