November 2016 - Maintenance Continues

November found us on a continuation of our "maintenance trip" in Indiana and Ohio but by the end of the month we did finally make a turn south. http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5847367115341824

When we left off last month we were back in Decatur, IN to finish up with REV (American Coach’s service facility). On our last trip to Decatur we ordered two manual awnings…..To explain the two, our coach came from the factory with a Girard electric awning package, that actually is top of the line and pretty expensive. However, when something breaks repairs are also pretty expensive. In this case our bedroom window awning motor had quit and after pricing just the motor at $1200, plus $240 labor for install. To heck with that! Remove the entire electric awning and replace with a manual. The other?  For a long time I wanted to get a manual window awning over the living room window next to my chair. This window always relied on the main patio awning to shade the window, but because of the height above the window and its configuration it just didn’t do a very good job of shading. I must say the factory did a very nice job in the retrofit from electric to manual as the two different awnings were from entirely different manufacturers and were completely different.  Now we only have one electric window awning left and will likely replace it with  a manual in the future. This whole event only took a couple days but we were in no hurry to leave so as our next appointment would not be until the coming Monday so we camped in REV’s parking lot campground  through the weekend.

Finally, on Monday the 7^th, we hooked up and prepared to head to our next appointment destination. This was a short 40 mile drive to Cruising American in Celina, OH. Here we met with owner Kevin Mallory for yet a bit more work….lol. Kevin doesn’t have a website but he has an outstanding shop. He and his sidekick were both techs at the

American Coach Factory for many years and they really know their stuff. Our main reason for this stop was to have our tank gauges changed out. We decided to go with SeaLevel Tank Gauges from https://www.garnetinstruments.com/rv-shop/ 

This install removes all gauges from the inside of your tanks and places the new electronic sensors to the outside of the tanks…..They work great!

Remember I said that was our main reason to visit Kevin but when you have an RV, there are ALWAYS additional repairs that need to be completed….lol! Unfortunately when we left Auburn, IN another fix-it project added to our list - while we were pulling in the living room slide we blew out an upper slide seal..ugh So guess what else were having looked at. We were a bit concerned because that is a major seal on the slide. However, upon inspection by Kevin he determined it was actually the sweep seal as opposed to the slide seal. Easier to fix and less money! Unfortunately, that is apparently a proprietary seal from the factory and Kevin was not able to order one. This could have been a big problem but remember we were only 40 miles from Decatur. Susan and I jumped in the truck and made a quick trip back to the factory to buy the seal allowing Kevin to continue to work.  Day One work with Cruising America started on the 8th - tank gauges prepped for install, seal purchased and planning for completion by the end of Day Two.
But the fun didn’t stop there. We pulled out of the bay to park for the night and relax…..Oh, no - this was Election day and the night was young. I vowed to stay up to see the winner announced and  I was not alone! Many of my Face Book friends were awake with me. AS the results came in we were rapidly typing back and forth posting our thoughts and opinions. Most of us made it to the final

results but  my dear wife Susan gave up about 0130. I sure missed her because she had spent the evening working the internet getting updates while I was keeping track of the news on FOX and CNN and posting our combined intel. We make a heck of a team.  Once the election was called, I finally got to bed about 0320. The night was long but it was worth it, at least until the alarm went off at 0700.

Day Two pretty much took the entire day to complete guage install and replace the sweep seal. It may have completed a bit earlier BUT before they said we were done I came up with another little project. I decided to have them install another electrical outlet so that I could plug in the new electric recliner that we would be picking up in a few days. You know it’s the important things in life. Kevin was gracious enough to allow us use of his parking lot one more night. Thank you Kevin for outstanding quality work! Hopefully we are done with repairs for awhile.  

Too many cars to pick just one!

On departing Kevin’s we headed BACK NORTH as we have furniture to pick up and a roof to get repaired. However, we do have a couple days to burn so we decided it was time for a little fun. We stopped back at Fireside Resort http://www.firesideresort.com/  in Auburn Indiana. There were still a few things we wanted to see in Auburn, most especially the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum. http://www.automobilemuseum.org/#home.html.

All I can say about this place is WOW! If you in any way like cars and history, this is a car museum you have to see. Right behind this museum is the National Automotive and Truck Museum http://natmus.org/. Another outstanding museum dedicated to automotive history and a must see if you are in the area. Unfortunately, I was once again dealing with some pretty bad health issues and we were very much hampered in our walk around of all these fabulous cars. Thankfully we had all the time we needed, were not rushed and were able to take a few minutes to relax as we ambled through all the tires and steel. This was a fairly quick couple of days and we are once again rolling.

Almost mid-November and here we are back in Elkhart, IN and back at Mastertech RV. This time we are here so they can re-do our roof from the last visit. We don’t know what to expect, except they have assured us it would be taken care of. Because we arrived on Saturday and our apt was on Monday we had a little time to explore. What do you do in Elkhart, IN on a Sunday? You go visit Notre Dame University! That was one of the most beautiful campuses I think I have seen. It took us a bit of time to find the entrance and a parking spot, but there was virtually no one around and we took advantage of it. We didn’t walk around a whole lot, but the main grounds in front of the gold dome and the immediate surrounding buildings are really inspiring and almost breathtaking. The history and the architecture – if only the walls could talk. There is no doubt tons of Catholic Dollars have been dedicated to this facility. We pretty much spent the whole day on this site seeing adventure.

Awe inspiring!

Back to the coach and Monday (November 14^th) morning finds us up at 6 AM and in the shop once again. It didn’t take long and it was decided that we would once again be back in a hotel room – this time on Mastertech’s dime. Susan and I grabbed our travel bags, a few food items and we are on our way to our new home for a couple days.

Susan and I have decided to make the best out of every situation, and this is no different. We wake up Tuesday morning ready for another adventure as we were not far from Nappanee, IN, the home of Newmar Motorhomes - off to the Newmar factory for a tour. http://www.newmarcorp.com/ This was interesting for Susan and I for a couple reasons. 1. We owned a Newmar Mountain Aire motorhome before our current American Eagle and 2. We had seen the American factory so we could make some comparisons.  I was very impressed with the cleanliness and the way in which their line moved. There was very little chatter, or talking between employees which was odd, as the American factory was filled with music from radios all over the place and their employees talking, laughing and carrying on. I will say that while both are outstanding coaches, I was more impressed with the Newmar factory. It is hard to describe, but it was very professional, clean and well organized, the workers had such a routine that they almost seemed to be reading each other’s minds – it was that smooth.  

After a couple days in the hotel and another long day in a waiting room our coach is ready to go – again. I had made several inspections during the process this time and I can say it is finally right.

                          No time to waste as we have an appointment at

Getting ready for new furniture

Lambright’s to pick up the furniture we ordered last

The recliner really is full size - I assure you!

month.  Susan needed to get her couch as she had been sitting in a lawn chair for the past week  and really did not appear to be impressed…lol.  Lambright’s went off without a hitch. They helped install, made sure everything worked, made sure we were happy, took our money and poof, we were on the road again.

It had been a LONG day so we didn’t drive far but it is still after dark when we arrive at http://timberlinevalleyrvresort.com/. We didn’t get to see much as this was just a one night stop over but from what we were able to see we need to revisit this park. It was late when we pulled in but yet the staff was friendly and even escorted us to our site - always a nice bonus when arriving in the dark at a place you have never been before..

November 17, 2016 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOMINICK!

We celebrated Dominick’s birthday with a phone call full of well wishes for him and setting up for a few days of much needed rest for us at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY. https://www.thousandtrails.com/kentucky/diamond-caverns-rv-golf-club/
Our original plan when we started this whole new life back in August had been to spend three weeks here but maintenance stops and reworks had us pushing the days back and back again. All told we were only able to spend a week here but this is another place we will someday revisit.

We had a great time while here and I was able to get a couple of things accomplished that I had been wanting to do for a long time. We went to the Corvette Factory and Museum in Bowling Green, KY http://www.corvettemuseum.org/. The Corvette Museum and Factory is something I have always wanted to do. Susan and I have owned a couple different Corvettes over the years and will likely own another one someday. Seeing how they are made and the history of them was a lot of fun. “Man o man do I gotta get me one of them new C7 Z06’s! Yeah, I see one in my future…”

2007 Atomic Orange C6 ZO6 - Ok, this one was not in the museum but DAMN it's a nice 'vette and I'd love to have it back!

Did someone say there is a Cabela’s in Bowling Green?  Well yes there is and you know we had to visit there as well. Neither of us had ever seen a Cabela’s as small as this one and we were informed it is the smallest Cabela’s in the US - surprisingly it is only a couple of years old.

I was also able to treat Susan to a rare meeting of yet another cousin. You would be surprised at how few cousins she has actually met but the nomadic life of the Coast Guard did not often place us near family over the years. My cousin Shawn Ellis and his girlfriend, Becky Hoover, live only a couple hours from our campground and came to spend a day with us before we left Kentucky. I had not seen Shawn in probably 20 years or more so it was fun to catch back up. Shawn and I used to do some, uh fun stuff growing up…lol Probably safer to leave that right there. It was a great visit and “We really appreciate you coming by Shawn, let’s not wait so long next time.”

Susan’s highlight for November was the Mammoth Cave Domes and Dripstones tour https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/winter-schedule.htm.  All of the cave tours were not open because of time of year but the park rangers told us this was the best one and they were not kidding. Be advised though that if you are well grown (BIG) or have an issue with tight places you

probably want to skip this…  Some areas of the cave were pretty tight for us man size people and we had a couple in the group that were less than comfortable with the tightness of some of the places we had to go through.  At one point on this cave trip we were 500+ feet BELOW ground level. There are no elevators in this cave, so if you have an issue with stairs you probably don’t want this trip either.  Just remember if you go down 500 feet below ground level, you have to go back up!

Diamond Caverns has now come and gone as we put it in our rearview mirror and started our journey to see our daughter. After all, seeing our daughter and being a part of her graduation from Appalachian State University has been our goal for hanging out in this area anyway. Susan doesn’t like for me to drive very far in a day anymore and actually I am quite happy about this -so we break this 400 mile trip in half and stop for an overnight in Sevierville, TN at http://www.riversidecamp.com/. What a nice facility with tons of room. We really liked his place and we will be back for certain.

Before our journey even began back in August, I had made reservations for us to stay at Thousand Trails Forrest Lake in Advance, NC from November 23 – December 14, 2016. Unfortunately, this park is about two hours from where our daughter lives, but hey it is “free” for us and we like free… in case you are unfamiliar with Thousand Trails and I have not explained before – Thousand Trails  is a campground membership that we bought into a couple of years ago. We pay annual fees but are able to stay at parks all across the country virtually free.

Photos taken from Indian Springs web page

Anyway, I had Susan call ahead to make sure we were still set for our arrival only to be met with the dreaded words “we are not sure we will have a site large enough for you”, SERIOUSLY? Rather than stress, we decided we were not interested in going that far only to not have a spot so we frantically started looking for an alternate campground. AHHH did we find a diamond in the rough when we found Indian Springs Campground http://www.indianspringscampgroundnc.com/. in Hickory, NC. While this campground was not free like the one we were headed to - the price was very reasonable, they offer a 10% military discount and had we been interested we could have had the monthly rate for what our three week stay cost. The owners are outstanding – very friendly and they worked with us on short or rather no notice! The campground is small, quiet and secluded but close to the interstate making it easy to get anywhere we needed to go. It has large sites and is only an hour south of our daughter…..win, win, win.

As we get to Indian Springs Susan and I are very excited as we have not seen our daughter (Taskina)

Larry and Susan

since June, her graduation is right around the corner, and we get to spend Thanksgiving with her. So on Thanksgiving morning Susan and I get up, pack the food and head north up the mountain to Boone, NC and our daughter’s apartment for our Turkey Day Feast. That evening I needed to get back to the motorhome as there just isn’t enough room for ole dad in our daughter’s efficiency apartment but I did leave Susan as she had already planned to stay with Taskina for a couple weeks. OK, actually it was only 9 days, but man from my lonely motorhome it felt like a month! But she did stop by for visitations and on one of her visit days we had the pleasure of meeting up with Susan's Uncle Larry who had been in the mountains visiting friends. It is always good to see family!

I have to mention that within only a couple days of us leaving Sevierville, TN we were saddened to see the news of the fires and devastation in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area. Many campers, homeowners and businesses were evacuated. So very sad and our hearts and prayers go out to the homeowners and business owners that lost everything.

We survived November and before we knew it December was here. Hope to have December posted soon. However, it is New Year’s Eve and Susan has had this post in her possession for editing for over a month – she already has December in her documents as well, wonder how long before she has it ready for your reading pleasure? LOL – I, Susan, really wrote this last paragraph or he would be in deep trouble but as the editor I can put whatever I want and pretend he wrote it! Try not to blame Brett for the late entries – he is all ahead of the game, it is his editor who procrastinates!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!

October 2016 - MO and Away We Go

Oct 2^nd finds us leaving the homeland of Oklahoma and headed north to Susan's homeland and beyond on what we have decided to fondly refer to as our “maintenance trip” http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5860707770302464. Susan and I sat down prior to beginning this adventure and came up with a list of nice to haves and must haves for our new home. And this leg of the trip addresses mostly must haves. But first we must stop in Missouri and visit family.

After a short 9 hours we arrived at our Missouri destination, Long Branch State Park. This park means something to Susan as she grew up at this park and on this lake. It is also a park we have called home for a week every year since we have been married..BUT more importantly it is important to both Susan and I as this is the park we were married in back in 2005.

We honeymooned in her dad's camper - knew she was a keeper

We were lucky enough this time to be able to get the “old camp host” site at Long Branch which comes with full hookups and a bigger patio area. This helps as we almost always have many family members over to visit and eat. We stayed in Missouri for 14 days for relaxation and family time. The park was unusually full for this time of year and we found little time of just being alone…lol but it is always fun watching the campers come in and out. Our camp host this year was a blast. I think she had a crush on me but don’t tell Susan…lol

Dominick and Susan

Missouri was less hectic and a bit more relaxing than some of our previous trips. It is the first time we have had more than 5-7 days since probably 2006 - and we still did not have enough time to see everyone we wanted to see. However, we decided before arriving that we would not try to run all over to see everyone but rather we would remain more stationary, let family know where we were and let them come to see us. There were a few exceptions of course as Susan's uncle Squeek and her brother Richard were unable to travel much due to health - so of course we went to see them. Squeek did surprise us with a visit to the campsite, he had to make sure we didn't trade in and get a new rig again.

The weather was great for having company, walks around the lake, evening campfires and spending quality time with Susan's son Dominick. Jeff Kjellsen, (retired Coast Guard and friend), even took off early on a Friday to make the trip three hour drive from St. Louis to Macon just so we could catch up! It was a great weekend with lots of stories, laughter, good food and maybe a few sips of alcohol.  

We did experience one slight disaster on this leg of our journey…..I had gotten tired of continually buying new sewer hoses after only a couple months use so while we were in Oklahoma I ordered a new “expensive”  Waste Master Sewer Mgt System….. http://www.lci1.com/waste-master yep, bit name for a sewer hose but it should last for a few years. LOL Anyway I was finally able to use it in Macon for the first time and was excited. I think it is a DC thing. At some point during one of our nights it got pretty cold and very windy. I got up the next morning to check everything and found that my new expensive sewer hose had blown over next to the coach directly under the hot water boiler exhaust and the boiler had melted the top right out of the new hose…..lol Just can’t win sometime. Oh well (used a bit of DC ingenuity and it’s now spliced back together).

Leaving family is always hard, especially for Susan but we bid our farewells to our Missouri family  and headed to Decatur, IN for our first service appointment. Our motorhome was manufactured by American Coach and we thought, where better to have it serviced than by the people who made it? So early morning on the 16th we left Missouri in our rearview mirror and head further north to arrive in Decatur later that day. Our arrival to Decatur marked the start of our two week maintenance turnaround, or so we thought…lol 

REV Service Center in Decatur

Monday Oct 17th at 0600 we hand our coach to our maintenance tech Jim and our events began. We only had a couple of items on our list for repairs when started. Every morning at 0500 Susan and I would awaken and ready our home for Jim…lol and every afternoon sometime between 3-5 Jim would bring it back. We were able to go to take a factory tour which was really cool, except I was having a very bad health day and could barely move. But it was fun and even here we are meeting new friends, Andrew and Polly Maletta. This wake and break camp routine only lasted three days because we had to be in Charlotte, MI on the 19th for chassis service. Little did we know we would be returning to Decatur….

Wednesday October 19^th we left Decatur and headed to the Spartan Factory in Charlotte, MI where our chassis was built. This was scheduled to be a two day event, but nooooo... there is rarely a two day event that actually takes us just two days…lol. Spartan found a few more issues than we realized, hear those dollar signs rolling?? The most serious repair needed was a broken steering gear box. Luckily it was under a recall, can we say big $$$ savings? In addition to the repairs,  I had them install new Koni shocks on the front. The guys at Spartan were awesome and we once again met new friends in RVing, Leslie and Pat shared stories of their years as full timers and helped pass the days. Finally on the 24th Spartan says they are done and we are on our way after dark once again. No option to wait until morning as we had to be in Elkhart, IN that night for our appointment at MasterTech RV the following morning (October 25th). Goodbye Charlotte, heading south - at least a few miles south.

We arrive in Elkhart, IN about 2200 MasterTech RV for a new lifetime spray on roof. Tuesday, October 25th finds us up and ready to go by 0700. I am pretty excited about this!. This was supposed to be a 4 day event, but on the first day they say nope they can be done in two days. That’s cool as we are staying in a hotel during the completion of this work. What did I say before? There is rarely a two day event that actually takes us just two days!... LoL and it wasn’t this time either. 

Susan and I ended up checking in and out of the hotel more than a couple times.  This wasn't quite as planned and then the technician ran into some problems. I won’t get into the details except to say they had issues.

During the delays we took a drive to the Shipshewana area and I ended up ordering Susan a new double recliner couch and me a new electric recliner from Lambright Custom Chairs in Topeka, IN. http://www.lambrightcomfortchairllc.com/oc/profile?g=1715180 . Lambright's is a small company that specializes in 100% Amish made furniture. This was a fun experience working with Jeremiah Lambright. He actually worked with Susan and I with our measurements to insure the furniture would fit in our motorhome and would meet our needs. They did have furniture on the showroom floor but the sizes were not what we needed so we place an order for custom furniture to be picked up in mid-November. HE even worked with us on a timeline as it usually takes 8 weeks for a custom order, thank you sir.

On the 27th MasterTech told us we were ready to roll. Oh, if it was only that easy. You know me, of course I had to look at the work before we left and after inspection I determine the work is well below sub-par. Hmm... well, I talked to the owner and he got on the roof and agreed, it was not a quality product and he wants to schedule a return visit for him to personally supervise the work.  

We did go ahead and leave Elkhart (but scheduled a return) and finally got to relax and get out of parking lots and waiting rooms. We headed to Auburn, IN to meet a good friend from the Coast Guard. We will just call him Boz and his wife Tina….I have not seen Boz since I retired in 2014 and Boz is now retired as well. But even after all that time it was like we had talked just yesterday. We all sat that evening and visited and shared a spirit or two or three…..wow then it was 0200…lol

This place is AWESOME!

Saturday met us with a new experience, right behind the RV park, http://www.firesideresort.com/ was a museum. Not only a museum, but a military museum and a classic car museum. It was incredible. It housed some priceless cars like the Original Dukes of Hazzard car, the original Batmobile, the original KITT and the original A-Team van, among many, many others. Oh but there  was more, wagons and buggies…..some of the most beautiful horse drawn wagons and buggies you have ever seen. We ended up spending several hours in this place. Who would have thought out here in the middle of no where. http://www.nationalmilitaryhistorycenter.org/home.html If you are ever in the area this is one cool place to see and Veterans are only $4 admission.

Other interesting museums in Auburn include:
http://www.automobilemuseum.org/#home.html; http://www.fordv8foundation.org/; http://natmus.org/

The day and the weekend ended way to soon and Sunday it was time to say goodbye to Boz and Tina as they are headed to NC and we headed BACK to Decatur…lol

Sunday October 30^th we arrive back in Decatur, IN at the coach factory. The parts they ordered the first time we were here had arrived and now for the install…As always this took longer than desired and they didn’t get done until Thursday….What the heck, Susan and I decided we would just stay right there in their parking lot until Monday….lol  Our next destination was not until Monday and in Celina, OH and it was only a 40 mile drive.

Needless to say in October we were VERY busy. We were able to visit family and friends and spend more than half a month camping in parking lots and waiting rooms…..and a hotel with a hot tub and pool…lol Fortunately even with all of our delays we were never late, the good thing about having no schedule… See you next month in....

September 2016 - Took us two months to leave Texas... but we finally made it to OK

Found a great way to share our route and will try to include a link to it every month so everyone can follow along to see how much or how little we have traveled in the previous month. The link for our September travels can be found here: http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5841379905765376

Susan and I left Lake Conroe on the 31^st of August and headed to Thousand Trails Bay Landing http://www.rvonthego.com/texas/bay-landing-rv-campground/ in Bridgeport, TX. We found that park to be nice; it was very large with huge sites.

Unfortunately, there were only a few full hookup sites and we ended up in one with 30 Amp electric and water only. Now take a rig of our size that’s total electric AND combine that with Texas summer temperatures -  it takes some juggling of ACs and appliances to make 30 Amps work, but we did. With electrical limitations, this park would be best to visit in late fall, winter and early spring. No major sightseeing as Susan was still recovering but we did enjoy a nice quiet day sitting in lawn chairs at the lake and a nice seafood meal at the clubhouse. Everyone at the clubhouse was very friendly. The pool was closed for repairs which did greatly disappoint Susan. However, we would easily recommend this park, just be wary of the electrical issue and no sewer hook ups. We did make it work for the time we were there and only triped the breakers a couple of times.
On the 5^th of September we departed for our next stop at Thousand Trails Lake Texoma (http://www.rvonthego.com/texas/lake-texoma-rv-campground/ )near Gordonville, TX. On arrival we found a good spot backed up to a big pond with full hookups and plenty of shade.

We thought all was good UNTIL (there seems always to be an UNTIL) I walked outside only to be greeted by the ranger who said “Mr. Wickett we are going to have to ask you to leave the park” Now mind you we had been there less than 30 minutes. I looked at the ranger with probably a very strange face, “Excuse me?” She proceeded to tell me that I had been seen by a park employee throwing bags of trash out on the side of the road when we were “stopped” right after coming through the gate to unhook our truck. My first thought was WTH” followed by “Now wait just a second.” I agreed that we had stopped to unhook the truck and agreed there were two small bags of trash laying on the ground. I told her that I had even started to pick them up to throw them away until I discovered they had dog poop in them - and I wasn’t going to pick up someone else’s dog doo!

She agreed that the bags had dog poop in them but said the employee specifically saw me throw them out….LOL I kinda laughed and said “Ma’am that would be impossible as we don’t even own a dog and have no pets of any kind but you are free to explore our coach if you would like to verify.” This rather upset me from the get go as I am a responsible camper and always strive to leave a park in as good or better condition as I found it. For me to have two bags full of dog poop would be more odd than me throwing them out on the side of the road…lol She gave me a funny look, apologized and indicated she would talk to the employee who “saw me throwing out trash” immediately. You just can’t make this stuff up! Aw we start off good…lol

We were only at Lake Texoma for a week, but it was a very nice and relaxing week. Susan and I took several long walks and “swam” about every day. Ok, I swam and

One of two pools at Lake Texoma

Susan walked around in the shallow area as the doctor recommended she not submerge for a while longer. Now the swimming was good because it was a huge pool and except for one other couple there was no one there and we had it to ourselves. The other couple, Randy and Debra LaBrash, were very nice, we stay in contact with them still and will be camping with them in March in Arizona. We would again recommend this park, there are several 50 Amp full hookup sites and all the 50 Amps we saw would accommodate large rigs. There are MANY 30 Amp full hook up sites but most of those are either too short or too hard to get into with a big rig, so beware if going there. Side note, I was very proud to see this park flying the flags of our military services EXCEPT the Coast Guard……ugggh

All of the short hops and continual TX stays were because of the earlier issues I spoke of, but also because we had an appointment at http://www.mcdinnovations.com/ to replace all of our old string day/night shades in the coach with new, modern, string-less day/night shades. This was something we were really looking forward too and if you have ever had a coach with the old string shades you can certainly understand. We arrived at MCD on Sept 11th  for our appointment for the 12th.

MCD was outstanding! They had us a parking spot with 50 Amp power all ready for our arrival and right on schedule on Monday morning they came out and began the process. The first day was nothing but measuring all of our windows as the shades are custom built while you wait. Day two and three was nothing but waiting on manufacture and day four was the install.

It was pretty uneventful just sitting there in the parking lot camping and waiting. Well, not just waiting - we did have company too. Jeff and Karen (Susan's brother and his significant other) who live about 45 minutes away in Grapevine stopped by to visit and invited us out to dinner.

We also had a visit from Randy and Debra - the couple we met at the swimming pool at Lake Texoma. They decided to stop in and check things out and they ended up ordering new shades for their coach before they left.

We have been wanting new shades for years and - oh, but the wait was worth it. We LOVE our new window shades…… The install was actually completed by about noon on Thursday, but we didn’t have to be at our next destination in Oklahoma until Friday afternoon so we decided to spend one more free parking night before leaving to head to the big OK.

Mid morning on Sept 16^th we said our farewells to the MCD parking lot and began our trip to the motherland…..yep, Oklahoma here we come. It was an uneventful, and relatively short drive up to the Sallisaw KOA in Sallisaw, Ok http://koa.com/campgrounds/sallisaw/?utm_source=power-listings&utm_medium=yext-partner&utm_content=website-link&utm_campaign=Yext- our home for the remainder of the month. This campground is right off of I-40 which makes it a great place for a quick stop when traveling. Rates are reasonable and they do offer a weekly as well as a monthly rate for anyone interested in sticking around like we do.

HOWEVER, we were in OK and OK has bad storms and yes we were greeted with one of these….We had made plans to go to a HS football game the night we arrived to town and arranged to meet cousins there. Well we got there, got into the stands and all hell broke loose so we all ran to the truck and sat there for an hour until the wind and rain subsided (the game was delayed), then we said to heck with it and we went to a cousins house and visited. When we arrived back at the KOA there were many limbs down and my big flagpole was hanging from the tree, but no apparent damage to any rig….lol WELCOME HOME BRETT.

#1 Cousins 

We had MUCH to do in Oklahoma while we were there and believe it or not, we got it all done and still had time to visit with some wonderful cousins 
and even take time for a very nice motorcycle ride with cousin Kelly and her husband Ross. Susan and I had pretty much laid out our plans for our attack on OK prior to our arrival as one event hinged on another. But during our visit we had to change the registration on the truck, motorcycle and motorhome, get new OK vehicle tags,  get new drivers licenses, go to the VA to get set up in OK, get a tax exempt card, get our passports, get my concealed carried license and apply for a handicapped mirror tag….Believe it or not, nearly every event had a story and a specific order, but we still got it all done. OK has to be about the most backward state I have had to deal with, and most of their stuff cannot be done online.

Love seeing her happy!

Oh yea, did I mention we also had time to take my mom to Tulsa and she bought a new motorhome so she could meet us from time to time……Yeaaaaa! I won’t bore you with all the little details, but it was a very busy couple of weeks. We were very glad to get to spend time with my mom, my Aunt and Uncle Raymond and Louanne and cousins Kelly, Deloris, Memorie and Jennifer (all sisters) and some of the finest people I could ever have in my life, even though one of them caused me to NOT have GRITS for breakfast….:-) I love ya’ll beyond belief, thanks for always being there…..NO WAIT, two of them were NOT there when we hauled our furniture to OK to put in storage...BUT.. oh, nevermind - lol!

 And then just like that, October 2^nd had arrived and we had to get on the road again continuing our northern trek. Missouri here we come.

August 2016 - The Journey Begins - It was a slow start

When I retired in 2015 Susan and I knew our days as sticks and bricks homeowners were coming to a crossroad with many decisions to make. We had long talks, we began making plans and in August 2016 after selling everything we could sell and boxing up the rest for storage we were ready to hit the road.

These ladies helped make the day go by with lots of fun and laughter

We put everything into storage on July 31st.                                                 Thanks to my wonderful cousins Memorie and Deloris for helping us unpack the moving truck, my truck and the 16 foot flatbed which we had loaded for bear!

It would have taken forever for Susan and me to have moved everything on our own.

We knew the first few months were going to be challenging but we were ready for yet another chapter to our life.

Our beloved BS Duck Ranch

We left our home in Iola, Texas on the 10th of August and headed a short distance to Thousand Trails Campground, on Lake Conroe, Texas. Susan had given her notice to her employer but still had a few days committed to Huntsville. We also had to wait for the closing on our house and attend to some medical issues. The house closed on August 12^th and Susan had her surgery the following week on August 17^th.  We remained at Lake Conroe until the end of August to be close to doctors should they be needed during her recovery.

If you remember from our last entry I gave a big thank you to Bill and Mary and said that story was for later…… It is now later and here is the story:

Shortly after our arrival to Lake Conroe we were walking and noticed a new motorhome with a Coast Guard license plate pull into the campground. Coast Guard plates are not seen very often in the Conroe area so we stopped and said hello. Bill and Mary were just arriving so we didn’t talk long, but we learned that Bill had been in the Coast Guard some years ago – it was an instant bond of shared service. We didn’t have the chance to talk to them again until the day Susan and I were leaving. Literally as we were getting ready to pull out, Bill and Mary stopped by to say hi. We talked for a few minutes and I asked where they were headed next. Bill replied they had a few stops before heading to Decatur, Indiana. What a coincidence – us too! We of course have our American Eagle and they have a Fleetwood Discovery – the factory that built both coaches is in Decatur, Indiana. Further conversation found that both our appointment and theirs was for the same day, October 17th and we would all be arriving on the 16th. We had a good laugh and just like that we had met new friends we would see again in a month and a half. In the time since we met, Bill and Mary have become really good friends.

As you can see, we didn't make it very far in August. Not only did we not leave Texas, we didn't travel more than an hour away from Iola until we left Lake Conroe on August 31st.

Background - Leading up to the Dream

I would like to thank some very good friends for encouraging us, assisting with the creation of this blog which provides us an avenue to share our stories. Many thanks to Bill Garcia-Godoy and Mary Olson! There is actually a story to share about them that I will get to another time, but let us focus on the steps we have taken to prepare our RV and make it our home.

Leading Up to the Dream...

For as long as I can remember I have had the dream of driving an RV around the country and seeing everything that surrounds us. Susan and I bought our first motorhome together in 2007 and the beginnings of our new adventure had begun even if only on weekends and vacations. Now leap ahead several years and a handful of motorhomes…..lol yes a handful, we arrived at a 2007 American Coach Eagle 45H and we had found home, for now….lol and the journey really began.  Right off the bat we knew that if we were going to live in this rig we needed some updates so my adventure began, remodel, remodel, remodel. It wasn’t bad as I had retired and Susan seemed to think I had tons of time on my hands…lol One of the first things we knew was that we needed a larger refrigerator and wanted to switch to a full residential, so out with the old 11 cubic foot and in with the new 21 cubic foot Kitchen Aide.

 

Then we decided we didn’t want any carpet...

... so out with the carpet and in with new hardwood flooring everywhere we didn’t have heated tile.

Floor work completed by:

Ernie Ekberg RV Flooring, Weatherford, TX

We also decided to take out one of the couches so that I could have a recliner.       

Oh but then my dear wife says hey I don’t have any place for my baking pans could you make something, why of course I can.  So I find some Cherry lumber and go to work....     

Then she says, "Hey, if we didn’t have to lay our dishes flat we could save some room" ….. I can fix that too….  

Ah, but next it is my turn and I say "The only thing we have that still runs off of propane is the cooktop, wouldn’t you like to have a true-Induction cooktop?"

Getting ready for true-Induction

Recessed true-Induction cooktop has been installed

Waalaa - out comes the gas top and in with the new cooktop.     

And just like that I had struck again.

But Nooo - it can’t stop there, we had a front TV that we didn’t watch, who needs more than one in the living room anyway.

Wickett storage cabinet and new front blinds

When you are looking to maximize storage, space is premium. So I said to my dear wife two simple words…….”trust me” and I went to work once again…lol   Behind the “Wickett” is a lockable door and a nice storage area….

In addition to all the above modifications, we also changed out all the incandescent lights and replaced with with LED lighting. (I think we had over 70 different bulbs to change) Bulbs bought from  http://www.cabinbright.com/. We also changed out our old cockpit curtains and installed new Levlour stringless blinds from Lowes.com.

Just prior to moving into the motorhome, we removed our old living room TV, rebuilt the TV cabinet and installed a new 46” with a Bose sound bar.

New mid-ship TV with sound bar

We have also removed the King mattress from our bedroom and I rebuilt the bed base so that we could install a new Queen memory foam mattress. This simple change gave us much more room to walk around in and now making the bed is much easier. I have gotten to the point I don’t even remember all the things we have done to make this our new home, but the list is much longer than seen here.  Anyway you get the idea and the last couple of years have been pretty busy getting ready for our new life.

Enough of the remodel, Let the Dream and the journey begin….