And so we sit, waiting for the weather to improve when we will head out for Nebraska.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012, Cheyenne Wyo.
Having considered the weather, both here in Cheyenne, and in Nebraska, we decided to stay here last night, and then remain here at least until later this afternoon, hoping the wind will die down and the tornadoes will go away in Nebraska. This is an example of what we are contending with here in Wyo., and people wonder why people don't camp in Wyo. in April!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012 Rock Springs, Wyoming
Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and after what we went through, I am beginning to be superstitious. We had spent the last week in Salt Lake City Utah, attending a home missions conference and graduation ceremony at Salt Lake Baptist College. We got to spend time with old friends, and make many new friends. All in all, we had a great time. The conference ended Thursday evening and after taking friends to the airport, we made it back to the church where we parked our RV for the week. We also made it back just in time to discover that we both had encountered a case of intestinal malfeasance. Since there were several others who attended, we concluded that something in the previous evenings menu contained the culprit with evidence pointing to the cantelope being the bad player.
We managed to get things packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed up the road on I-80 towards Wyoming. I was not comfortable at all, and after about 3 hours of driving, we pulled into the Flying J in Rock Springs Wy, to spend the night. After a very uncomfortable night, with little sleep, we are both feeling a little bit better today and after putting things away, and taking a hot shower, we will be heading east in I-80 towards Nebraska, specifically Pender NE.
I decided, after looking at my Blue Ox, Aventa tow bar, that a side trip to the Blue Ox factory was in order. We bought the tow bar in 2004, and have about 70000 miles of towing on it. That plus some winter snow and salt, have led me to conclude it needs some TLC from the factory. Blue Ox reportedly has a nice campground at the factory where we can stay while having the service done, so we will make the trip, and then be able to report on our experience.
This morning, I woke up to snow falling outside. Apparently the snow in our high altitude is part of a larger system that is raining in Nebraska and causing tornadoes in Oklahoma. Thanks to our friend Jim for pointing that out, and naturally, we will keep a close eye on the weather as we travel.
We managed to get things packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed up the road on I-80 towards Wyoming. I was not comfortable at all, and after about 3 hours of driving, we pulled into the Flying J in Rock Springs Wy, to spend the night. After a very uncomfortable night, with little sleep, we are both feeling a little bit better today and after putting things away, and taking a hot shower, we will be heading east in I-80 towards Nebraska, specifically Pender NE.
I decided, after looking at my Blue Ox, Aventa tow bar, that a side trip to the Blue Ox factory was in order. We bought the tow bar in 2004, and have about 70000 miles of towing on it. That plus some winter snow and salt, have led me to conclude it needs some TLC from the factory. Blue Ox reportedly has a nice campground at the factory where we can stay while having the service done, so we will make the trip, and then be able to report on our experience.
This morning, I woke up to snow falling outside. Apparently the snow in our high altitude is part of a larger system that is raining in Nebraska and causing tornadoes in Oklahoma. Thanks to our friend Jim for pointing that out, and naturally, we will keep a close eye on the weather as we travel.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012 Salt Lake City, Utah
Whew!!! It has been almost a week since my last post and have we been busy. Since my last post, we have traveled from Phoenix, up to Las Vegas, and then on to Salt Lake City, Utah, where we are presently located. We had a great time in Phoenix, getting together with folks we haven't seen in far too long. It is a wonderful thing to have a great family, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with family members.
On Thursday morning, we met up with friends from northern NY who flew into town on business. We had a great time at breakfast with Bruce and Jill and the girls and appreciate them taking time out from their business to spend time with us.
Thursday afternoon we left Phoenix with sad hearts. We love the warm weather, the sunny skies and the great times we had, but our schedule was looming and off we went. Our stop that night was Las Vegas, at the KOA located by Circus Circus.
This was our first experience at camping in downtown Las Vegas, and it was certainly interesting. Somehow we got the address of the KOA entered into the GPS wrong and ended up driving the coach down some dark and narrow streets. Just as we were about to panic, I saw the yellow KOA sign and we were saved. The campground is mostly blacktop with full hookups. The "sites" are large enough, but close together as is typical for KOA. The big draw of course, is the proximity of the casino. After getting registered and set up, we walked across the parking lot and into the casino for dinner. We went to the buffet and ate way more than we should have, especially from the dessert bar. After that we walked around inside and outside. We were sitting and watching the crowd go by when a ruckus sounded above our head. To our surprise, there was a flying acrobat show starting right over out head.
We just sat there watching as the acrobats flew through the air. Kind of neat as an unexpected surprise. After that, we walked back to the coach and went to sleep as we had driven a long way that day and we were tired.
The next morning we broke camp and took off heading north towards Utah. It was during this drive that we got to see scenery that has to rate as the most beautiful and awe inspiring I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, my camera cannot do justice to the scenery. You will just have to see it for yourself. Trust me though, it is worth the drive.
Also unfortunately, our Jeep continued it's slide into oblivion. Maybe, just maybe it's time to think about replacing old reliable. With about 195000 miles on the odometer, and another 80000 being towed, things just don't work as well as they used to. Friday afternoon, as we were driving up I-15, a passing car honked and waved at us, pointing toward the back of the motorhome. I looked in the rearview monitor and to my surprise, there was smoke billowing out of the hood of the jeep. I immediately pulled over, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and ran back to the car. I raised the hood and realized that the smoke was from hot oil smoking from the front differential, and the smoke was slowing down, rather than growing. I climbed under the car and saw that there was some kind of problem with the drive shaft. I pulled out the tool box, and removed the front drive shaft. On the jeep, the front wheel drive mechanism has a transfer case that sends power to the front wheels through a driveshaft. When I pulled out the driveshaft, I noticed that the pinion gear on the end was missing. I then removed the back cover from the differential and there was the gear, laying on the bottom of the case, with some parts slightly bent.
With the gear removed, I reinstalled the cover, added some 90 wt. gear lube, and stuffed a tennis ball into the hole where the driveshaft used to be to keep the oil from splashing out. After that, we continued on our way to the Nephi Utah Flying J, our original destination. We pulled in there after dark and crashed for the night. It had been a looooooong and stressful day.
In the morning, we woke up and I took the pups outside to take care of business and saw yet another breathtaking sight.
In the distance was a beautiful snowcapped mountain range. Wow! I could get to like this place!
After breakfast at...........you guessed it...........Denny's, we hit the road again for our last leg, about 80 miles to Salt Lake City. We will be staying there for about a week to attend a world missions conference, to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. We will be talking more about that in future posts. Needless to say, this has been an eventful trip that we will long remember.
One last comment, one of our dear friends, Jim, and his family are camping this week at Disney in Florida and apparently he is thoroughly enjoying his stay there:
Until next time, safe travels.
Larry
On Thursday morning, we met up with friends from northern NY who flew into town on business. We had a great time at breakfast with Bruce and Jill and the girls and appreciate them taking time out from their business to spend time with us.
Thursday afternoon we left Phoenix with sad hearts. We love the warm weather, the sunny skies and the great times we had, but our schedule was looming and off we went. Our stop that night was Las Vegas, at the KOA located by Circus Circus.
This was our first experience at camping in downtown Las Vegas, and it was certainly interesting. Somehow we got the address of the KOA entered into the GPS wrong and ended up driving the coach down some dark and narrow streets. Just as we were about to panic, I saw the yellow KOA sign and we were saved. The campground is mostly blacktop with full hookups. The "sites" are large enough, but close together as is typical for KOA. The big draw of course, is the proximity of the casino. After getting registered and set up, we walked across the parking lot and into the casino for dinner. We went to the buffet and ate way more than we should have, especially from the dessert bar. After that we walked around inside and outside. We were sitting and watching the crowd go by when a ruckus sounded above our head. To our surprise, there was a flying acrobat show starting right over out head.
We just sat there watching as the acrobats flew through the air. Kind of neat as an unexpected surprise. After that, we walked back to the coach and went to sleep as we had driven a long way that day and we were tired.
The next morning we broke camp and took off heading north towards Utah. It was during this drive that we got to see scenery that has to rate as the most beautiful and awe inspiring I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, my camera cannot do justice to the scenery. You will just have to see it for yourself. Trust me though, it is worth the drive.
Also unfortunately, our Jeep continued it's slide into oblivion. Maybe, just maybe it's time to think about replacing old reliable. With about 195000 miles on the odometer, and another 80000 being towed, things just don't work as well as they used to. Friday afternoon, as we were driving up I-15, a passing car honked and waved at us, pointing toward the back of the motorhome. I looked in the rearview monitor and to my surprise, there was smoke billowing out of the hood of the jeep. I immediately pulled over, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and ran back to the car. I raised the hood and realized that the smoke was from hot oil smoking from the front differential, and the smoke was slowing down, rather than growing. I climbed under the car and saw that there was some kind of problem with the drive shaft. I pulled out the tool box, and removed the front drive shaft. On the jeep, the front wheel drive mechanism has a transfer case that sends power to the front wheels through a driveshaft. When I pulled out the driveshaft, I noticed that the pinion gear on the end was missing. I then removed the back cover from the differential and there was the gear, laying on the bottom of the case, with some parts slightly bent.
With the gear removed, I reinstalled the cover, added some 90 wt. gear lube, and stuffed a tennis ball into the hole where the driveshaft used to be to keep the oil from splashing out. After that, we continued on our way to the Nephi Utah Flying J, our original destination. We pulled in there after dark and crashed for the night. It had been a looooooong and stressful day.
In the morning, we woke up and I took the pups outside to take care of business and saw yet another breathtaking sight.
In the distance was a beautiful snowcapped mountain range. Wow! I could get to like this place!
After breakfast at...........you guessed it...........Denny's, we hit the road again for our last leg, about 80 miles to Salt Lake City. We will be staying there for about a week to attend a world missions conference, to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. We will be talking more about that in future posts. Needless to say, this has been an eventful trip that we will long remember.
One last comment, one of our dear friends, Jim, and his family are camping this week at Disney in Florida and apparently he is thoroughly enjoying his stay there:
Until next time, safe travels.
Larry
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Today was a really mixed bag with good, bad, and ugly. Things started out ok, I mean, I woke up and I was NOT looking up at grass roots, and at my age, that is a plus. After breakfast, I took Linda over to Desert Ridge Resort to meet up with her sister and cousin for a day of shopping. Unfortunately on the way back, the bad struck big time. Driving along and heard a thump, then the power steering quit, the volt meter started dropping and the engine temp began climbing. I quickly concluded the serpentine belt had broken, and after pulling off into a restaurant parking lot, raising the hood, and looking, I confirmed my suspicion. Fortunately I had my Garmin with me, and plugged in "AutoZone". Even more fortunate, the closest AZ was........right across the street! Lucky me! I hoofed it across the road, and bought a new belt, plus a wrench to move the tensioner pulley. A closer investigation revealed that in addition to the broken belt, the tension pulley was gone, as a result of a bad bearing. Hoofed it back to AZ, and got a replacement pulley, and after about a half hour of wrenching, the new pulley and belt were installed and I was on my way.
I finished my drive home and then gave the puppies a bath. As usual when we are traveling they have a tendency to pick up a lot of dirt and the normally white coats have a grey cast to them. After washing the dirt down the drain in the shower, the pups look much better.
After that it was off to sister Nian's place for a dinner get together with some members of my extended family, including my favorite aunt and uncle who are also celebrating their 68th wedding anniversary. We got to see cousins, and uncles and aunts and others, some of whom I have not seen in many, many years. A good time was had by all and many thanks to my sister for hosting.
Now for the ugly. While at the party, we had the TV on and watched the Ohio State, Kansas NCAA b'ball game. Sad to say, the Buckeyes came up a couple points short and will be going home instead of to the final to play Kentucky. Congratulations to Coach Thad and the team for a great season.
I finished my drive home and then gave the puppies a bath. As usual when we are traveling they have a tendency to pick up a lot of dirt and the normally white coats have a grey cast to them. After washing the dirt down the drain in the shower, the pups look much better.
After that it was off to sister Nian's place for a dinner get together with some members of my extended family, including my favorite aunt and uncle who are also celebrating their 68th wedding anniversary. We got to see cousins, and uncles and aunts and others, some of whom I have not seen in many, many years. A good time was had by all and many thanks to my sister for hosting.
Now for the ugly. While at the party, we had the TV on and watched the Ohio State, Kansas NCAA b'ball game. Sad to say, the Buckeyes came up a couple points short and will be going home instead of to the final to play Kentucky. Congratulations to Coach Thad and the team for a great season.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Quartzsite Az.
Today was an interesting day as we took a day trip to Quartzsite Az. Quartzsite is a sleepy little desert town in western Arizona, near the California border. At least it is sleepy most of the time. However, when the weather in the north starts to turn cold, snowbirds head south and about 150,000 of them end up camping in Quartzsite.
Normally the population of Quartzsite is around 3500, and taking care of this many visitors for several months every year, has taken some interesting twists and turns. For a town with 3500 citizens, there is a large number of RV parks or campgrounds here. They cater to a small number of permanent residents and then fill up during the winter months. The campgrounds are only a small part of the accomodation picture however. In addition, the federal government owns thousands of acres of desert land around Quartzsite and thousands of the visitors chose to drive out into the desert, park their RVs, and spend the winter there without any ties to the civilization grid. A typical "campsite" in the desert looks something like this:
Or this:
Suffice to say amenities are not the strong suit here. There are several attractions that bring thousands of RVers here to the desert. The winter weather is generally mild, the government either charges nothing, or very little to stay on the desert land, and the real attractions are the RV show in January that attracts upwards of 1,000,000 people, the hobby craft and gem show in early February, and the Rock and Roll Classic Car show that runs along with the gem show. All this activity takes place in the "big top", a huge tent erected in Quartzsite just for the purpose of housing this event. This is an amazing phenomenon that is a "must see" for all true RVers. Linda and I are thinking that this coming winter is probably going to be our turn. She actually has her desert "site" already picked out, subject to change of course.
Our purpose today was to scope out the area, and get our feet wet in anticipation of our journey there next fall. We will keep you posted as we plan this adventure.
Normally the population of Quartzsite is around 3500, and taking care of this many visitors for several months every year, has taken some interesting twists and turns. For a town with 3500 citizens, there is a large number of RV parks or campgrounds here. They cater to a small number of permanent residents and then fill up during the winter months. The campgrounds are only a small part of the accomodation picture however. In addition, the federal government owns thousands of acres of desert land around Quartzsite and thousands of the visitors chose to drive out into the desert, park their RVs, and spend the winter there without any ties to the civilization grid. A typical "campsite" in the desert looks something like this:
Or this:
Suffice to say amenities are not the strong suit here. There are several attractions that bring thousands of RVers here to the desert. The winter weather is generally mild, the government either charges nothing, or very little to stay on the desert land, and the real attractions are the RV show in January that attracts upwards of 1,000,000 people, the hobby craft and gem show in early February, and the Rock and Roll Classic Car show that runs along with the gem show. All this activity takes place in the "big top", a huge tent erected in Quartzsite just for the purpose of housing this event. This is an amazing phenomenon that is a "must see" for all true RVers. Linda and I are thinking that this coming winter is probably going to be our turn. She actually has her desert "site" already picked out, subject to change of course.
Our purpose today was to scope out the area, and get our feet wet in anticipation of our journey there next fall. We will keep you posted as we plan this adventure.
It has been a busy and tiring last couple of days. Our last post was on Sunday and at that time we were in El Paso Texas. Monday morning, after jousting with Pilot/Flying J, we headed further west, through New Mexico, and into Arizona. After driving the full width of Texas the previous couple of days, the trip through New Mexico and Arizona was like doing a wind spring, and the miles just rolled by and we found ourselves in Casa Grande Az. by early evening. Earlier in the day, we had called our friends Byran and Billie who live in Casa Grande during the winter and arranged to have dinner with them Monday night. Byran suggested we stay at Fiesta Grande RV park in Casa Grande for the night. This turned out to be a good suggestion, particularly since they have a wonderful dog run area with REAL grass, fenced in, and a bunch of other puppies for them to play with. Needless to say, Webster and Kassy had a great time playing with their new friends.
We also had a great time with Byran and Billie at their home, with great food and a fun time with all who attended dinner last night. Linda and I returned to the coach tired, full and relaxed. Thank you Byran and Billie for hosting us.
Tuesday morning, we go up, took the pups to play, and then packed up in preparation for the short hop up to Phoenix and our destination there, Royal Palm RV Resort.
This is a very nice resort park with all the usual amenities. Our site is large and we are comfortable. Tomorrow we are going to drive over to Quartzsite to scope out the territory in anticipation of staying there next winter.
Not everything was wonderful in our world on Sunday as we went round and round with the manager of the Flying J over how they were charging our diesel fuel on our card, but I won't get into that right now. I will say that it took many phone calls and took until Monday night before Pilot finally got it straightened out.
We also had a great time with Byran and Billie at their home, with great food and a fun time with all who attended dinner last night. Linda and I returned to the coach tired, full and relaxed. Thank you Byran and Billie for hosting us.
Tuesday morning, we go up, took the pups to play, and then packed up in preparation for the short hop up to Phoenix and our destination there, Royal Palm RV Resort.
This is a very nice resort park with all the usual amenities. Our site is large and we are comfortable. Tomorrow we are going to drive over to Quartzsite to scope out the territory in anticipation of staying there next winter.
Not everything was wonderful in our world on Sunday as we went round and round with the manager of the Flying J over how they were charging our diesel fuel on our card, but I won't get into that right now. I will say that it took many phone calls and took until Monday night before Pilot finally got it straightened out.
Nancy Reagan Movie
It has been announced that Jane Fonda will be playing the part of Nancy Reagan in a new movie. As a Vietnam vet, I have a real problem with the likes of Ms. Fonda playing a true patriot such as the heroic wife of a one of the greatest presidents ever. I'm certain there will be formal protests of this move and I encourage all to participate in those protests.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday March 25, 2012, West Texas
Today is Sunday, March 25, and sad to say, we had to leave our friends at Scenic View and move on down the highway towards Phoenix Az.
Leaving such a restful and beautiful place is difficult, but we have a schedule to keep on this trip, and so we go. We departed Lone Star TX around 1:30 yesterday and headed west, towards Dallas/Ft. Worth. We are not trying to burn up the highway on this leg, so we ended up in Abilene Tx. last night, staying at our second favorite destination, Flying J, pulling in around 8 PM. We had a bit of a catastrophe yesterday when we stopped at a road side picnic area and took the kids out for a walk. Apparently Governor Perry was so busy campaigning earlier this year, and didn't have time to mow the grass at the picnic area here. As a result, the kids got their fur full of sticky weeds and Linda and I spent about an hour cleaning them up. Poor kids were really good though and got rewarded with extra treats as a result.
We were hungry when we pulled in, and after getting parked, we took off to locate a mexican restaurant we had found on the GPS. After a 20 mile round trip, including finding the "closed" restaurant, we ended up eating at the Denny's at the Flying J. Oh well! Of course, we did get to watch THE Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team knock off #1 seed Syracuse. Go Buckeyes. Up next, either Tarheels, or Kansas. Either way, final four baby!!!
Although, Abilene is the prettiest town that I've ever seen, and the women here don't treat you mean, it is now Sunday morning and we are getting ready for the next leg of our journey which will take us out in the west Texas town of El Paso. I intend to fall in love with a mexican girl at Rosa's cafe'!
More later!
Leaving such a restful and beautiful place is difficult, but we have a schedule to keep on this trip, and so we go. We departed Lone Star TX around 1:30 yesterday and headed west, towards Dallas/Ft. Worth. We are not trying to burn up the highway on this leg, so we ended up in Abilene Tx. last night, staying at our second favorite destination, Flying J, pulling in around 8 PM. We had a bit of a catastrophe yesterday when we stopped at a road side picnic area and took the kids out for a walk. Apparently Governor Perry was so busy campaigning earlier this year, and didn't have time to mow the grass at the picnic area here. As a result, the kids got their fur full of sticky weeds and Linda and I spent about an hour cleaning them up. Poor kids were really good though and got rewarded with extra treats as a result.
We were hungry when we pulled in, and after getting parked, we took off to locate a mexican restaurant we had found on the GPS. After a 20 mile round trip, including finding the "closed" restaurant, we ended up eating at the Denny's at the Flying J. Oh well! Of course, we did get to watch THE Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team knock off #1 seed Syracuse. Go Buckeyes. Up next, either Tarheels, or Kansas. Either way, final four baby!!!
Although, Abilene is the prettiest town that I've ever seen, and the women here don't treat you mean, it is now Sunday morning and we are getting ready for the next leg of our journey which will take us out in the west Texas town of El Paso. I intend to fall in love with a mexican girl at Rosa's cafe'!
More later!
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