JOURNAL of 2006-07

"A DAY EARLIER THAN "PLANNED"

Sunday, November 26, 2006

We got a leisurely start this morning and were on the road by 9:30 headed south.  There was sun in our future today and certainly one of the few times we actually saw Mr. Sun on the day we left town.  It was 38 degrees as we rolled through the Metropolis.

Our first stop, since we had already filled up with gas a month ago when the price was low, would be Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI.  We had one more "Grandchild gift" to pick up at Barnes and Noble, after we finished our lunch at Curly's Pub, and then we would finish our first hop to West Bend, WI about 180 miles from home.

We arrived in West Bend about 2:30 and for once had a whole day to spend with Grand Kids.  We had a lot of catching up to do since we hadn't seen them since April on our way home last year.  It's a shame that we can't get together more often than we do.  But with the four of them working and Sharon working almost full time this past summer, there just doesn't seem to be a convenient time for us to get together.  Oh well we just had to make the best of our time together.

We started a conversation that seemed to last until the party broke up around 8:30 when it was time for all the kids to go to bed.  After all it was a school night.  After we ate our supper and exchanged gifts the conversation just continued until the yawning overtook us.  Sharon went to bed and I stayed up and watched a couple of shows on TV until I folded up my tent also.  It was 10 o'clock by that time and I was ready for the feathers.

Monday, November 27, 2006

We left West Bend having had a wonderful time with the kids and Grandkids.  We got our stuff together and headed out about 8 o'clock.  Just in time to miss the rush hour traffic.  There was actually more traffic yesterday than there was today strangely enough.

We arrived in Sturtevant (Racine) and my sister Marge and her husband Wally were already at our usual McDonald's Restaurant.  We were in no real hurry today having built an extra day into our schedule to make it to Winnebago for our appointment on Wednesday.  We sat and talked today for longer than we usually do.  We looked at pictures and generally had a good time talking.  But all good things must end eventually and we needed to get back on the road.  When we left they presented us with a Kringle and we left with a smile on our faces.

We had lunch while we were still in Wisconsin just before crossing the Iowa border.  Sharon had made up a mixture of Turkey, Dressing and Gravy to have in sandwiches along the way.  It was truly one of my favorite sandwiches of all time.  We also had leftover cranberries which also went down real well.

After crossing the Iowa border we inadvertently drove through Dyersville which is the movie set for Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner.  Because it was only 5 miles off the highway we just had to stop.  Well the corn was cut down and it was mostly brown but it was still a thrill to make the stop.  After our souvenir shopping was done we were back on our way again.

By the time it started getting dark we were looking for a Wal-Mart to overnight in.  We made it to a deserted Econo Foods lot that seemed more inviting than the Wally World right next door.  It had also started to rain and there was no point in going any further tonight.  So we settled in and Sharon set up the dish.  I had tried but I have no patience with the damn thing.  I found it last night with no problem, but tonight it wanted to be ornery.  We had stopped in a little town called Manchester and it would be an easy return to the highway from here.

Tonight was the final episode of Prison Break for this year and I didn't want to miss it.  It'll be back on January 22nd about the same time that the new day of "24" starts.

Sharon was tired tonight and hit the hay early.  I hung in there until after CSI Miami was over with, but was pooped when I hit the bed.  I did not pass go, or collect the $200.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

It rained on and off for most of the night.  I don't usually hear it in the middle of the night but I heard it last night.  It pretty much continued on and off all day today.  We drove half the time in the sun and the rest of the time in the rain.

Without stopping, except for lunch, we rolled into the Winnebago Factory parking lot around 2 o'clock.  We got set up and hooked up our electric and then took off to find a couple of eating places that were on the map that Winnebago gave us.  A couple of the possibilities were closed because of sickness, including the Chuckwagon Café which serves the most excellent pancakes.  Sharon had even planned to have them on this trip.  So much for that idea.  We'll now have to find a place for Breakfast tomorrow while they're working on the rig.

We drove around town looking for the Post Office as Sharon had a couple of things to mail out since we left home.  We found it without much trouble and found the closed restaurants on the way.  We managed to stop by The Lodge, which we think is owned by Winnebago, and decided to go there for dinner tonight for a nice meal.  We went back home and it was still raining off and on.  It had turned much colder during the day today and now the wind was also blowing up a storm.

We both reclined for a nap this afternoon and by the time we woke up it was time for dinner.  We left for The Lodge with very good intentions and to have a couple of drinks downstairs in the bar before returning upstairs for steak and ribs.  We never did make it back upstairs until we left to go home.  They were serving appetizers in the bar and we always threatened to make a meal on just appetizers some day.  Well today was the day and we ordered a couple of platters of appetizers.  They were absolutely delicious and we ate our fill.  We had chicken nuggets, chicken strips, french fries, onion rings, fried mushrooms, jalapeno poppers and cheese balls.  We came home well sated and a little tipsy.  But it was a well deserved good time.

We settled in to watch a little TV but neither of us made it to the bewitching hour.  We were sawing logs already by 10.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

We were up early this morning to get our s----- together before our 7am appointment.  Because it had rained most of the night by the time the technician came into the motorhome the satellite dish and the front jacks were frozen.  One wouldn't move and the other was stuck to the ground.  It took us about 15 minutes to get everything moving again.  When he drove off we asked the girl at the front desk where a good place to eat Breakfast was.

She informed us that her uncle's place in the next town, Mills Lake, was a good spot.  So we drove the 15 miles over there and went to The Grand Restaurant.  It was one of those places where about 25 regulars come in every morning to drink coffee.  We both had omelettes and when they brought out our orders of hash browns they filled an entire dinner plate.  Our mouths must have dropped open when we saw them.  We finished up and headed back to Forest City to visit the Surplus store.  We needed a couple of windows that had lost their seal but there was none of the kind I needed laying around.  In the meantime we got a call from the service manager that said he needed to see us and check out another problem.  We didn't think it was a problem so we told him to let it go.

About an hour later we were back in our coach and headed south down the road.  We drove south and west until about 4 stopping only to fill our tank with gas and then continue on.  When we stopped for the night it was in a mall parking lot that didn't seem to be very busy at all.

It's still cold out so I'm sure our batteries will be taxed if not dead by morning.  We've been there before so I'm not too worried.  (3am) I awoke to find that the engine and generator batteries were not enough to start either.  In the past we just used the car to jump them both.  However, this morning would also find our car battery not functioning too well.  We had to call emergency road service who couldn't start the engine on the motorhome but got the generator battery jumped and the generator working.  At least we'd have heat for the time being.  I hooked up a battery charger to the engine battery and we'll just have to wait and see for now.  Maybe we'll catch a few more winks of sleep as long as we're not going anywhere anyway.  It's now 5:05 am.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

By 7:30 the charger had been on for two hours and the engine started right up.  We still had a dead car battery but at least we could go on with that.  We have to find a way to get out of this ugly cold and driving through it seems the only possibility.  The weather seems to be milder the further west we go so we were on the road by 8:30.  No showers, no hair combing, no teeth brushed just get behind the wheel and go.

We stopped for Breakfast at a Petro Truck Stop and had their buffet.  Sharon said afterwards that she should have ordered off the menu, but I was more than satisfied.  They had all the food that I enjoy such as Eggs, Sausage, Bacon, Hash Browns and Fried Potatoes, Biscuits and Gravy and Toast.  Yum, Yum.

We hit the road again headed toward the west coast and the cold weather is not letting up.  We were almost to the Wyoming border when we noticed water coming out of the refrigerator.  Actually it wasn't coming out of the fridge as much as it was coming out under the fridge.  We checked the whole fridge and it was dry as a bone, but the leak was persisting.  By the time it was all said and done the brand new (plastic) valve that I had just put in was now cracked and leaking.  I never even suspected it would freeze going down the road.  It probably turned into a lump of ice last night and just thawed out this afternoon.  There goes $38 shot in the ass.  I clamped off the supply hose and we continued on our way.  We wanted to make it to a campground tonight and it seemed the most convenient one was the only one open anyway.  We did make it in after dark and I hate driving the motorhome after dark.

We got settled into our site and the satellite dish was still frozen and wouldn't move.  We got our regular shows off the antenna tonight but we both hit the feathers early having had one helluva day.  We are now hoping against hope that tomorrow will bring some pleasant happenings.  As far as the weather is concerned that doesn't seem to be a possibility at least over the next couple of days.

Friday, December 1, 2006

We had a pleasant night last night just having electricity for the night and not having to worry about batteries.  I stuck the charger on the car last night so it would be ready to go this morning.  We never did try it until we stopped for the night in Evanston,  Wyoming and it fired right off.  We also stopped next door to the campground at an RV parts place and picked up a new icemaker valve.  It was cheaper than the one I got on the internet last summer.  Drat!

I tried to dump at the campground but the water was all frozen up and I didn't want to fight with it so we left for the Flying J to gas up, fill propane and dump and fill our fresh water.  We were on the road by 8:58 headed west.  We only stopped for lunch today and then got back on the road again.  We hit some snow flurries near Rock Springs but the road never got bad enough to stop.  The visibility was down to about 75 yards a couple of times and even the trucks were going 40.

All the campgrounds around Evanston are closed for the winter so we found ourselves a Wal-Mart campground.  The weather doesn't seem anywhere near as cold as it was last night and the night before.  We'll see what's working and what isn't tomorrow morning.

We settled in about 5pm and went inside to do a little shopping.  We picked up our stuff and then went home.  It was supper time by then and we were having Rigotonis for tonight.

We'll watch a little tube tonight before we head to the comfort of the sleep chamber.  Actually the TV for tonight was strictly off antenna and it was pretty bad.  It had been another long day today.  Traveling in Wyoming from east to west is uphill all the way.  I don't think we went downhill once all day.

Saturday, December 2, 2006

I was up early again this morning (3:30) making sure our furnace was still working.  It was, but the generator batteries were dead.  I started up the engine on the motorhome and got the generator running that way.  By the time Sharon got up our water was frozen.  This has officially become "The week from hell."  If we didn't know how to handle the cold we'd be in real trouble but this seems to be just an inconvenience.  We probably won't get any relief until we get into Northern California.  The nights will be cold but not quite this cold.  It's a good thing we have several pairs of sweats cause that's what we've been wearing for the past week.

We got on the road anyway this morning hoping that we could just continue until it warms up.  We only stopped for lunch as we crossed several summits which could have been trouble and weren't.  The weather cooperated for another day except for the cold.  We arrived in Elko, Nevada just after lunch and decided to stay here for the night.  We stopped at Wal-Mart and I got busy on the water pump that was frozen.  I had another pump from the freeze-up last year but soon found that neither pump was going to function.  It looked like we would have to find a campground for tonight and possibly for another night.  It was now Saturday afternoon and we couldn't find an RV Parts store that was open.

We settled into our $14 a night campground for the night and tried to connect water without the pump.  We discovered that wasn't going to work very well because it was a closed system.  We'll just have to see if we can find a pump tomorrow.  The campground owner thinks that the RV Parts store is open on Sunday mornings.  He also sent us to Wal-Mart knowing that they had pumps.  That didn't work out at all.

We had pasties (an Upper Michigan delicacy) for supper tonight.   After that we just settled in for some TV.  Our satellite dish was unfrozen for the first time since our visit to Winnebago on Wednesday.

We were both ready for bed at 7:30 but we hung in there until about 9.  But after that we were fighting a losing battle.  We went through another Time Zone today and we're not caught up since the first time zone we crossed over in Nebraska.  I'll have to force myself to stay in bed tomorrow morning.

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Today was a day to just sit and relax.  We've had such a lousy week anything would be better than to continue on the road today.  We got up at a leisurely time this morning and even I slept late if you consider 7 in the morning to be late.  The campground owner told us that the RV place is usually open in the mornings on Sunday so that was another reason we decided to stay another night.  But then he also told us that Wal-Mart carries the Shurflo water pump and that wasn't true.  He's a storehouse of misinformation.  So picking up the pump this morning was not high on our wish list.

Sharon made us Bagel, Sausage and Cheese sandwiches this morning for Breakfast and that was the best thing that's happened to us this week.  Although we had them earlier in the week and they were good then too.

The Packer game started today at 10am and was over by 1.  It wasn't much of a game as they got trounced readily.  That's pretty much how our whole week went.

We settled in for a couple of our favorite shows on the tube tonight.  We had our frozen dish back last night but there was nothing to speak of on the tube.  Saturday nights for the last couple of years have been lousy.

We'll hit the rack early tonight to get on the road at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  We hope to make it to Susanville, California by tomorrow.