Halloween

Time to rest up and relax a bit.  We have many things that need to be done around the motorhome, some can wait.  There was a Halloween party at the clubhouse, we weren't going to attend but at the last minute decided to go.  It was good seeing friends again.  We were the first to leave.

Florida

Arrived in Sumter Oaks Florida about 5:45 after approximately 11 hours on the road.  The traffic was heavy most of the way so good to get here and get parked.  It was a hot day so the air conditioner fells good. Going to bed early!

At home

Spent the day at home in our new motorhome in the campground.  All seems to work.  We have been adjusting shelves, repacking and of course looking for stuff.  If all continues to go well we will leave for Florida tomorrow.

One more problem

Back into the motorhome dealer today.  One fix caused a water leak with still no ice in the ice maker.  It took just a few minutes to get repaired, hope this is all for awhile at least.  We got home turned on the ice maker and awhile later we got ice!  Funny how a person can get so happy over ice!

Fixes

We spent  7 hours at the motorhome dealers today getting things fixed in our new motorhome.  You would think they could have done a better job of checking things out.  Water heater didn't heat.  ice maker didn't ice, washer didn't wash, etc.  Think this is the end of problems?

Tropical storm

It rained hard during the night and all day.  The wind was sometimes fierce.   We worked inside to try to find places for everything and finally stuffed stuff in the under the bed storage place.  Out of sight/out of mind!

We got over 5 inches of rain.  Some places were flooded, we were not.

Finishing moving

We got a early start and finished moving stuff, we had more things to move than we thought.  We had to carefully go back and check every nook and cranny.  A big rain was forecast and we wanted to get to the campground before that started..  It started sprinkling on us on our way home.  We are a very, very tired couple.  Settling in the new motorhome can wait until tomorrow!

Moving Day

In the morning we took our old motorhome to the dealer.  Then we had a walk through of the new one.  Had paper work to do and finally lunch and on to the move.  Our old motorhome and our new were parked door to door.  They loaned us six big plastic bins and we went to work.  It was hot and humid out, had the air conditioners on but still we got hot.  We worked from about 1 PM to about 7 PM and got most things moved.  Both motorhomes are a mess!

But we do live in a box.

New motorhome

We have been looking on and off for a new motorhome and today we signed on the dotted line!  We purchased a 2016 Fleetwood Bounder model 34c LX.  It is close to the color of our old one on the outside, tans and grays.  Inside it is black/white/gray.  It is 6 feet shorter than our old motorhome and a gas engine rather than a diesel.  Hopefully this was a good decision.



http://www.fleetwoodrv.com/bounder

Waffle House

This morning we had breakfast at Don's all time favorite breakfast place  Waffle House.  It was good as always.  They put a lot more than usual of pecans in the waffles.  We ran some errands and returned home for lunch.  Sure is good not to have to travel today.

We stayed home for dinner and watched some TV.

We staye =d

Gulf Shores at last

We are at The Plantation near Summerdale, Alabama.  It wasn't such a long day of driving but we did have to get diesel which takes awhile.  We were on I 20 then headed south at Jacksonville, Mississippi and drove to Bloxie where we got on I 10 for all but the last 20 some miles of our trip.  This is a nice RV Park, large easy to get into sites.

Don worked on getting two days worth of bugs off the front of the motorhome.  We got the plants out for some sun.  I started some wash.  We ate dinner at Zaxby's (a chicken wing place).  The food was good as usual but it was sooooooooooo colddddddddddddd that I was visibly shaking.  That certainly makes the dinner less than great.

Moving day

We left Hollister about 8 AM heading south through Arkansas.  Through the mountains in the north and flat lands in the south.  It is a beautiful state but a bit exhausting in the motorhome in the mountains.  Then it was into Louisiana for a stretch and over the boarder into Mississippi where we stopped for the night in Vicksburg.

We went to McDonald's for a salad to bring home for dinner.  We are tired people and ready for a good nights sleep before we head to Gulf Shores tomorrow.

Saturday

It was a cold night but we kept warm as always.  Didn't quite get down to freezing.  We were reading with the heat on and the washer washing when all the sudden the electricity went out.  We always think it is our problem, but after checking the circuit beakers and the outside plug we decided it was a campground problem.  Then we found out other people were also without electricity.  They got it fixed in about half an hour.

At noon we went to Grand Country Buffet for another of their great buffets.   I ate too much, a nap felt very good after that.  There are lots of people in Branson all of the sudden.  We had to wait awhile to get out into traffic.

In the afternoon we did some things to get ready to move tomorrow.  Ate dinner at home for a change.

Spearfish Canyon in the South Dakota Black Hills:

Arkansas black apples

The day started with breakfast at McDonald s on our way to Arkansas to seek out Arkansas Black Apples.  We went our usual place and they were well stocked.  It is a little store by south of Harrison, they have lots of apples, jelly, honey, tomatoes.  We think it is owned by a group of women, called Friend Orchard.

We had a hamburger for dinner at Steak and Shake.


Arkansas black apples:

Thursday in the Ozarks

We started the day at Steak and Shake for breakfast and then we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall.  I looked around Coach, almost bought a purse but talked myself into not buying.  I went to the kitchen store and got some knives, will be good to have some sharp knives for awhile.  Also purchased the first Christmas present!

In the evening we went to McFarlands for their roast beef dinner special.  It was very good, came with a big hunk of corn bread.  We took the long way home over the Table Rock Lake damn.

This is the top of a 18% grade hill:

Road trip

Today we made a morning trip on some of the Ozark back roads, we went east of Branson and ended up west of Branson.  It is beautiful country with the hills, trees, rocks and water.  We stopped at McDonalds for a burger to bring home for lunch.

In the evening we went to the Rib Crib for some excellent Baby Back Ribs.  Always a good place to eat.

Kids Anniversary

We did some shopping today, Don was looking for denim shorts and didn't find any but I got a pair of jeans.  Then we went to to Corningware/Corelle Outlet and I found a couple bowls with handles and lids that I had been trying to find.  It was buy 2 and get the third one for free, so I ended up with 3.  We ate lunch at Arby's, first Arby's I have seen with a fixin's bar with pickles, peppers, etc.

We stayed home for dinner for a change.

Today is our daughter and son-in-laws' 25th anniversary!

Fall Creek

We cleaned the very dirty motorhome today.  Don washed the very dirty car and is working on washing the motorhome.

This evening we ate at the "Fall Creek Steak and Catfish House, home of the tossed rolls".  They have good meals and the rolls that they pitch to you are hot and good.  It is an interesting place as well.

Breakfast and papers

We had a huge breakfast at McFarlands.  I could eat only about half my pancakes, Don ate all of his pancakes!  We came home to read the Sunday papers and do some stuff around the motorhome.

We were watched by this big guy:

Busy day

Time to see if our little washer/dryer works, dirty clothing is adding up.  It did seem to work just fine, nice something works.  We changed the sheets, Don forgot that it is his job to take them to the laundromat and that he needs detergent and quarters.

I got out my Flamingos, nice to see them again!  Don debugged the front window.  We have sun again after a long day of drizzle yesterday.

We went for lunch at Grand Country Buffet, they have a great buffet and in the evening we went to the musical show The Presley's.  We have seen them many times, they are always good.



Lisa and Bills ranch:

Rain

We are out of juice and milk so decided to eat breakfast out (not that we need an excuse).  We ate at Steak and Cake.  We had a great breakfast and they have fine coffee of which we drank plenty.  Then we went to Walmart for groceries, nice big Walmart.

It started raining about 6 AM and rained all morning on and off.  It seems strange to hear the rain, when we are in our house we are often surprised to open the drapes to find it is raining.

After lunch we decided to get tickets to The Presleys, a family music group that has been around Branson forever.  They put on a great show, new and old music, country to pop and great comedy.
 So we did a run to get tickets for tomorrow night.

We stayed home for dinner, not accustomed to doing dishes by hand but we finally got them done after 9PM!

Hears to National Breast Cancer month:

Arrived in Branson

We got an early start to a 7 hour on the road day.  We got to Kansas City at a good time when traffic wasn't too bad and made all our turns correctly thanks to GPS and past experience.  Stopped just south of KC for diesel at Peculiar Flying J and then headed across country to Branson.   We got to Branson around 4 PM, we had reserved a good site that is easy to get into and out of at Hollister Escapees' Turkey Creek.  I drove the car to the site and a pickup was parked smack in the middle.  I knocked on our neighbors and asked a teenage kid if it was his pickup:

Me: Is that your pickup?

Kid:  yes

Me: would you please move it

Kid: why

Me: we are going to park our motorhome on that site (motorhome is in clear sight on the road)

Kid: right now

Me:  right now

Kid:  well  ----- OK

He took his time.  There is plenty of parking space right across the road which is where his pickup should have been in the first place.

Off and running

The door keeps jamming.  One time it had us locked inside, my catastrophia immediately took hold.  I kept pulling up on the handle and somehow it finally released.   I kept thinking what we could do for a short term fix, I realized the bar the door latches onto was just a big fat screw and convinced Don to remove the screw.  That means our door doesn't latch but also doesn't lock us in or out.  We have a deadbolt lock which still works to keep the door shut.  It is a pain but works.  We will try to get it fixed ASAP when we get to Florida.

The back camera stayed on all day, at least something works except not the way it is suppose to work as the side cameras don't work.  Don says he seldom uses them anyway but we will also get that fixed in Florida.  The motorhome purred along just fine.

We made it to Osceola Iowa for the night.  The roads in the campground have huge potholes which I hope they fix or it will soon be impossible to get in and out.  The campground is right off the interstate and not expensive so a place we always like to park.  It has been a warm day so good to get the air conditioners running.

MH problems

The move went fine but still having problems with the door sometimes not opening and the rear view camera not working.  We decided to spend another day and take the MH in for repairs to no avail.  They need to order a part for the door and that would take a week or more, probably more.  They got the back view camera to work sometimes but now the side view cameras are not working.  Don says he seldom uses the side view cameras so we are OK for now.  We will try to deal with things until we get to Florida where there is a a well known repair place.

We now plan to head south tomorrow baring any more problems.

Maybe we need a new MH:

Sunday

Still doing last minute stuff.  We had to move to another park today as the first is closing for the season, couldn't have stayed open two more days----

In the afternoon we went to the house to continue to get it ready to leave and wash some things.  Brenda came over for a visit and then we went to Sheila's for dinner.


Spearfish Canyon in western South Dakota

Saturday

We spent our first night in the motorhome.  We were missing some things so went to Walmart and spent about $50 on stuff like a dish drainer, coffee filter and the all important wine bottle opener, etc.

Then we went to the house and cleaned.  With moving out the place got fairly dirty.  I also did some laundry.  We are still tired, working too hard.

Dish, ish

Long story but then new Dish TV has been returned.  They misled us on the DVR capabilities.  Suprise.  We decided we would rather have nothing and pay nothing than a expensive set-up that doesn't do much of anything.   We will eventually get some satellite service.

We are mostly moved into the MH except for last minute stuff.

October 1

The only reason I have time to post is that Don is installing our Dish network with a new dome antenna.  We have been working so hard all week getting the MH loaded.  Now we have the odds and ends stuff to move which is almost harder, always hunting for something.  Then when we are ready to live in the MH we will have to move our stuff we use every day.  We still have our colds and get tired easy, we are dead on our feet come bed time.

We got the MH moved Monday and went back with a load of stuff and the door wouldn't unlock.  We though the lock was repaired.  Thankfully our neighbor stepped up to help, loaning us a coat hanger and a latter and Don broke in.  It opens from the inside.  Thinking we had it fixed we came back with a second load and guess what.  Had to lean on our neighbor again.  Has worked ever since.

We have been bring a car full three times a day.  That means our motorhome is a mess, our house is a mess and we get nothing else done.