No Reservations!

We purchased our first coach, as you know, in September, 2016 and set out to conquer the USA by road!  We have learned, and relearned so much about this new lifestyle along the way……. today let’s talk about travel planning.  The first thing you need to know about me is that I am a PLANNER.  I love a good ride down an unknown road to an unknown destination, but, in general, I like to know where this big RV is headed for the night.

The first thing I have learned is that I need to be aware of Big Days on calendars.  A Big Day can be a holiday or a special festival in a certain area or a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence…..let’s say a Solar Eclipse.  I waited too late last year and had to make a less than desirable reservation in a campground in Ft. Lauderdale for Christmas….I have already made a very desirable reservation for this year!  Father’s Day requires advance planning (apparently Dads like to camp!).  The Three Big Summer Days require thoughtful planning (Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day).  And this year add in the Solar Eclipse.

So, I have had my work cut out for me with snagging campground reservations this year.    I do have reservations for all the Three Big Summer Days and the Solar Eclipse.  But there are also lots of days in-between all the Big Days, just regular days that we need to stay somewhere overnight.  That is where the hard part of planning begins; now I have to figure in Barry’s work schedule.   Because he is still working, we need to be in his territory for sales calls, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois and other places here and there.  We need to be able to reach his manufacturers also for sales meetings and to do factory testing on machines, those are in Vancouver, Toronto, Tampa, and Athens, GA.  The timing of these visits are not usually something we can plan more than a couple weeks out.

This happened in the last two weeks:  PLAN:  Travel to Des Moines, IA for sales calls, Travel to St. Joseph, MO — sales calls, Travel to McPherson, KS — sales calls, Travel to El Dorado, KS – make sales calls in Wichita, Travel to Lee’s Summit, MO – sales calls in KC area and a flight to Toronto for annual sales meeting, Travel to Lincoln, NE – sales calls.  Reservations were made at all those locations……but, there was this little thing hanging over our heads.  A new X-Ray machine was being delivered to a new customer and there will be a FAT (Field Acceptance Trial) at that location after delivery and setup.  The machine was being shipped from the factory in Europe, there were shipping delays, Customs delays, QC in Tampa before the final shipment to the customer In Minong, Wisconsin.  REALITY:  All the reservations needed to be altered and a trip scheduled for him to “no where near us now”.

Reservations were changed, cancelled, extended.  I lost a reservation fee and overnight charge in Wichita, but stayed at a more reasonable priced park near St. Joseph.  Sales calls won’t be made in central Kansas right now.  I’m in Missouri and he is in Wisconsin.  This all takes a crazy amount of time……and some days my brain gets frazzled with it all.

But it is still better living here than anywhere else with, or without, reservations!!

Forty-one and Counting

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary.           We got married in July, 1976 because “everyone in the family gets married in July”; it was a very hot and humid day.        It was a nice wedding in a small town in a small church stuffed to overflowing with guests.  Barry’s cousin married us and asked, “Do you Sharon …. uh …. Susan take this man?”, and I laughed out loud!           All our family and friends were there and went to the church basement after the ceremony to enjoy cake and punch.  Barry’s uncle took the photos and many of the guests left before we could join them downstairs.           Afterwards, we changed into our polyester wedding clothes and drove to St. Louis for a night in a hotel.

So young and in love!

Our marriage has been just like that; nothing flashy or showy, just comfortable for us.  We fight and laugh and like and dislike together.  We have 3 sons, 1 daughter-in-law and 1 grandson.  We have loved and lost some of our grandparents and parents.  We have lived in 4 houses and, now, 1 RV.  We have had 8 dogs, 1 rabbit, 1 chinchilla and 1 parakeet as well as 25 different cars (we would probably be richer with less of those).  We have had 10 different jobs and more part-time ones.

 

I’m the shortest!

Last year was our big year:  we both turned 60 and celebrated our 40th anniversary.  Truthfully, we did not really “celebrate” last year, we just recognized those days.       This year was different.  We drove to Kansas City and ate dinner at Chaz on the Plaza located in the Raphael Hotel.  Years ago, Barry surprised me with a weekend getaway to the Raphael; it has great memories for us.  A delicious dinner in an intimate setting reminded us of the good parts of our marriage.

Our daughter-in-love and sweetest grandson!

I think we will keep counting anniversaries for the rest of our lives.

 

In the Corn Fields

After leaving Des Moines, we moved for the weekend to south-western Iowa, just outside the town of Creston, to Green Valley State Park.  First, after a few days with just electric hookups, we were happy to have all the services: 50 amp electric, water & sewer!  All the sites here have some sort of lake view, there is a small beach, boat ramp, hiking & biking trail, and even some cabins to rent.  But the best part about this park was the peace and quiet and darkness!  Even as the park filled up for the weekend, it was still a nice quiet park.  Birds calling all the time.

It’s okay to bring your baby out at sunset……

The lake here is a man-made lake with many campers bringing their fishing boats out in the morning to fish for large mouth bass.  

Most of the fields are planted with corn or soybeans; but a few have been left to grow beautiful Black-eyed Susans……

A slough is a good place to raise a family……

Clouds in the west can’t stop a sunset on the water!

Once, a long time ago, we picked wild blackberries and I came home with chiggers and seed ticks every where (they like to go in all your creases, around your ankles, behind your knees, and further up, if you know what I mean!).  So, no matter how delicious or thick they look, we don’t go in to pick them any more!

Farm art!

As we left town today for another campground, we had to go through this underpass:

I purchased lowclearances.com map download and got to use it today!  Our coach is 12’9″ high up to the top of the old satellite dome on top……this train bridge was not a problem!  But we still held our breath as we drove under it!  One of the troubles I have run into is finding a good GPS program for us.  I have researched and read all about Garmin and Rand McNally and everyone else without coming to a good decision. Every one of them has mixed reviews and in the year 2017 I feel that there should be a GPS that has more good than bad reviews!  In the meantime, I map our route the night before we leave on Google with the low clearances layer added.  After I determine the safest, easiest route, I use Waze while we drive; Waze is a live traffic/navigation app that gives great clear directions and live updates (police ahead, construction, hazards, etc.).  Little things that make a big difference!

Wow! It’s Hot!

Just north of Des Moines, Iowa is a Corps of Engineers lake and several campgrounds…….we stayed at one of them, Cherry Glen Campground  on Saylorville Lake.  Now, we have lived in the St. Louis, Missouri area for most of our lives and are familiar with the Iowa weather:  winds blow across most of the time, it is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and winter ice and snow are frequent problems.  This week was no different; but we had good strong electrical hookups and our A/C’s work well.  They issued an Extreme Heat Warning for this part of Iowa as the temperatures were always in the 95º range for the week……at nights only cooling off to the upper 70º’s.  

But while we were here, we discovered the neighboring town…. well not really anything for us to discover but this:

That’s funny! I guess we own this town!

We also made time to visit with some of our eldest son’s friend and family while we were here.  They have 2 boys, one is 8 and the other is 2; it was fun to see them and meet the boys.  We haven’t seen them since the 8 year old was about 3 years old!  Sadly, I forgot to take a photo with them……too hot for my brain I guess!

This is a common site in Iowa! Farm equipment!

Heading West (sort of)

We spent a working week in St. Louis.  Mom and I had doctor’s appointments, Barry had office appointments and a couple of guys in from Athens, Georgia, and I had work to do at the house.  I took the last load of things to be donated to the D.A.V. (At least I hope those were the last loads!).  Barry & I moved all the packed boxes of things we are keeping into the garage to get them out of the house.  I vacuumed the entire house.  We got a bid to trim the front yard trees hanging over the house…..$900……and they could not schedule that for a month……so, we got our very big ladder out and I got on the roof and cut the most egregious ones myself.  Lots of scratches, bruises and sore muscles later, I was down on the ground and cleaning up the mess.  I so wish our house would sell.  

At the end of the week, we headed north to Keokuk, Iowa.  We won’t be back in St. Louis until mid-October after traveling around Iowa and Kansas for a month then heading west to Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas!  Until then, it was a weekend in Keokuk at a little RV campground, Hickory Haven.  It is a small park with gravel sites, no WiFi, bad phone service and some standing dead trees, but had full hook-ups.  It was a good chance to wash the dust and dirt off the lower portion of the coach accumulated from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri rains.  

Keokuk is a small/medium sized river town with many interesting things to see.  There is a very interesting National Cemetery here.  I just imagine they chose the location as it was not really farm-able; very hilly and uneven with large trees scattered throughout.  It was established in 1862 and is one of the 12 original Federal Cemeteries.  It is divided into 2 sections, one with the very oldest graves that borders Oakland Cemetery (est. 1851), and the more recent era graves further back.  Oakland Cemetery has beautiful grave sites hanging precariously off the steep slopes.  (By the way, I have a deep love and respect for old cemeteries!). 

Keokuk has an older section of town with lovely large homes overlooking the might Mississippi River.  Many have interesting architectural elements……..I am not sure what to call this style of cut rocks, but both of these homes are majestic and beautiful.

Rand Park eagle

There is a beautiful old power plant on the Mississippi River here…… the actual name is U.S. Lock and Dam #19.  It was built between 1910-13 and, when completed, was the largest electricity generating plant in the world!  There are great views of it if you drive across the river bridge near downtown or from Rand Park.

The Mighty Mississippi

Keokuk Power House on the US Lock and Dam #19

We found a nice restaurant downtown, Angelina’s, that earned two visits from us…..otherwise, unless you love to look at corn and soybean fields, there is not too much to do here………but relax!   Our next direction is North West toward Des Moines…..we really will head West soon!!

Lazy Days on the River

Although it was still a holiday week, we moved to Hidden Valley Outfitters Campground (HVO) near Bennett Springs, MO.  I have never been to this part of the state and looked forward to visiting the springs.  However, due to the holiday, Barry was not able to book any appointments in Springfield or Joplin.  Instead, we found time to visit with family and relax!!!

Saturday on the River

First though, the campground:  a Good Sam campground and a discount!  It has a funny little entrance to the area — they are currently in a little metal building and nearly finished with a new big building across the way.  It looks like an old-style Old West building with a long front porch, but will include a water feature out front……worth returning to see the finished project.  After you check in, you drive between  the Niagua River and a big field before the campground comes into view.  There are about 4 rows of campsites in this area with 50 amp, FHU’s, a campground, picnic shelter, river access and a nice shower house.  Continuing along the road and over a low-water bridge into another campground for tents and smaller campers with 30 amp electric.  In this area is also a little chapel and another nice playground and shower house.  Up the hill is a third camp area for “extended stay” units — this is a huge property.  We stayed here for 7 nights; but had to move from site #38 after 5 nights to site #37.  Site #38 is the first site as you come into the campground and faces the river.  It was a wonderful place to relax with the first shade every afternoon and the view of rafters floating down the river.  And the fishermen…….everyone comes here to fish for the trout released just upstream at Bennett Springs State Park.

Trout fishing at Bennett Springs State Park

There is so much to see and do at the state park; fishing, shopping and eating in the lodge, trails, lots of wildflowers, multiple campgrounds (those reservations are as hard to get during Trout season as the ones in the Florida Keys!), pool, playground, even the Bennett Springs Church of God.  We ate breakfast at the lodge one morning and it was delicious; the lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1930 from stones and timber frames.  The state introduced 40,000 mountain spring trout in 1900 and purchased the spring and surrounding property in 1924-25.  

Beautiful Bennett Springs State Park

I was not always an outdoor person, we never camped as we grew up and I did not take my family camping……so these moments are all new to me.  I have never been on a river float trip — until now!  HVO offered float trips and we booked a Saturday morning time!  Barry and I met other floaters at the picnic shelter and were picked up by their van driver.  People brought coolers and float tubes and more coolers and sunscreen and music players and more coolers!  It seems that loud music and drinking are major parts of floating on the river!  We drove back up north of the state park for about 7 miles until we reached the drop off site.  A couple of men were there with rows of rafts, canoes, and kayaks lined up along a gravel bar for us; one pointed to two kayaks, made sure we had paddles and life jackets and walked away while we loaded up our water bottles and sunscreen and pushed off.  Poor Barry was a bit unsteady and fell right into the water as he tried to get into his kayak (!!).  I was already paddling into the current and paused to just float until he caught up to me.  Our trip was wonderful!!!!  The water was comfortably warm and kept us from getting too hot.  We saw wildflowers, huge trees, fish, turtles, snakes, lots of birds and many other floaters.  We floated by tall old trees, towering cliffs, dead tree snags, with bird songs accompanying us.  We stopped a couple of times to get out and swim in the warm water.  We finally came up to the spot where Bennett Spring met the river……the water dropped from warm to so very cold!  Then we came back to the HVO gravel bar and landed our kayaks there with the waiting boat team.  We walked back to our coach, tired and hot and happy.

Floating under the Highway 64 Niangua River Bridge

  

After a lovely week, we packed up and drove back to St. Louis for some family time.

Back at The Lake

For many years, we enjoyed sharing a “lake house” with my in-laws.  Nothing fancy, just all full of used furniture, discounted carpeting, and comfortable love.  But as our sons became men they moved away from Missouri and the house became our burden……upkeep and yard work and lack of time.  And things change and we sold the house.  We have not been back to the Lake of the Ozarks for at least 5 years and, with our RV, we really did not intend to go back.  But the Fourth of July was coming, we needed to move, and I found a campsite at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park.

The Lake of the Ozarks is an engineered, hydro-electric dammed body of water fed by many area rivers and streams.  It is set in the middle of Missouri in the Ozark Mountains (the only “mountains” between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains).  The area is hilly and rocky and hilly and dry and hilly; well, you get the idea…….I looked online at every site in the park and checked the slope on each one to find the most “level” site before settling on a 1.8″/10′ slope and hoped for the best.   This state park is cut into several sections, some separated by long lake fingers of water and the campground is away from the main body of the lake on the GrandGlaize arm.   It begins at the highest point along a ridge and falls down rapidly to lake level with 5 separated campgrounds along the way.  The first campground has the only 50amp sites long enough for big rigs, but there were no water/sewer hookups.  The park is very nice with history and hiking/biking trails, horse-back riding, an airport, playgrounds, camp store, boat launch and 2 sand beaches (man-made).  The shower house near Campground #1 was just nasty…..funny story though…….as I was entering the ladies side to shower one morning the door was latched  from the inside.  An older gentleman and his wife came to the door, unlatched it and left together —- whaaaattttt?

We did have fun during the weekend meeting up with friends we haven’t seen in a year or so, checking out some of our previous hang-outs and just relaxing.  No more coughing, feeling better every day.

Mission Accomplished.

Missouri (pronounced: misery)

We spent about 5 days outside St. Louis at Babler State Park; we were there for doctor’s appointment and business calls.  Luckily (or really unluckily) I had gotten bronchitis the week before and really needed to see my doctor for my annual physical which turned out to be a sick visit.  Cough medicine & antibiotics in hand, I spent most of the week in the RV resting/coughing.  Barry also started coughing and his doctor gave him the same regime.  We did not get to see our family or friends this week, we were just too sick………so, we got ready to leave the area

But, not before we spent a day at our Favorite RV repair shop!  Chris at The Motorhome RV Store in Eureka has proven to be worth his weight in gold for us!  Remember that wiper motor that we tried to get North Trail to replace?  Done!  Wipers facing up and down?  Fixed!  All in one day!  I have learned my lesson and will only use Chris to work on my coach from now on!

While in St. Louis, we also sold 2 of the remaining Big Three Things to Sell:  2014 Subaru and 65″ Samsung 5K TV!  For the last 7 months, I have advertised the Subbie and had only limited offers; sadly, Barry turned down the early offers in the hope we could get more money, we just cleared enough to pay off our loan.  Finally, a guy contacted us from my cars.com ad and I was able to sell him my 2nd favorite car (I loved my 2000 VW the most!).

2014 Subaru Forester AWD – TURBO!!

He had also vacillated about selling the giant TV.  I bought it before he had knee replacement surgery 2 years ago to help him recuperate better.  He had high hopes he could, somehow, configure the RV to get that beast in it.  I knew otherwise…….it would be like have a drive-in movie screen outside garage…..just too big!  A friend of our son, Drew, contacted me from a FB Marketplace add and bought that giant beast the next day!  Add to that the $$ we got from our friend who sells our stuff on Craigslis and we are getting closer to our goal of full-time RV living!

That’s a Big TV!! 65″ Samsung 5K Curved Screen HDTV!

The last thing of the Big Three Things to Sell is our home.  We have discusssed our house with so very many people and, after interviewing a third realtor, decided to get more realistic about that sale.  Here are the issues:

1. 3.35 Acres — Young families want a subdivision for their kids
2. No Basement — Many St. Louis area natives feel they Need a Basement.  The fact that we have so much storage space everywhere and it is dry does not count for much.
3. Baby Boomers — We are at the end of the Boomer Generation and no one our age wants a big house, they are all down-sizing also.
4. Millinials — This is our target audience….someone who wants the seclusion of acreage, the room for teenagers to spread out, and the convenience of being close to St. Louis amenities.
5. Price — We started at $400,000 at the advice of two different realtors….and have gradually moved it down to $375K.  The third realtor, who specializes in homes on acreage, added up the above factors and feels we are still too high. 😦

Yes, we are leaving this piece of paradise for Full-Time RV Living!

 

We have dropped the price to $367,000 and driven away…….hopefully Someone, Somebody Special, will come to love our house as much as we have done.

 

Sweet TN Tea

We spent Father’s Day weekend in Nashville with our youngest son and his girlfriend.  After the last time here, I looked only at Corps of Engineers’ campgrounds around the  big lakes and found a very nice spot at Cedar Creek Campground on Old Hickory Lake.

 

Although the road in was NARROW, with no shoulder and a couple of 90º turns, the campground is lovely.  There are lots of trees and the sites are mostly in circles with water and electric hookups, good satellite visibility but no WiFi.  Our site (#38) had a little peek at the lake from the front window, with a large fire pit and chat-gravel picnic area.  If we would return here, I would try to get the lakeside sites first, much larger and they all look right out on the lake.  There are nice shower-houses, a sand volleyball court, public beach and boat ramp here also.  Apparently the Cedar Creek Marina has a kick-ass  breakfast which we will try next time here!

See the Lake behind that TN Vols camper?

We agreed to tour Greenbrier Distillery for Father’s Day and booked our tour for 2:30 pm.  We have toured other distilleries in this area and this one has a great history of money made and lost and found (greenbrierdistillery.com); however, they are very proud of their product.  We did not want to spend $80/bottle for good whiskey and had to leave it there after our tasting.  P.S. The tasting starts with white whiskey which is basically liquid fire and then progresses to the good stuff.  I don’t know why though, my taste buds were burned off after that first sample!

The distillery is in a little industrial-turned-retail area and is next to a huge old brick building that was formerly home of the Marathon Motor Car factory.  It has been reconfigured into offices and shops, a wine house, deli, etc..  Although it was raining outside (well that’s no surprise), the entire place is under roof and you can pop into each spot easily.  The Antique Archeaology shop here is a pickers store and fun to visit.

Great old building

Marathon Motor Cars

After we left the area, we met some of Tyler’s friends, Adam & Amanda, for dinner at Five Points Pizza.  Delicious pie, NY style with great toppings!!  They serve Garlic Knots as an appetizer; big pizza dough rolls tied in knots brushed with basil and garlic butter and served with a side of their very fresh tomato sauce.  Great stop even with a 45 minute wait!  They also serve my personal favorite: sweet southern tea!  I have been drinking that since I got off the bottle as a baby and can’t imagine having to do without it!  By the way, adding sugar at the table to a glass of unsweet tea is not the same!

We left Nashville on Monday morning and headed north to Illinois to work for a week there.  I will bet the sun will shine on us as we move and work!

Alatoona

After we left Ft. Myers, FL, we wanted to get to Nashville in 2 days and needed to put some miles on the coach.  We got as far as Tampa on Wednesday evening and “dry-camped” (no hookups) in a nice Cracker Barrel parking lot just off the highway.  The parking is free and meals are always easy at Cracker Barrel.  After breakfast, we got back on Interstate 75 and continued north toward Georgia.  It was our first time to drive north through Atlanta with the RV and neither of us were looking forward to the traffic in the coach with the toad (car we tow) behind us.  No matter how I try, I always seem to get into a big city at rush hour and this was no exception.  There are a couple of constants in Atlanta:  tons of traffic and road construction.  They have so very many roads and highways there and they are always, always crowded!  

Typical Atlanta Traffic

Tail lights, police rushing to accidents, drivers cutting across all the lanes, and, of course, drivers who pull out in front of the RV.  I always leave a couple of car lengths between me and the car in front; it’s just safer.  But there are always people who feel like that open spot belongs to them and in they fly.  With the toad behind me, I do not like to have to lay on the brakes that hard and wish people would give me the space!  Even though there are so very many highways around Atlanta, every one of them is always crowded and between 4:00 and 7:00 every night, it is much worse.  They are building a new baseball stadium just north of Atlanta and, of course, are building new highway lanes to accommodate that traffic……road construction is a constant here!

51 minutes to drive 24 miles!!!!!

 I found a campground just north of Atlanta on Alatoona Lake and we pulled in around 6:30.  I took a water/electric only site to save $$ and we parked looking towards the water.  The road in was a windy little thing with a railroad crossing, but once in the campground, it was lovely.  The site was a good size, it was shady and cool near the water.  Tall pine trees shaded everything and campfire smoke began to fill the air.  Ahhhhhhhhh…….easy to relax.

Nice view of the lake

The next morning we headed out to drive to Chattanooga and then west toward Nashville.  Another reason we have avoided the Atlanta route is the mountains around Chattanooga. We have not really had the coach in big mountains yet and didn’t know what to expect. In this time line, though, this was the shortest and fastest way to Nashville from Tampa.  We learned that the RV has an engine brake (not a Jake brake) and used that to manage the drive down the mountains around Chattanooga.  It held the engine in check, did not require Barry to used the brakes, and kept us a nice slow speed down the other side.  Nashville here we come!