The Ice Storm on the First Day of Winter 2013

Winter came in like a lion on December 21, 2013.  The rain came down and down and down and froze all over the trees.  Although it was pretty and didn't have a huge affect on the roads (except bridges and overpasses) it was horrible for the trees.  In the RV park we stay in near Blanchard, OK it devastated probably 80% of them.  So very sad.  The good news is that it doesn't appear that any of the RVs

or vehicles were harmed.  The few vehicles that had tree limbs come down on them, had them come down softly rather than cracking and falling several feet.  

The owner of the park told me that she has seen it worse one time and that was about 2006 or 2007 and that the trees actually recovered.  It just takes so long.

I assume we will see and hear lots of chain saws once the ice has melted.  Most will have to be cut way back if not all the way to the trunk. There are a few that will have to be sawed down completely.  

When the storm started it dawned on us that we had not topped off our gas tank in the RV the last time we were on the road and we only had 1/4 tank of gas in it.  Ugh!  The generator will not run with only 1/4 of a tank and if the power goes out we are in a bit of a jam.  We certainly did not want to have to winterize the RV in the dark and freezing temps and have to find a place to go until the power came back on.  So off to Walmart John went to get some gas cans and gas.  He arrived home safely with 15 gallons of gas if we needed it.  We then found out from the park owner that they typically do not lose power in the park in ice storms and that she had lots of gas for us to use if needed.  She has it for all their heavy equipment they use in the park.  In the end the power only blipped off and on twice and for a very short time so all was good and we didn't need to fire up the generator.  

I wonder what is in store for us the rest of the winter.  Hopefully not more ice storms.  Snow is not a problem but I sure hope the ice and these bitter cold temps we have been experiencing are over.  Looking forward to sun the rest of this week and warmer temps.  They are predicting 60 degrees in a few days.  Awesome.  

Winter Has Arrived on December 5, 2013

Well winter has arrived with brute force on December 5, 2013.  This is our 3rd winter in our motorhome and I think this one is going to be the hardest so far.  Winter for the last 2 years wasn't bad -- very little ice or snow.  I'm not sure that will be the case this time around.  An arctic blast has blanketed a huge part of the country and we will not see anything above freezing for a week.  This is the coldest we have seen here in 30 years.  Our days are going to be in the low 20s and our nights as low as single digits.  I'm very happy we live in kind of a deep hole between two major roads so we are protected from the wind.  While others are seeing 15 mph or more we are well under 10 mph so wind chill isn't much of a factor here like in the city or up on the hills.  


Yesterday we saw some freezing rain and mostly sleet but this morning woke up to 1-2" of snow and it is still lightly snowing. It's very pretty and about 20 degrees.  We are having to put sweaters and winter coats on the dogs to take them outside.

This week we are dog sitting for some friends who are on a cruise in the western Caribbean.  Boy are they in for a shock when they arrive home Sunday!!  So we have 3 dogs to get ready to walk each time they need to go out but they seem to like playing in the snow.  

Life in a motorhome in this type of weather can be interesting.  Since this is the coldest we have ever experienced it makes me a bit nervous but so far so good.  We are under a metal cover that has metal walls around it on the bottom as well so we are a bit more protected than the others in the park.  We have a thermostatically controlled heated hose hooked up so we don't have to wrap our hose.  Where we connect to the water is in a hole in the ground that is quite deep with a cover on top of it and that seems to work well keeping that part from freezing up as well.  We are leaving all the lights on in our storage bays to give it all a bit more heat underneath and we have central heat that heats up where all the water pipes are underneath.  Where we hook up the hose to the coach is behind a bay door and when you open that up and feel the area with your hand it all seems to be warm as well.  So hopefully we should be good to go with the pipes not freezing up.

Inside we are needing to keep all the night shades pulled down to help hold the heat in a bit better since our windows are single pane which is a bit of a downer.  I love light and want to be able to see the snow but it just makes it harder to heat.  We finally broke down and are running a space heater at the front of the coach where it is the draftiest.  So all that is left is putting on some extra clothes and watching the level of the propane tank.  We have a wonderful guy that delivers propane directly to us once a week but I'm sure he would come on an off day if we were running out.

For all of you that are experiencing this very cold weather, stay warm and safe.

The Cold Nights Have Arrived

We are having a magnificent Fall season this year.  I love the cooler temps.  The days are warm enough not to need a coat and the evenings and nights are crisp - sweatshirt weather.  John and I have taken so many walks with the dogs enjoying the outdoors.  This week the temps are now taking a bit of a bigger dive and we have had a couple of nights below freezing so winter is coming.

The first weekend in November we were able to drive down the Talimena scenic drive from Talihina, Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas and it delivered!  The colors were amazing.  After arriving in Mena we traveled up to Fort Smith which was also very pretty and spent the night there before heading home the following morning. 

The thermostatically controlled heated hose is plugged in, the blankets and warm jackets are out and ready to use and the propane tank is full so we are ready for the winter to come. Our last two winters in the RV have been pretty mild with respect to snow and ice - not like the winter we had 13" of snow on Christmas Eve!  We were still in our house then.  Everybody is saying we are supposed to have a hard winter so we may get a taste of some significant snow and ice this year.  At least we are parked under a metal cover so that should protect us a bit from it piling up on top of our coach. 

We are in the process of downsizing some of our vehicles and things.  We have had two cars where we live in Newcastle and another vehicle at our lot near Lake Arbuckle that we use to get around down there and it tows our boat and waverunner.  This past week we traded one of our cars off for a Jeep Wrangler and hopefully have a buyer for our vehicle at our lake lot.  Now all we need are buyers for our motorcycle and our car and bike hauler that we use behind our RV.  So the jeep will replace our motorcycle -- we can take the top off and have 4 wheels under us instead of 2.  It will be nice to be down to two vehicles.  We can tow the jeep behind the RV with all 4 wheels on the ground which will be much easier than loading it on a trailer. 

John has Thanksgiving off so we are hoping the weather is good enough for us to travel to our lake lot in Sulphur and spend the holiday there.  I hope all of you have had a wonderful Fall season as well. 

Our Fall Vacation

Our fall vacation was kind of a staycation.  We and the girls spent a week at our lot in Cedar Blue near Lake Arbuckle (Sulphur, OK).  It was an absolutely gorgeous week.  Temps were in the 60s to 70s during the day and sunny with lows in the 40s and 50s at night.  We enjoyed the outdoors for hours each day and the girls just ran and wrestled with each other.  They slept like logs at night.

We got some projects done.  We cleaned out our storage shed and filled up the back of the SUV with lots of trash.  Wow, you can actually move around in the shed now and find things!  I painted the trim on it as well.  John setup a new more permanent system for running our sewer hose from the RV so he doesn't have to crawl under it anymore.  The boat went to the shop for a tune-up and winterizing and we cleaned up the lot and restacked the wood pile.  John finished up the projects by winterizing the waverunner.  The projects kept us from sitting on our blessed assurances too much! 

On Wednesday we took the girls with us to Pauls Valley and met John's sister, Jo Ann, at Wacker Park in where we ate lunch and enjoyed visiting for a couple of hours.  They have a pretty rose garden there and the smell of the roses was really nice.  On Thursday we drove to Gordonville, TX to check out the Cedar Mills Marina and Resort on Lake Texoma as a possible place to vacation next year.  After our big spree this year to Yellowstone, the Black Hills and the Badlands for two weeks we decided to find a nice RV park on a lake close by where we could easily drive the motorhome and a separate vehicle to pull the waverunner.  This place was very nice and had a small RV park with all the sites near the waters edge.  It's only about 75 miles south of us at Cedar Blue and it will be nice to enjoy the evenings by the water.  We plan to head that way in late June.  They have cabins so friends and family are more than welcome to join us!! 

Each evening this week we took the girls for a walk after dinner before the sun set and then enjoyed a campfire.  John and the girls laid in the hammock beside the fire while I bundled up with a blanket in a comfy chair next to it.   

On Saturday much needed rain came down. Poor little April she doesn't like storms and gets so nervous.  So a dose of Benadryl and snuggled in Daddy's lap made for a peaceful afternoon for her.  Our motorhome has a built-in unit on the dash that has the radio, camera screen, weather radio, etc.  Every time we have any weather that can set off a weather radio that unit just comes on automatically and the weather radio starts broadcasting for wherever we are.  It's wonderful and creepy at the same time that it can just come on automatically. 

Saturday afternoon we tried out the cafe at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur for lunch.  The prices were good as was the food.  The cafe has huge windows all around it that look out onto the beautiful grounds.  You can access the grounds and the cafe without having to pay any admission fees.  It's a very peaceful place to visit and the museum is very well done.  You should plan at least 3-4 hours if you visit the museum.  Lots to see.

We finally had to break out the winter jackets for ourselves and the girls Saturday night.  By early evening it was already down to the upper 40's once it got dark.  I love this time of year!

Sunday was another beautiful day and after church we finished up the rest of our projects and got to enjoy the afternoon.  We have decided to sell our motorcycle and SUV and get a used Jeep Wrangler.  So we cleaned up the SUV and took pictures so we could post them online.  The jeep will be safer than the motorcycle and we can still have fun with it, especially with the top off.  When we travel we plan to pull the jeep and hopefully find a good buy on a 3-wheel scooter as backup transportation/2nd vehicle if needed.      

On Monday vacation came to an end and we had to head back to the city.  It's a rare occasion that we actually stay close to home for a week's vacation but it was great and very restful.  Much more so than traveling around the country. 

The RV is in the Shop

We were finally able to drop off the RV to the truck repair center this past Sunday afternoon.  We were having mechanical problems with it and just needed to wait to repair it until we could stay with friends.  Bless these friends.  They are angels!  When an RV has to go in for repairs you are at the mercy of the repair shops and truck centers and it could be days or weeks before it is done.  So not having to incur the enormous costs of hotels (especially with dogs) is an incredible blessing.  It's so nice that we can give back to this couple by house and pet sitting for them when they are away.  They have 3 dogs, 3 cats and a bird so lots to take care of. 

On the way to the repair shop the problems were horrible and I was a bit concerned we wouldn't make it, but God answered prayer and we were able to drive the entire distance without the help of a tow truck, although it lurched, sputtered, quit running once and wouldn't restart for a bit.  We are being told they think it is a bad fuel pump so they are starting with that.  We pray that it's that simple but the symptoms definitely fit.  Just hard to imagine that a fuel pump would go bad on a brand new RV in the first 7 months.  Maybe we had some bad gas or something.

We are enjoying our time at our friend's home as are the girls.  Lots of animals for them to play with.  As you probably saw in my last post, Bailey had been attacked by a dog and gave us the scare of our life over Labor Day weekend.  She is finally back to her old self but it took a while.  Half way through the week after the attack she started to drink tons of water and was peeing everywhere, including on herself in her sleep.  She had also become very lethargic.  So back to the doggy ER for a slew of blood tests, urinalysis and ultrasound to see if there was more going on then we thought.  Thankfully, nothing showed up so we went with the easy and most obvious thing and that was to stop the steroid ointment I was rubbing on her belly.  Between it being rubbed onto her skin and her licking it, that was the most likely culprit.  So she got a good bath and sure enough, slowly but surely she started to improve and she is finally back to normal with some abdominal scars to show for it. 

We are hoping to get our house back on Friday so we can maybe get back down to our lake lot the following weekend.  We love our weekends there and miss them as we haven't been down there in a month.  Since putting in the tornado shelter we have been tossing around ideas of what to do with the yard to make it more attractive and cover up the large cement shelter in the middle of it.  We have come up with some ideas but until we can get back down there to measure some things it's really hard figure out what we can do.  I think one tends to think there is more space then there really is when all you can do is visualize it in your mind.  So I see a new project on the horizon.

While we have been staying with our friends I have had a chance to really dig into my large and tedious job of scanning all our photo albums as well as my Mother's albums.  They have been stored in these people's garage for two years and I have been very slow to get through this project.  So we hauled our printer/scanner with us and I have spent many hours this week scanning and enjoying the pictures.  In fact I've set some albums aside to look through with my sisters when they visit next spring.  It will be fun to reminisce.  We had several large boxes of albums stored and I had gotten through some of them prior to this visit but today I am now down to one box!!  Amazing.  We will be spending 1 1/2 weeks here in October house and pet sitting for them while they are away so I hope to bring an end to this project during that time.  We'll see.  The albums are too heavy and take up too much space in the RV to keep them so digitizing them makes the most sense.  Then we can burn them to discs to share with the family if they want any of them.  After all how many times does one really get out all the family photo albums to look at them.  Not very often!  Aren't computers awesome. 

Signing off for now.  Have a great week.

Labor Day Weekend 2013

Labor Day Weekend is coming to an end and overall we had a nice weekend.  We took in a movie on Friday and saw The Butler.  It was a good movie and the time passed quicker than I expected.  We left the theater experiencing a lot of emotions though.  Both of us grew up in the time period the movie covers but didn't personally experience the horrors that black people experienced.  I was raised in Minnesota and don't recall having any black people in our city so all I knew was what I saw on TV and at my age I wasn't much interested in watching the news.  We also didn't have to deal with integration at our schools or anywhere else that I recall - including the counters at Woolworths!  I recommend seeing the movie.

We enjoyed an afternoon in the pool and eating pizza with friends on Saturday.  The girls were able to go with us and Bailey seemed to enjoy being carried in the pool since it was hot.  The two girls chased each other around the pool and had a good time as well.  We hadn't had any time in the last few months to just relax with our friends and enjoy each other's company so it was a nice way to end the day.

Sunday started out as a good day with Sunday School and church but it didn't end on such a good note.  After dinner I was walking the girls in the RV park on leashes when I came upon one of our neighbors out walking his dog as well.  His dog is about twice the size of ours but the three of them had interacted before and seemed to get along just fine.  The two of us visited for a bit while the dogs hung out.  The owner of the park came by on her golf cart to see our girls and while they were jumping up on her and she was egging them on this guy's dog suddenly grabbed Bailey by what appeared to be her ear and started hauling on her.  She started yelping and while his owner was trying to get her off Bailey she then grabbed her by the rear leg and abdomen.  Bailey was screaming at this point and I thought we were going to watch her die.  I was able to reach down and grab this dog's mouth and she let go and didn't attack me - thank goodness although I wouldn't have cared if it saved Bailey.  Poor Bailey was a bit bloody on her abdomen and vaginal area but it all appeared to be surface wounds.  Everybody felt horrible as this attack was totally unexpected.  The dog's owner thinks she went into protective mode when the girls were jumping on the park owner.  We went ahead and took her to the doggie ER as I was pretty sure we would need antibiotics at the very least.  Bailey never yelped or acted like she was in pain once away from the dog which was a relief.  After a thorough checking over they felt she was fine and gave her antibiotics, some pain meds and some ointment for her injuries.  The dog's owner also paid our vet bill which was nice of him. 

A lot of people who come into the park have dogs but we probably will not allow our girls to interact with them from this point on.  This was just too close for us and they have each other to play with as well as some other doggie friends they we see all the time. 

Today we started the day by making hotel reservations for when my sisters and their husbands plan to visit in March and April of next year.  Can't wait for them to come.  Should be fun.  My Aunt, who is 85, may also join us but that remains to be seen.  I'm hoping her health is such that she will come.  Then we took the girls to visit a nice lady that Bailey and I met at the hospital after the tornadoes.  She is now in a rehab center and doing well.  She was in a vehicle that got hit by one of the tornadoes and ended up a paraplegic.  She had a dog with her that was gone and she was unable to look for her.  To add to all this she isn't from this area.  My hats off to the Red Cross and FEMA as this sweet lady had no income and didn't live here and they were able to secure her hospital care and now rehab as her life has drastically changed.  They are also helping to get her disability.  Another feel good part to this story is one of her PT folks at the hospital went out and found her dog amazingly enough and is fostering it for her so she gets to see the dog about once a week.  We had a nice visit with her today and she is getting herself around in a wheelchair.  They are working with her to learn how to take care of herself as well as how to get around out in the community.  The Red Cross is also working with her to get her relocated to her home state with a family member when she is ready to be moved.  WOW is all I can say.  She had a big smile and has always had a great attitude throughout all of this.  She is a joy to visit.  I know she would like to go to a park or something so I hope we can take her out sometime to do that or maybe a movie or something.  I hope that she can put all this to use to help others who are paralyzed to learn how to cope.

After visiting with this lady we swung by my youngest son's house to see where he now lives and visit with him for a while.  It was so nice to see that he was getting along just fine and paying his own way.  He has rented a house and fixed it up a lot including putting in central air.  It was nice and clean and he had done well finding ways to furnish it.  He also has a couple of jobs.  One is with a demolition company that is obviously keeping very busy with all the places that were hit by the tornadoes and the other is a dozer company.  It seems like both of my sons have a knack for running heavy machinery and both have CDLs. 

We ended the day with the same friends we saw on Saturday and with some more of their family for a swim and cookout.  Since the party was at a family member's home that has dogs ours have not met we decided they needed to stay home where they are safe and sound. 

Back to work tomorrow and really looking forward to that colonoscopy I have to have on Thursday!  NOT!  Just routine but absolutely hate the prep. 

A Day at Lake Murray and Taking the RV in for Repairs

We have been back from vacation for a few weeks now and been able to head south to our RV lot at Cedar Blue the last two weekends.  If you have been following my blog you know we had a couple of problems with the RV on vacation when it wouldn't start.  Well on our way home from Cedar Blue two weeks ago the engine just quit running right outside where we park in the city.  Thankfully it started right back up after we got it stopped and into park.  This past weekend on our way down and back we noticed the engine kind of like doing quick stalls several times.  Like skipped heart beats.  And again, on our way home while just traveling down the highway it quit running but started right back up after getting stopped.  I sure hope the repair garage can figure out what is going on.

So this is the inconvenient part about living in an RV - especially a motorhome.  The RV dealers aren't equipped to work on engines or the chassis so either they take the RV to a truck center or we do.  We are hoping whatever this is that the warranty covers it, so we have to find a truck center that is an authorized Ford repair garage which is even more limiting.  We also have to plan to be out of it for a while as many of these truck centers don't seem to care that you live in your RV.  At least the place we are going to say they will look at it on the day of the appointment.  Another place we have used makes  appointments but when you drop it off it doesn't seem to have any meaning and you just go into a cue which could be 2 weeks out!  Crazy.  We have an appointment after Labor Day and all they will tell us is they will take a look at it on the day of the appointment but make no promises after that, which I understand.  They have to diagnose, possibly order parts and repair it so it could be a day or it could be two weeks.  Who knows.  We are so very very very thankful for friends that open their home to us dogs and all when we need help and we reciprocate by house and pet sitting when they have to be gone.  They have 3 dogs, 3 cats and a bird so boarding could be really pricey for them.  We are more than happy to house and pet sit for them in their beautiful home. 

We are planning to entertain ourselves here in the city for a few weekends and then take a week in October and spend it at Cedar Blue.  We haven't seen the art museum or the bombing memorial and there are movies we want to see as well, so plenty to do around here.  We can also get some motorcycle riding in as well.  Hopefully we will get back to our lake lot sometime in September though.

During our week down there I hope to paint the trim on the shed and completely clean out and reorganize the shed.  It will be nice and cool for that project then.  We also plan to drive to Lake Texoma and scout out an RV resort to vacation at.

This past weekend we went with another couple to Lake Murray on Saturday with our waverunners and had fun.  We started with lunch in the lodge there which was good and reasonably priced.  Then off to the lake.  We had learned that it was down 5 feet and that lake is already known for shallow spots and weeds so that added a bit of stress as we had to be vigilant watching for weeds and shallow spots.  It all paid off though and we didn't get hung up in either.  Thank goodness because pulling weeds out of a waverunner can take a long time.  The water in that lake is crystal clear and a really pretty blue.  I look forward to being able to head back there next year in hope that it is full so we can relax a bit more.

The size and number of the houseboats in the marina there is mind boggling for the size of the lake.  We found several of them lashed together in a cove across from the marina.  The lake also has floating cabins in one of the coves.  They have decks and you can tie off your boats to them as well.  What a neat idea!  At one point we came across this guy who seemed to have jet packs on his feet and was way up in the air.  He was definitely causing a crowd of boats.  We have since learned they are called fly boards and are powered from a waverunner.  You have to google them.  They sell for a mere $6600!  It seemed like he was just learning how to use it and spent a lot of time tipping into the water.  He had to be tired.  We ended our day having a nice dinner at an out of the way Italian restaurant in Ardmore and then headed for the house. 

On Sunday morning we tried out a Sunday School class at Crossway Baptist Church in Sulphur and everybody was so nice.  We have been attending services there for a while when we are in Sulphur and love the preaching.  The Pastor is great to listen to.    So I think we may have found a place to create some friendships while in Sulphur.  The church is amazing in that it is very mission minded including sending people overseas as well as around the country and right at home in Sulphur.  Their beautiful new church is also debt free. 

Well that's enough for now.  I hope you have a great week. 
 
 

Our New Tornado Shelter

We finally bit the bullet and had a tornado shelter installed on our RV lot at Cedar Blue!  I cannot tell you how much comfort this gives us.  It's not pretty but if it gives us a place to go in high winds and tornadoes then it is totally worth it.  Cedar Blue has 600 lots in it and they have one tornado shelter that might hold 25 people.  In the 15 years we have owned this lot we have only had to leave our RV twice.  Once for high winds and we just sat in the car and once for a possible tornado and the rain was coming down so hard late at night that we cold only see a few feet in front of the car to drive the half mile to the shelter and then we couldn't find it.  Seriously!  The rain was coming down so hard we had no idea where to go so just sat it out in the car and prayed.  So now we have our own place to go. 

It's a 6x8 shelter that can hold about 9 people with room for our dogs in crates behind the stairs.  We have a couple of neighbors that we have shared the lock combo with so they can use it as well, if needed. 

The company that installed it actually had it done from start to finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes!  That included feathering the large amount of leftover dirt out across the hard.  What was really nice was that the didn't hit any large rocks while digging the hole.  This area is noted for lots of big rocks in the ground so once again prayers were answered. 

You can see from the pictures that it really is a monstrosity and has absolutely no asthetic value but in time we plan to grow some grass around it, plant some flowers and shrubs and try to pretty it up a bit.  I'm thinking about painting it green as well to help it blend into the ground.  They told us everything would settle a few inches so for now we are just going to let it sit and possibly this fall or next spring start to pretty it up.  I'm hoping it adds value to the lot should we decide to sell at some point. 

So now we have a tornado shelter at both the place we stay in Newcastle and Cedar Blue so to our family and friends - we are completely protected!

I want to also give a shout out to Oklahoma Shelters out of Crescent, OK.  When I was searching the web for places that might come to Cedar Blue I found this place and it is several miles north of Oklahoma City -- Cedar Blue is 80 miles south of the city.  I emailed them over a weekend and had a response with prices in less than a day.  They were very responsive by email and didn't seem to mind all my questions.  They didn't require a down payment and I was able to pay the installers out here in the boonies with a credit card and got this for under $3,000!  Money well spent don't you think?  You can also get shelters that have a flat surface (kind of flush with the ground) but I was concerned about flooding so didn't opt for that one although it would have been 'prettier'. 

John has been trying to figure out how to have a bath tub so I told him if he could come up with a pumping system maybe he could fill it with water, enjoy it and then pump it out! 

If you read any of my blogs about our recent trip you know that I beat my poor body up pretty good with a bruised bone in my foot, a cut foot, an infected leg and a bad back.  Well while cleaning up after the shelter install I slashed open the tip of my finger badly (yes the rock was dirty) so decided it was time for a tetanus shot.  I probably should have had the finger looked at but cleaned it as best as I could and bandaged it up.  We headed to a Walgreens in Ardmore and both of us got tetanus shots, had a nice dinner at Luigis and called it good.  I was already on antibiotics for my leg so I pray this will heal with no problems.

As I'm sitting her writing this on our deck the hummingbirds are enjoying the feeders.  One of them keeps flying almost up to me on the deck so I can almost reach out and touch it.  They don't seem the list bit bothered by me sitting here.  Very cool!

 

 

 

The End of Our Vacation

On our final day in the Black Hills we decided to take the girls and go for a ride to the Badlands.  This was about a 2-hour drive each way so we knew it was an all day event.  The ride up to Rapid City was pretty but from that point until we were close to the Badlands was pretty boring.  The Badlands, however, were neat to see.  Out there in the middle of nowhere are these very large stone spires and canyons.  For quite a bit of the ride we were on top of the ridge with this spires and canyons on the left and acres of grassy fields on the right.  There were beautiful colors of reds and yellows in the rock.  Archaeologists have found many fossils throughout this area.  After we finished the drive we headed up to Wall Drug which was an interesting place.  This was just a small drug store purchased by a couple in 1931.  For the first five years the store brought in no business.  The town was very small and there was no reason for outsiders to come in.  However, with the opening of Yellowstone and a highway nearby, they started marketing the business by putting up lots of signs on the highway offering free ice water.  Remember, folks traveling to Yellowstone were in old old cars and it was a long, hot, dusty drive.  The free ice water did the trick and while folks were in the store they started to purchase other items such as snacks.  Now it is a booming business with a restaurant, tons of souvenirs, and more.  As my sister said to me, it's the signs you see on the road that make it even more interesting.  I believe it is the fourth generation of the family that still runs the business.  We loaded up the girls in their stroller and headed into the store to check it out. 

On our way back to the campground we made a stop at a wood carver's outdoor business that we had been eyeing and bought two adorable carvings of bears.  One for our deck at Cedar Blue and the other for our place in Newcastle.  Can't wait to get them displayed.

Friday morning we headed out for the Grand Island KOA which is where we spent our first night on the road.  Of course we lost an hour on that trip when we drove back into Central Daylight Time.  Yuk!  The drive down to I-80 was pretty nice.  I had no idea that Nebraska could be so pretty and hilly.  Right before we got to I-80 we came into Oshkosh and stopped at a place out in the country for gas as they had lots of room for the RV.  While there one of the owners had to come out and see the girls.  So they got a bit of loving from her.  Inside they had a very clean little cafe so we had lunch as well.  Then we made a bit of a detour and drove along the north side of a lake that appears to be the largest lake in the State.  John loves lakes so he enjoyed the drive.  The road took us across the dam at the end of the lake and out to I-80.  We don't know if the lake was really low in water or if there was supposed to be as much white beach as we saw but it was interesting.  We arrived at the KOA about 7 pm.  They made and delivered pizza at this place so we had a pizza delivered to the RV for dinner, washed the windshield and front of the motorhome off and called it a night.

I had to end the vacation with one last injury.  After I washed the front of the RV and went inside to sit down I pulled a back muscle when sitting.  Ouch!  It smarted.  At least it was on our way home.  I got some rest and John drove the first half of our final day.  Then we stopped for gas and yes - the RV would not start!  Ugh.  While I was on the phone with roadside service John messed with the ignition enough that it finally started up.  Thank goodness we had enough gas to get us the rest of the way home.  During our brief stops to walk the girls and eat lunch we just left it running and arrived home with a quarter of a tank left! 

We had a wonderful vacation and thank the Lord for blessing us in so many ways - for a safe trip and so  many beautiful creations of His to see. 

Our Stay in the Black Hills

Since I have so many pics in this blog they don't follow with the stories.

On Monday, July 22nd, we drove from Buffalo, WY to Custer, SD.  It was the shortest drive of our trip and uneventful, thank goodness. The Lord has blessed our vacation and kept His angels around us the entire trip. 

We stayed in another KOA just west of Custer and it was gorgeous.  Completely filled with tall, beautiful pine trees. We had a wonderful pull through site that was so long we didn't need to unhook the car hauler and we had the car and motorcycle parked in front of the RV with room for more if we needed it.  We were also right by the laundry and if you have been keeping up with us you know that Thursday night is - yep, laundry night!  Everywhere I looked out of the RV I saw pine trees.  I think I could have spent a lot of time there and never leave the RV!  They had an enormous area for the dogs to run with big cement trenches around it to help keep the dogs in.  Bailey and April thought it was great to be able to run like the wind.

On our first night there we treated ourselves to dinner out.  So we rode the motorcycle into town with the plan to eat dinner, check out the town and buy some groceries.  However, after dinner we saw some nasty looking storm clouds rolling in so decided to head for the house.  We had a chance to walk the dogs and sit outside a bit but then it started to rain so we enjoyed the beautiful sound of rain - just rain - hitting the roof of the RV.  It was so nice to have just a nice steady rain with no serious wind, hail or tornadoes.  I loved it. 

Before we left on vacation we bought a Tailgater satellite dish to use while we are on the road.  We have the regular house-type satellite dishes at our place in Newcastle as well as our lot at Cedar Blue but those are too cumbersome to haul around with us.  The tailgater can be picked up with one finger, it's so light and it's all automatic.  We don't have to track down the satellites.  We just need to be sure the handle is pointed north so we have to be sure that there are no obstructions to the south.  We do have to call Dish each time we relocate so they can send us the local channels for our location but that's just a quick phone call.  It has worked out very well and Dish has a plan designed for RVers that's very affordable.  It took John a bit when we arrived in Custer, though, to get it set where there were no obstructions with all the trees but with a bit of persistence and a phone app that sees the satellites he finally had success.  It wouldn't be a good night if my Sweetie didn't have TV.

We had three full days there so we sawe Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, took a nice motorcycle ride through Custer State Park and down Iron Mountain road and Needles Highway that was recommended.  What we realized was there is a lot to see and three full days is not enough time so we will need to return.

On Tuesday we took the motorcycle to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  Those places are amazing.  It just boggles my mind that people would carve faces in the sides of these huge masses of rock just like it boggles my mind how men built the Hoover Dam.  I have included a pic of the eye of one of the faces so you can see how they made the pupils.  While we were at Mt. Rushmore we took the 1/2 mile presidential trail that goes up to the bottom of the rock that they are carved on.  It was a great walk but there were a ton of steps going down.  Not normally a big deal but now the bone behind my large left toe is all inflamed from that walk and it smarts to walk on it.  John, being an orthotist, has fixed up the padding in my tennis shoe and I bought a pair of Nike flip flops with a lot of padding as well so hopefully it will get better soon.  There were several steps back up on the trail as well but nothing like what we had to walk down.  We just took it slow and easy. 

Following that we biked over to Crazy Horse.  That was also amazing.  This monument is a long way from being done as they rely 100% on donations of cash, gifts, and the proceeds from entrance fees and purchases in the park.  There are no state or federal funds going toward this as the person who started this project would not allow it.  They had photos of it at various stages and when I visited it as a small child I now realize there was not much to see.  The face of Crazy Horse was not unveiled until 1998 - after John and I were married!  I have shown a picture I took of a sculpture of Crazy Horse with the project in the background so you can see where they are and what the end product should look like.  Note the horse's head drawn on the rock in white.  Not sure it will be done in my lifetime.  The man sculpting this is now dead but his wife and 10 children are still alive and the wife and 7 of his children are continuing the project.  We could see a bulldozer up on the end of what is the arm.  Much of the work is done by blasting which I understand happens about once a week or so and when it does occur it is always at 11 am.  I guess that is so everybody below knows when to expect them.  I have shown another picture I took of a picture of the back side of the project where you can see there is a road up to it with a building up there where they work out of.  What was also interesting is that the faces on Mt. Rushmore only take up the space of Crazy Horse's face/feathers area so this project is going to be much much larger.  I have a hard time figuring out how you can work on say an eye which is much larger than yourself and get everything to scale.  What an undertaking and so much more so many years ago when they had more primitive equipment or no equipment to work with.  The stories are very interesting.

That evening we had a campfire and just enjoyed sitting outside with the girls and visiting with folks that walked by.  We met so many campers on our trip from all over -- Iowa, Texas, Montreal, Kansas, Indiana, Minnesota, China, New Jersey.  We heard many different languages as well.

On Wednesday we took the bike for a long scenic ride much of which was through Custer State Park.  We drove on Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway all of which was 35 mph at the most.  The roads were winding with tons of S curves, many of which had to be taken at 10 mph with several switchbacks.  It was gorgeous.  The nice thing about riding on the back of a motorcycle through something like that is I can take lots of pictures while we are moving.  We went through six single lane stone tunnels none of which our RV would have fit through.  Some were not even wide enough for our 101" but none of them were tall enough for the 13' clearance we need.  We arrived at one of the tunnels that was only 10' tall and very narrow and here was a Class C RV driving through it.  Everybody that was stopped there were holding their breath as they weren't sure he would fit.  I have to wonder how many people have foolishly driving their RVs or towables up there and gotten stuck.  There isn't much you can do but go through or back up but either way there is going to be lots of damage.  I'm definitely sure many side view mirrors have met their demise in that tunnel.

We had thought about trying to go back to either Crazy Horse or Mt. Rushmore at night for their laser light show but these old bodies were just too tired in the evenings.  It was actually more enjoyable to sit out by the campfire and visit with the folks that walked by.   

Our KOA site in Buffalo

Today we headed to Buffalo, WY for one night before heading into the Black Hills.  We went from Cody to Billings and then onto Buffalo to go around the Big Horn mountains.  There are two routes through those mountains but I read about them and decided that was not the drive for us.  The owner of the park that we left also told us not to go over them.  Although we had quite a bit of up and down in the mountains, the motorhome handled it beautifully but it gets old after a few hours!  From what I understand we won't have much of that tomorrow.



When I booked our site at the Buffalo KOA the only one they had left for our rig plus what we were towing was their deluxe site - of which they only have one!  WOW!  It is fenced in with a fire pit and seating, a hot tub in a gazebo, tables and chairs, lounge chairs, a gas grill and some flowers.  The dogs get to run around off their leashes!  Since we are here only one night we don't unload our car or motorcycle so we have had the afternoon to enjoy the swimming pool, cook hamburgers on the grill and this evening we plan to use the hot tub.  Oh yes - and while I am writing this sitting outside in this nice area we are watching TV on our outside entertainment center on the RV. The only thing missing are our friends.   

So I look over at John and what are the girls doing?  Yep, sitting on his lap while he watches TV.  They have this entire yard to run around in and they are sitting in his lap!  What a great evening.

Our Last Day in Cody, Wyoming

Today was our last day in the Cody/Yellowstone area.  We took a side trip to Worland, WY today.  A few years ago we had a college student from Worland stay with us for about 2 years while she went to school.  During that time we also became friends with her parents who are no full-time RVers and living south of San Antonio.  We had heard so much about the place that we had to see it since we were so close.

On our way to Worland we noticed that our youngest dog, April, was not feeling well and panting excessively.  At first we didn't think much of it but after several miles this was continuing and she seemed to be having a hard time.  We knew we were getting close to Worland so we used our phone to find a vet in Worland and got them on the phone.  Of course it is Saturday and almost 11 am!  Vets usually close at noon.  They asked us some questions and told us to bring her right in.  Well we were still 30 miles out and I was really getting worried about her so I took my chances and stepped up the speed.  His office was on the outskirts of town but with the GPS programs we found it without any problem.  This guy was a good old large and small animal vet that you would expect to find in cowboy country.  He was wonderful with April and gave her a thorough examination.  He didn't find any other symptoms that concerned him and agreed with us that she probably ate something off the ground.  She had a bit of a fever which explained the panting.  He gave her three shots and sent us on our way with some antibiotic if she didn't improve.  He also asked us where we were staying, where we were headed and so on and told us he would be calling us tomorrow to check on her.  He also assured us that if we had any further problems we were to call him as he could find us vets along our way.  We were so appreciative for him and the lady in his office that assists him. 

After that we checked out Worland and all the places we had heard this family talk about and then headed back to the RV.  We didn't get back until about 3:30 pm.  We had a nice rest, then I fixed dinner and now we are sitting outside enjoying the breeze and cool temps while we look at the Absaroka Mountains.  It is just beautiful.

I don't recall if I told you about the weird house that is high on a hill immediately above our RV but it is very strange.  I've put a picture of it and an explanation about the guy that was building it in this blog.  There is also a web site (www.smithmansion.org) that this guy's daughter has telling more about the place but something just doesn't feel right about her site.  Her Dad was building this thing himself and died when he took a fall in 1992 while working on it.  So it was never finished.  She is living in an RV right beside the place we are staying in, directly under the house and it's just an RV in a field.  Nothing fixed up about it.  The web site looks nice and she is trying to raise money to finish the house and make it an art gallery.  So either she is not using the money or there have been no donations.  There is absolutely no work going on on this house and it has been over 20 years since he died.  All very odd.  The house is fascinating but creepy to look at and totally out of place out here. 

Tomorrow we head to the KOA in Buffalo, Wyoming for a night on our way to the Black Hills.  Supposedly the only site available when I booked it was a private site with our own hot tub.  We'll see.  Then onto the Black Hills for four nights then home.