Thursday, 5-19-11
This has been an interesting time in Kansas for us. We came early so we could get aclimitizede to the weather (figured to be much warmer than Oregon) and ride the Kansas roads. So far, nothing has worked out as we imagined.
First of all, the weather. Outside of the first 3 days, it's been more like Oregon than Kansas. This week, rainy and cool (in the 50's some). And the wind is always there. Yesterday we rode to Kensington again. Wind out of the east. Took 1:45 going into the wind (16.5 miles) and 1:07 coming back with the wind. Figured the wind at about 20 mph. Not many days without winds over 10 mph, and more with winds in the 15-20 mph range and gusts to 25-35. I am going to expect head winds almost every day during the ride across Kansas. Days without that will be a bonus. And, everyone says the heat will come, but we've only got about 2 weeks to make the transition to warmer, dry days. Actually, the cool is better to ride in, but 70 would be better than 50.
I, also, figured the hills would be a problem for us as we didn't have much training on anything more than "rolling" hills in Oregon. So far, we've ridden one day with some more substantial hills (last Monday when we rode to Stockton & back - just under 50 miles) than what lie just east of Phillipsburg. I am now confident that we will be able to get up and down the hills, at least in western Kansas. We may not be fast, but we will get there. I've had warnings about the hills in eastern Kansas, as they are at least steeper in general, and more of them. We'll see.
We didn't ride today (Thursday) and will not tomorrow as we will be out of town. But my sister-in-law has a ride planned for Saturday morning (meet at 6:30 am) and ride south to Hays (about 60 miles). Weather is supposed to be 10% chance of rain, 8-10 mph winds, and in the 70's. It will be a challenge for Rita and me. We have ridden the first 25 miles (to Stockton) last Monday, but there are some long hills leaving Stockton, and the next town, Plainville. This will be our second 60 mile ride since getting here, and probably the last. I think we'll be ok if we keep riding our 20 and 30 milers during the week.
We haven't done much interesting in the way of food except for the night we ate at the Kensington Legion hall. Kensington is a small enough town that there isn't a regular restaurant/cafe in town. There are 2 gas stations, and one of them serves meals. The Legion hall isn't open every night as a restaurant, but is on Fridays. So we (Rita, my mom, my brother Russ, and Russ' father-in-law, Fred) met Joan (Russ' wife) and 2 other women that rode their bikes the 15 miles from Phillipsburg to Kensington for supper at the Legion hall. Hamburgers, sandwiches, and salads are on the menu, along with some specials. That night lamb fries were a special. Feeling adventerous, I ordered the lamb fries. So did Fred, mom, and Russ. None of the others wanted to even taste the fries. They were good. Now I'm ready for calf fries or Rocky Mountain Oysters. Kind of wish we were going to be in Clayton, OK where there's a place that specializes in calf fries.
Monday, 5-23-11
Well, time to finish this. Rita, Joan, Michele, Charlene and I rode our bikes to Hays on Saturday - about 60 miles. All of us are going to ride the Bike Across Kansas in June, so this was a tune-up for that. On the preceeding Monday, Rita & I had ridden to Stockton & back. That's the first town on the way to Hays - about 23 miles. Left here at about 7 am and got to Stockton, had a short break, and headed for Plainville - about 15 miles - and another break. Left Plainville and headed to Hays - about 23 miles. (I know that doesn't add up to 60, but it's close.) About 5 miles outside Plainville Rita took a nasty spill. Broke her helmet, scraped her elbow pretty good and made everything else ache. Riding close to the edge of the pavement she ended up in the dirt to the right, and when she tried to come back on the pavement, the pavement was about 4" higher than the dirt, and her back tire kicked out and down she went. I was too close and I almost ran over her (still don't know how I missed - she kind of sprawled out in front of me), but then I went down, too, except I fell in the soft roadside dirt and was just fine. I guess a learning point of that is to fall in the soft dirt, it doesn't hurt near as much as the asphalt.
The local doctor thinks Rita had a mild concussion, nothing severe. She's feels below par and probably won't ride her bike for a few days. Hope this doesn't impact the ride in June.
The other thing going on now is all the severe weather in the midwest. Joplin, MO got hit by a tornado yesterday (up to 116 deaths so far). And so did Topeka, KS and Minneapolis, MN. Seems like every day a line of severe storms are being followed by all the local TV stations. We were in Grand Island, NE on Friday and drove through 2 patches of very heavy rain on the way home. And then on Saturday, just as we got back from the bike ride to Hays, a storm cloud NW of town blew through town about 30 minutes after we got back. Rained real hard for about 5-10 minutes. It's the kind of rain that will add up to 2+ inches if it stays around for 30-45 minutes. The most rain close to here was last week, 4+ inches about 40 miles east of here. I think we got about an inch from the same storm. Today has been pretty nice and warm. No bad weather here, at least right now.
The weather channel is showing tornado warnings in Oklahoma, Indiana and Pennsylvania for today. And strong storms a lot of places. Large hail, damaging winds and flooding. Midwest through the Ohio river valley through to the east coast. And tomorrow will be no different. Right now the death toll in Joplin is over 115. That's the most deaths for a tornado in a very long time. Hope the big ride doesn't get hit by bad weather. The ending town, LaCygne, is about 90-100 miles north of Joplin. So, bad weather on the eastern third of the ride would not be out of the question. Not much you can do if you're out in the open on your bike if something like that would happen. We'll have our cell phones and my brother Russ will be tracking our route (along with the ride organizers) and the weather. If anything happens, we should know about it in advance - we hope.
When Rita & I were in high school here there weren't any deer or turkeys around. Well, at least there weren't hunting seasons for them. But now, they're all over the place. Brother Russ came by yesterday afternoon to show us the 2 turkeys he shot just earlier - probably around 20 pounds each. He's gone out hunting a few times since we got here, this was the first time he got any shots off. Glad he got to clean them. He says most people only keep the breast meat. There's not much else on a wild turkey. The drumsticks are pretty small.
I guess that's it from storm central and the emergency room.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
2011 Kansas Reunion Trip #3
- Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
- Where the deer and the antelope play,
- Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
- And the skies are not cloudy all day.
- Chorus
- Home, home on the range,
- Where the deer and the antelope play;
- Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
- And the skies are not cloudy all day.
- "Home on the Range" is the state song of Kansas. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (1823-1911) originally wrote the words in a poem called "My Western Home" in the early 1870s in Smith County, Kansas [that's the county just east of Phillips county, where our hometown of Phillipsburg is]. The poem was first published in a December 1873 issue of the Smith County Pioneer under the title "Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam." The music was written by a friend of Higley's named Daniel E. Kelley. Higley's original words are similar to those of the song today but not identical. The song was adopted by settlers, cowboys, and others and spread across the USA in various forms. During the early 20th century, it was arranged by Texas composer David Guion (1892-1981) who is often credited as the composer. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947, and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West.
- Well children, that's today's history lesson. The test will follow...
- We've been home for 8 days now, and have seen highs in the mid-90's (last weekend), and highs in the mid-50's (today & tomorrow). Even had some rain a few days ago. Rain here, as opposed to the Mississippi river valley, is needed. The wheat looks good to Rita and me, but according to the locals it will all depend on how much moisture we get. Apparently, the wheat south of Kansas was being written off a while back, but now it looks like it will be worth cutting (harvesting).
- I was trying to get some of the local farm reports. You know futures for lean hogs, frozen pork bellies, feeder cattle and live cattle, wheat, soybeans, oats, barley & corn, but I can't figure out how to read them. You know you're in the midwest when the local news report goes to reading all that stuff.
- We have been able to ride our bikes quite a bit this last week. We both got about 160 miles in this week. The highlight was Thursday when we rode to Smith Center and back (about 62 miles) - the longest ride we've ever had. Was a bit windy, and it took us a bit longer on the way back. So we didn't ride on Friday and then rode to Kensington & back today with my brother's wife (about 32 miles) and that was a real treat! High of 55 degrees (thought we were back in Oregon - but it wasn't raining), but the worst was the wind. Don't have the numbers, but it had to be blowing 25 mph with gusts to 35. Going out was not so bad since the wind was out of the NNW, so we got a bit of a push from it. Took us an hour and 16 minutes to do 16.5 miles (about 13.25 mph). Coming back we got the benefit of a headwind and it took us an hour and 40 minutes (just over 10 mph). Never thought we'd get back. Don't want to do that again any time soon. But, we could have been riding north - right into the teeth of the wind. Might still be out there trying to get home!
- We've been mostly riding east & west. Most of the wind this week has been out of the north or south, and that's kept us from riding north & south where the bigger hills are. Monday looks promising as the weather report is suggesting winds only at about 11 mph. Early in the day will be less than 10. That would be a walk in the park compared to today. By Tuesday it will be up to 15+ and stay up there the rest of the week.
- When we ride across Kansas in June, my brother will drive our motor home from town to town. He's a bit nervous since he hasn't done that before, so we are thinking we'll go the the local high school parking lot tomorrow afternoon and let him have a try at doing some maneuvering there. Another time we will drive on some roads out of town. I don't think he will have too many problems, you just have to have time in the driver's seat. Hopefully, when we go to the starting town for the ride (about 200 miles) he will drive at least half of the way.
- Tomorrow morning I will make Aebelskivers for breakfast. Got my pan from mom last year. Had to promise to bring it back this year. If you don't know what aebelskivers are, they are Danish pancake balls. The pan used has 7 half sphere in it where you put the batter. You use something sharp and narrow (I use a wire cake tester) "stick" to turn the pancake a little bit at a time so the end result is a round ball pancake. You can use syrup or powdered sugar with them, but the tradition is to break them open and put some kind of jam/jelly/preserve in the middle, put it back together and then eat them. Very good.
- Well, that's about it for now. We're having a good time.
- rod, rita & lucy
Thursday, May 5, 2011
2011 Kansas Reunion Trip #2
We can honestly say this trip has been interesting from the start. First, the dining room side awning, and iffy weather (snow in Bend about every morning and so-so weather in Wyoming until last Monday). So we stayed 5 nights in Bend and left for Boise on Saturday morning. All was well and we stayed 2 nights, saw my cousin and husband, got a bike ride in on the Boise Greenbelt walking/running/biking path Sunday afternoon, and left for Evanston, WY Monday morning. Well, not really morning. Had to stop at Camping World and Sierra Trading Post first, so we didn't get out of the RV park until almost noon. Drove late that night to get to the Evanston WalMart by 10 pm or so. Drove to Cheyenne the next day (Tuesday), and then on into Kansas to see our old college friends in Hoxie (Wednesday).
Today, 2 more interesting things happened. First, just after crossing into Nebraska on I-80 we came upon a wreck (police, fire truck & ambulance already there). It was a motorhome laying on the drivers side, front axle dangling away from the chassis. Couldn't see any signs of injured people (think it had been a while since it happened), but that sure makes you think about what can/could happen to you and your motorhome. I thought it might have been broken up some, but appeared to be pretty much together - would guess it was totaled though.
And the weather provided the impetus for the 2nd interesting thing. The wind has been blowing for the last 2 days. All the way across Wyoming (pretty much at our back - didn't seem to help the mileage) and again today, but more out of the northwest, at first. So I tell the GPS to plot me a course to Hoxie, and it sends me east on I-80 and then cuts down through eastern Colorado on HWY 385 to I-70 and then east into Kansas. Seems straightforward enough, so we leave Cheyenne going east. Today I can tell the wind is more from the north than yesterday, but we should be getting a "push" from it just the same. When we head south on 385 I can tell the wind is mostly from the north now, but that's ok cuz we're going straight south. So we get to I-70 and we head east. Did I say we drove through the front edge of a rain storm/system just north of I-70. Well, we did but the rain was light and didn't affect us much at all.
So we get to I-70 and head east. Oops! That northerly wind that was at our back is now blasting us from the drivers side. I cut the speed back to 55 from 60. Doesn't help the motorhome but feels better and I'm ready to go to 50 if I feel it's needed. Then I begin to hear this thumping, not all the time and not loud, but I can hear it. After about 7-8 miles I adjust the driver's side mirror up so I can see the dining room slide awning (about the last half of it) and it's trying to unroll! The gusts of wind (my estimate of steady 35 mph and gusts up to maybe 45) are trying to lift the awning up, up, and away (as the 5th Dimension would say). I cut the speed to 35, turn on the flashers and start to think. No place to pull over and get out of the wind, no exits in sight. Pretty soon a Kansas weigh station appears, with a large parking area behind. I pull in, swing the RV around so the wind can't get at the awning and begin thinking.
There were 2 solutions. 1) stay there until the wind dies down (whenever), and 2) get the ladder out and put some more turns on the awning spring so it will hold the awning rolled up. Since we were trying to get to Colby, KS for dinner with our Hoxie friends, we decided to try the old "put 2 more turns on the awning spring" fix. Rita ran the slide out far enough so I could turn the arm 2 turns. Bolt the arm back on, and we take off. It's working, but I can see the awning trying to unroll just a bit. Needs 2 more turns. Luckly, another exit just a mile down the road and we pull off into the town of Kanarado, KS. Repeat the previous fix, and we try to leave again. This time, no wiggle, and we're on our way again. Fortunately, the wind has died down a bit, and the travel is better that it had been. We eventually catch up with the storm, but the worst of the wind is gone it seems.
We meet Ralfe and Lorena and Lorena's mom for dinner at a really good Mexican place in a Motel restaruant, of all places. We ate there last year, too. After dinner, on about 40 more miles to Hoxie and we park at Lorena's mom's house and plug in to the garage. Don't need the sewer & water hookups, and we get wifi from the hospital across the street. How nice is that?
Everywhere weve been people have been complaining about the late spring (well, almost late winter). Every morning was cold, and there was snow on every peak that we could see from Bend to Cheyenne. On the pass east of Laramie (8,650 elev appx) there were large patches of snow at road level. What we could see of the Rockies in Colorado were magnificent.
It was 70 here in Hoxie today, and is supposed to be 80 on Friday. Whoopie! Warm weather and sun at last. We can finally relax, and not have to worry about how many layers of clothes we will have to put on. We are looking forward to the sun.
Bike riding has taken a back seat to the traveling. It was too cold most of the time in Bend to ride, except on Friday, and I did that by myself. About 15 miles out towards Tumalo and then back on OB Riley road to Bend. A couple of hills in the first 7 miles were real challenges for me, especially the one out of Tumalo State Park (pretty much up for a mile), but I made it up and finished the ride back to Paul's house.
Rita & I rode the Boise Greenbelt path. It is a beautiful setting. Right alongside the Boise river. The river was really high, some spots just 18" or so below the path. And since it was Sunday and a nice day, most of Boise was on the path. Couldn't get much of a ride in with so many people on the path, but enjoyed the time back on the bike.
We will leave Hoxie on Friday for the short drive to our hometown. Once there we should be able to get back into a bike riding schedule.
That's about it for now.
rod, rita & lucy
Today, 2 more interesting things happened. First, just after crossing into Nebraska on I-80 we came upon a wreck (police, fire truck & ambulance already there). It was a motorhome laying on the drivers side, front axle dangling away from the chassis. Couldn't see any signs of injured people (think it had been a while since it happened), but that sure makes you think about what can/could happen to you and your motorhome. I thought it might have been broken up some, but appeared to be pretty much together - would guess it was totaled though.
And the weather provided the impetus for the 2nd interesting thing. The wind has been blowing for the last 2 days. All the way across Wyoming (pretty much at our back - didn't seem to help the mileage) and again today, but more out of the northwest, at first. So I tell the GPS to plot me a course to Hoxie, and it sends me east on I-80 and then cuts down through eastern Colorado on HWY 385 to I-70 and then east into Kansas. Seems straightforward enough, so we leave Cheyenne going east. Today I can tell the wind is more from the north than yesterday, but we should be getting a "push" from it just the same. When we head south on 385 I can tell the wind is mostly from the north now, but that's ok cuz we're going straight south. So we get to I-70 and we head east. Did I say we drove through the front edge of a rain storm/system just north of I-70. Well, we did but the rain was light and didn't affect us much at all.
So we get to I-70 and head east. Oops! That northerly wind that was at our back is now blasting us from the drivers side. I cut the speed back to 55 from 60. Doesn't help the motorhome but feels better and I'm ready to go to 50 if I feel it's needed. Then I begin to hear this thumping, not all the time and not loud, but I can hear it. After about 7-8 miles I adjust the driver's side mirror up so I can see the dining room slide awning (about the last half of it) and it's trying to unroll! The gusts of wind (my estimate of steady 35 mph and gusts up to maybe 45) are trying to lift the awning up, up, and away (as the 5th Dimension would say). I cut the speed to 35, turn on the flashers and start to think. No place to pull over and get out of the wind, no exits in sight. Pretty soon a Kansas weigh station appears, with a large parking area behind. I pull in, swing the RV around so the wind can't get at the awning and begin thinking.
There were 2 solutions. 1) stay there until the wind dies down (whenever), and 2) get the ladder out and put some more turns on the awning spring so it will hold the awning rolled up. Since we were trying to get to Colby, KS for dinner with our Hoxie friends, we decided to try the old "put 2 more turns on the awning spring" fix. Rita ran the slide out far enough so I could turn the arm 2 turns. Bolt the arm back on, and we take off. It's working, but I can see the awning trying to unroll just a bit. Needs 2 more turns. Luckly, another exit just a mile down the road and we pull off into the town of Kanarado, KS. Repeat the previous fix, and we try to leave again. This time, no wiggle, and we're on our way again. Fortunately, the wind has died down a bit, and the travel is better that it had been. We eventually catch up with the storm, but the worst of the wind is gone it seems.
We meet Ralfe and Lorena and Lorena's mom for dinner at a really good Mexican place in a Motel restaruant, of all places. We ate there last year, too. After dinner, on about 40 more miles to Hoxie and we park at Lorena's mom's house and plug in to the garage. Don't need the sewer & water hookups, and we get wifi from the hospital across the street. How nice is that?
Everywhere weve been people have been complaining about the late spring (well, almost late winter). Every morning was cold, and there was snow on every peak that we could see from Bend to Cheyenne. On the pass east of Laramie (8,650 elev appx) there were large patches of snow at road level. What we could see of the Rockies in Colorado were magnificent.
It was 70 here in Hoxie today, and is supposed to be 80 on Friday. Whoopie! Warm weather and sun at last. We can finally relax, and not have to worry about how many layers of clothes we will have to put on. We are looking forward to the sun.
Bike riding has taken a back seat to the traveling. It was too cold most of the time in Bend to ride, except on Friday, and I did that by myself. About 15 miles out towards Tumalo and then back on OB Riley road to Bend. A couple of hills in the first 7 miles were real challenges for me, especially the one out of Tumalo State Park (pretty much up for a mile), but I made it up and finished the ride back to Paul's house.
Rita & I rode the Boise Greenbelt path. It is a beautiful setting. Right alongside the Boise river. The river was really high, some spots just 18" or so below the path. And since it was Sunday and a nice day, most of Boise was on the path. Couldn't get much of a ride in with so many people on the path, but enjoyed the time back on the bike.
We will leave Hoxie on Friday for the short drive to our hometown. Once there we should be able to get back into a bike riding schedule.
That's about it for now.
rod, rita & lucy
Saturday, April 30, 2011
2011 Kansas Reunion Trip
Monday, April 25, 2011
Well, it’s travel time again. Greetings from the roamin’ Bowman’s.
It’s our first night out, and we’re at Kamp WalMart in Bend, OR – only 135 miles down the road, but away from Eugene. So, it’s a good thing. One of the few good things from the last few days. Getting away is always interesting. What did we leave behind? What did we forget to do? And then, late Saturday afternoon (too late to do much about it) we discovered that the dining room slideout awning had some kind of problem. Just looking at it, you knew there was a problem. One of the arms for the window shade part was hanging loose, and the awning just looked like there wasn’t any tension on it (there is a spring inside the rollup tube that keeps the fabric tight on the tube and from blowing away when you’re driving down the road).
Well, lo and behold, the awning just rolled out when the other arm was released from the side of the slideout. In early March we had the awnings checked by a local rv repair place, and they seemed to be working when we brought the coach home a few days later. Turns out the spring had broken, and now we needed to replace it. Didn’t want to spend any more money on the awning (beyond buying a new spring), so I eventually gathered up enough courage to try and fix it myself.
I poured over anything I could find on replacing an awning spring from the manufacturer (Carefree of Colorado). Found out our particular awning is not made anymore, but you can still get parts. Also, found out that working with the spring under tension can be dangerous, and there were plenty of people “out there” that left things like that up to the professionals. But, there were those other people that would fix anything, you just be careful with things like springs under a lot of tension.
So I got brave, took the awning off the motorhome, and proceeded to take it apart. Got the spring out (in 2 pieces), and now had to find another spring. Called around Monday morning, no luck. “Tell me the part number, and we can order one for you.” Found a couple of places on the internet that sold the springs for about $90. Then I decided to check out Northwest RV Supply. That’s a local Eugene rv parts place (new and surplus) that has something of everything (almost), including about a hundred awning springs – mostly Carefree Omega and Omega II springs. We just happen to have the Omega awning on our coach. And the best part, the price was only $39 each. With a deal like that you just have to buy a spare (we do have 2 slideouts). So, off I went to fix things.
Eventually, I got the spring in, wound it the right number of turns, put the pin (a nail) it to hold the spring from unwinding, and got it back on the motorhome. And the best part, it worked!
But, it took most of the day to figure out how to do that, and then do that. So, we finished putting the rest of our things in the coach, then backed it out of the driveway (you need to stop by someday and watch that process take place), put all the gear on the hitch and the car and then hooked the car up, and we’re ready to go.
Oops, forgot to check the air pressure in the tires. Just a bit low, so start the generator (too far from the 20a plug) and start checking and filling. By this time, it’s so cold in Eugene it seems to take forever to bring all 6 tires up to snuff. Finally that’s done and we fire up T-Rex (what the neighbor calls the coach), but it’s almost 7 pm, and it was snowing on the passes 2 hours earlier.
Putting good judgment behind us, we left anyway, but went over Willamette Pass instead of Santiam Pass (looked better on the cameras the Oregon Dept of Transportation has up there). Stopped in Oakridge, ate at the local DQ and headed into the recent darkness, up 4,500 feet into what? Snow is what, I can tell you. Just don’t stop until you get to the top – might not get going up again. Next thing we know, we’re going down, and we haven’t even seen Willamette Pass or the ski area there. About 10 miles down we get to the Crescent cut-off, and the road is mostly clear of snow, so we turn. 12 miles to hwy 97, and there’s no snow anywhere. Whoopie!!
Turn north and head for Bend. Get there about 10:30, park at WalMart and get out. There’s a white medallion of snow on the front of the coach, and the bikes on the back of the car are covered in ice. Knock off what we can, and bring them inside to dry out (with towels on the floor). I think I heard them say, “Thank you.” Car is covered with ice. There is ice on the bottom edges of the coach. It’s cold, but we’re done for the night. Tomorrow the ice will melt, it it doesn’t overnight. And things will be even better. We get to see our son Paul and his girlfriend, Toni, for a couple of days. Always have a good time here.
After Bend, is Boise (and my cousin Debbie and her husband, Ted). We might even get to do a bike ride there – if the weather cooperates.
So, we’ll see you when we see you. Some of you during our trip, and our family and friends in Eugene/Springfield when we get back sometime in early August (we think). I’ll try to keep the words flowing when I can find the internet. Till then, so long.
rod, rita & lucy
LATER IN THE WEEK - FRIDAY
We’re still in Bend. We moved to an RV park about a mile north of WalMart Tuesday morning, where we have hookups. It has snowed the last 2 mornings – whoopee, winter is still here! That’s not what you’ll hear passing Rita’s lips! She is ready for some sun and warm weather. We haven’t left yet because the weather in Wyoming is pretty iffy right now, and will be through Sunday. So we plan to drive to Boise on Saturday and leave for Evanston, WY on Monday. Of course, that is if Mother Nature is willing.
If it warms up, I may ride my bike today. Rita said, “Have fun.” It was 32 when we got up at 7:30. If it hits 43 or above I’ll try it – I think.
Till next time,
rod
Well, it’s travel time again. Greetings from the roamin’ Bowman’s.
It’s our first night out, and we’re at Kamp WalMart in Bend, OR – only 135 miles down the road, but away from Eugene. So, it’s a good thing. One of the few good things from the last few days. Getting away is always interesting. What did we leave behind? What did we forget to do? And then, late Saturday afternoon (too late to do much about it) we discovered that the dining room slideout awning had some kind of problem. Just looking at it, you knew there was a problem. One of the arms for the window shade part was hanging loose, and the awning just looked like there wasn’t any tension on it (there is a spring inside the rollup tube that keeps the fabric tight on the tube and from blowing away when you’re driving down the road).
Well, lo and behold, the awning just rolled out when the other arm was released from the side of the slideout. In early March we had the awnings checked by a local rv repair place, and they seemed to be working when we brought the coach home a few days later. Turns out the spring had broken, and now we needed to replace it. Didn’t want to spend any more money on the awning (beyond buying a new spring), so I eventually gathered up enough courage to try and fix it myself.
I poured over anything I could find on replacing an awning spring from the manufacturer (Carefree of Colorado). Found out our particular awning is not made anymore, but you can still get parts. Also, found out that working with the spring under tension can be dangerous, and there were plenty of people “out there” that left things like that up to the professionals. But, there were those other people that would fix anything, you just be careful with things like springs under a lot of tension.
So I got brave, took the awning off the motorhome, and proceeded to take it apart. Got the spring out (in 2 pieces), and now had to find another spring. Called around Monday morning, no luck. “Tell me the part number, and we can order one for you.” Found a couple of places on the internet that sold the springs for about $90. Then I decided to check out Northwest RV Supply. That’s a local Eugene rv parts place (new and surplus) that has something of everything (almost), including about a hundred awning springs – mostly Carefree Omega and Omega II springs. We just happen to have the Omega awning on our coach. And the best part, the price was only $39 each. With a deal like that you just have to buy a spare (we do have 2 slideouts). So, off I went to fix things.
Eventually, I got the spring in, wound it the right number of turns, put the pin (a nail) it to hold the spring from unwinding, and got it back on the motorhome. And the best part, it worked!
But, it took most of the day to figure out how to do that, and then do that. So, we finished putting the rest of our things in the coach, then backed it out of the driveway (you need to stop by someday and watch that process take place), put all the gear on the hitch and the car and then hooked the car up, and we’re ready to go.
Oops, forgot to check the air pressure in the tires. Just a bit low, so start the generator (too far from the 20a plug) and start checking and filling. By this time, it’s so cold in Eugene it seems to take forever to bring all 6 tires up to snuff. Finally that’s done and we fire up T-Rex (what the neighbor calls the coach), but it’s almost 7 pm, and it was snowing on the passes 2 hours earlier.
Putting good judgment behind us, we left anyway, but went over Willamette Pass instead of Santiam Pass (looked better on the cameras the Oregon Dept of Transportation has up there). Stopped in Oakridge, ate at the local DQ and headed into the recent darkness, up 4,500 feet into what? Snow is what, I can tell you. Just don’t stop until you get to the top – might not get going up again. Next thing we know, we’re going down, and we haven’t even seen Willamette Pass or the ski area there. About 10 miles down we get to the Crescent cut-off, and the road is mostly clear of snow, so we turn. 12 miles to hwy 97, and there’s no snow anywhere. Whoopie!!
Turn north and head for Bend. Get there about 10:30, park at WalMart and get out. There’s a white medallion of snow on the front of the coach, and the bikes on the back of the car are covered in ice. Knock off what we can, and bring them inside to dry out (with towels on the floor). I think I heard them say, “Thank you.” Car is covered with ice. There is ice on the bottom edges of the coach. It’s cold, but we’re done for the night. Tomorrow the ice will melt, it it doesn’t overnight. And things will be even better. We get to see our son Paul and his girlfriend, Toni, for a couple of days. Always have a good time here.
After Bend, is Boise (and my cousin Debbie and her husband, Ted). We might even get to do a bike ride there – if the weather cooperates.
So, we’ll see you when we see you. Some of you during our trip, and our family and friends in Eugene/Springfield when we get back sometime in early August (we think). I’ll try to keep the words flowing when I can find the internet. Till then, so long.
rod, rita & lucy
LATER IN THE WEEK - FRIDAY
We’re still in Bend. We moved to an RV park about a mile north of WalMart Tuesday morning, where we have hookups. It has snowed the last 2 mornings – whoopee, winter is still here! That’s not what you’ll hear passing Rita’s lips! She is ready for some sun and warm weather. We haven’t left yet because the weather in Wyoming is pretty iffy right now, and will be through Sunday. So we plan to drive to Boise on Saturday and leave for Evanston, WY on Monday. Of course, that is if Mother Nature is willing.
If it warms up, I may ride my bike today. Rita said, “Have fun.” It was 32 when we got up at 7:30. If it hits 43 or above I’ll try it – I think.
Till next time,
rod
Friday, October 8, 2010
Chapter 7 - Rozella's Road Trip
Greetings from America's Heartland, Kansas! It has been too long since the last post - almost 4 weeks today. At times it's seemed that we just got here, and then there are the days we get asked if we've moved back home. It has been good to be here. We've haven't spent this much time in our home town since our 2nd year in college, way back in the summer of 1963. It's been good. And now, back to our trip.
The day we left Oklahoma City it rained early, but by about 9 am not much was happening so we headed north. It's only about 170 miles to Wichita, so the trip wasn't a long one. We had gotten somewhat of a recommendation for a rv park in Wichita while in Oklahoma City, so we found Blasi Campground and registered for four nights. As most campgrounds/rv parks go, this was not one of the better ones. Unfortunately, Wichita is not one of the better places for good rv parks. But, we didn't spend much time there, so it wasn't so bad. There was really one thing about the park that was pretty interesting. Two of the three main electrical boxes must have been getting really hot during the hot weather as they had big shop fans blowing air past them 24 hours a day, AND there was a hose hooked up with a nozzle pointing at the boxes so they could spray water on them if it got hot enough. Never seen anything like that before. Never saw the water on while we were there.
We were in Wichita to see Rita's brother, Bud, and family. Helen (wife) had been suddenly struck with an infection of her spinal column last spring and became paralyzed from the neck down almost overnight. After emergency surgery and massive doses of antibiotics, she slowly began to recover. After three to four months of hospitalization and time at a rehabilitation facility, Helen was released to return home about a week before we arrived. Progress is slow, and it is likely she will have to take antibiotics the rest of her life, but she has the spirit and determination to make the recovery. She pretty much needs someone around all the time as she has to use a walker to move around and is not real stable at that. If she should fall she would not be able to get up by herself. It's a big burden for Bud and their son, Ray [lives at home and attends Wichita State University working on an advanced degree].
It is always good to get together with Bud and Helen. We always laugh a lot and have fun. And we hadn't seen Ray for a number of years so that was a bonus for us.
On Friday night we decided to drive to Yoder, KS for dinner. Now, Yoder is about 40 miles west, and a bit north, of Wichita. But, the Carriage Crossing Restaurant & Bakery is in Yoder, and it is run by the Amish, so the food is good. They are known for the family-style meals. You can see their menu on their web site at www.yoderkansas.com. But family-style wasn't for us that night, so, Rita had chicken fried steak & I had catfish [doesn't sound Amish to me, but it was good]. Kind of a long way to drive for supper, but we'd heard about the restaurant quite a few times, so it was worth it to us.
Connecting the Keeper Plaza to each of the two river banks are two suspension foot bridges allowing people to cross from either side. For brief periods in the evening, the Keeper is illuminated by a "ring of fire."
On Saturday we drove the motor home to Newton, Ks - about 35 miles north of Wichita, to attend the graveside service for Buddy McDaniel - my oldest cousin (81) on my mothers side. Buddy grew up in Newton, and then lived most of his life in Wichita. Lillian, his mom, passed away about 3 years ago, and then his partner of about 50 years, Frank, died about 3 months later. Some say he was never quite the same after that. Unfortunately, I never knew Buddy very much. Only saw him a few times over the years, the last time at his mom's 90th birthday about 9 years ago. As we found out after the service, we should have spent time getting to know him.
As a young teenager, Buddy found his life-long love while working at the Newton movie theater - he fell in love with movies. Not just any movie, but the ones of the 20's & 30's & 40's. And he loved music, mostly from the same era of the movies he loved. He had various jobs, even worked at a Wichita tv
I'm not sure if he ever sold any of his records, but he had an EXTENSIVE collection of records - 33's, 45's, & 78's. Thousands of them. When I was about 12 or 13 we visited Lillian and Buddy in Newton, at the hotel she managed. Buddy had a room, floor to ceiling, all 4 walls [9' walls], nothing but records. Nothing I had ever heard before. And the collection must have been much larger at his death. We happened to have the chance to see most of the records at an auction house just south of Newton the day after the service. Impressive, if you're into that music. Unfortunately, some of it wasn't worth a whole lot. And the older records were very fragile. Some had broken while being itemized and categorized for sale by the auction house. I'm kicking myself because I didn't bring the camera to the auction house.
'Nuf said about all things Newton. It was an interesting day & a half. Had most of mom's family there. Nice to have that many together again. That afternoon we were in the motor home on the way to Phillipsburg and got there about 10 pm, where we have been ever since.
That's it for now. Will try to bring everybody up-to-date soon.
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
Ps: I'm posting this without pictures just to get it out to you. Hope to get pictures in.
The day we left Oklahoma City it rained early, but by about 9 am not much was happening so we headed north. It's only about 170 miles to Wichita, so the trip wasn't a long one. We had gotten somewhat of a recommendation for a rv park in Wichita while in Oklahoma City, so we found Blasi Campground and registered for four nights. As most campgrounds/rv parks go, this was not one of the better ones. Unfortunately, Wichita is not one of the better places for good rv parks. But, we didn't spend much time there, so it wasn't so bad. There was really one thing about the park that was pretty interesting. Two of the three main electrical boxes must have been getting really hot during the hot weather as they had big shop fans blowing air past them 24 hours a day, AND there was a hose hooked up with a nozzle pointing at the boxes so they could spray water on them if it got hot enough. Never seen anything like that before. Never saw the water on while we were there.
We were in Wichita to see Rita's brother, Bud, and family. Helen (wife) had been suddenly struck with an infection of her spinal column last spring and became paralyzed from the neck down almost overnight. After emergency surgery and massive doses of antibiotics, she slowly began to recover. After three to four months of hospitalization and time at a rehabilitation facility, Helen was released to return home about a week before we arrived. Progress is slow, and it is likely she will have to take antibiotics the rest of her life, but she has the spirit and determination to make the recovery. She pretty much needs someone around all the time as she has to use a walker to move around and is not real stable at that. If she should fall she would not be able to get up by herself. It's a big burden for Bud and their son, Ray [lives at home and attends Wichita State University working on an advanced degree].
It is always good to get together with Bud and Helen. We always laugh a lot and have fun. And we hadn't seen Ray for a number of years so that was a bonus for us.
On Friday night we decided to drive to Yoder, KS for dinner. Now, Yoder is about 40 miles west, and a bit north, of Wichita. But, the Carriage Crossing Restaurant & Bakery is in Yoder, and it is run by the Amish, so the food is good. They are known for the family-style meals. You can see their menu on their web site at www.yoderkansas.com. But family-style wasn't for us that night, so, Rita had chicken fried steak & I had catfish [doesn't sound Amish to me, but it was good]. Kind of a long way to drive for supper, but we'd heard about the restaurant quite a few times, so it was worth it to us.
One of the more interesting attractions in Wichita is the Keeper of the Plains, a 44-foot tall, 5 ton stylized steel sculpture of an Indian Chief standing at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers (pronounced in Kansas as R-kansas) in downton Wichita. This land between the two rivers is sacred ground to the Native American people and is also home to the All-American Indian Center. The sculpture was designed by Wichitian and Native American artist Blackbear Bosin (1921-1980) and constructed by Tom Washburn of Architectural Metal Peoducts. It was erected on May 18, 1974 to clebrate the United State bicentennial.
In 2006 the statue was raised another 30' to the top of a man-made promontory following a six-month restoration project. Originally placed looking in the wrong direction, it was turned to point directly to the east, facing the sunrise, which is believed what Bosin had in mind.
On Saturday we drove the motor home to Newton, Ks - about 35 miles north of Wichita, to attend the graveside service for Buddy McDaniel - my oldest cousin (81) on my mothers side. Buddy grew up in Newton, and then lived most of his life in Wichita. Lillian, his mom, passed away about 3 years ago, and then his partner of about 50 years, Frank, died about 3 months later. Some say he was never quite the same after that. Unfortunately, I never knew Buddy very much. Only saw him a few times over the years, the last time at his mom's 90th birthday about 9 years ago. As we found out after the service, we should have spent time getting to know him.
As a young teenager, Buddy found his life-long love while working at the Newton movie theater - he fell in love with movies. Not just any movie, but the ones of the 20's & 30's & 40's. And he loved music, mostly from the same era of the movies he loved. He had various jobs, even worked at a Wichita tv
I'm not sure if he ever sold any of his records, but he had an EXTENSIVE collection of records - 33's, 45's, & 78's. Thousands of them. When I was about 12 or 13 we visited Lillian and Buddy in Newton, at the hotel she managed. Buddy had a room, floor to ceiling, all 4 walls [9' walls], nothing but records. Nothing I had ever heard before. And the collection must have been much larger at his death. We happened to have the chance to see most of the records at an auction house just south of Newton the day after the service. Impressive, if you're into that music. Unfortunately, some of it wasn't worth a whole lot. And the older records were very fragile. Some had broken while being itemized and categorized for sale by the auction house. I'm kicking myself because I didn't bring the camera to the auction house.
'Nuf said about all things Newton. It was an interesting day & a half. Had most of mom's family there. Nice to have that many together again. That afternoon we were in the motor home on the way to Phillipsburg and got there about 10 pm, where we have been ever since.
That's it for now. Will try to bring everybody up-to-date soon.
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
Ps: I'm posting this without pictures just to get it out to you. Hope to get pictures in.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Chapter 6 - Rozella's Road Trip
[I wrote this on Monday, then got busy, so this is a little late - Thursday night]
Finally! Back at it AND we're HOME [in Kansas, Phillipsburg, to be exact]. 34 days and 3,025 miles after leaving Eugene on August 27. And I'm listening to John Denver singing "Hey it's good to back home, again". We always listen to him on our trips, especially when traveling through the Rockies. I'm sitting in the motor home, looking out the window at the big Hackberry tree in mom's backyard. Good to hear the crickets, locusts and the doves cooing to us again. Home is always home to us.
It's breezy and will be in the 90's again today. We did have a break when we left Oklahoma City. It rained pretty hard early that morning, and we decided at first to stay the day and wait out the rain, but by 9:30 we decided the rain was over and we unhooked and set out for Wichita [about 180 miles]. That was on a Tuesday, and the cool front that blew in stayed until Saturday. Air conditioner during the day to keep the "house" cool, but turn it off and open the windows and turn the fans on at night. Actually got into the upper 50's a night or two. Actually, haven't run the air conditioner at night since that rain.
The last entry left off in Frisco, TX. We spent 5 nights there. Hot and muggy. And, it didn't it get much better 200 miles north in Oklahoma City. There are a few nice-sounding parks there, so we picked the one closest to my sister's house in Edmond [just north of OKC] - Twin Fountains RV Park. This one was much nicer than the one just north of Frisco where we stayed when there. Lots of trees, and we got a site with good shade, but it faced NE 63rd St, and the traffic could be pretty fast just 40 feet away. And, then on the north side of the park was I-44. It was elevated so we could see the traffic from the park. Overall, it didn't bother us that much. We were gone most of the day, so we missed most of the noise. The park was about 14 miles and 30 minutes from Becky's house. We tried a number of ways getting there but decided it didn't make a whole lot of difference which one we took.
Since I-35 has a lot of construction going on between Dallas and OKC, we took US-75 out of McKinney, TX when we left the Frisco area. Not a bad drive. Some construction going on there too, but not too bad. And the road was pretty good.
That night we ate at Pei Wei [say "Pay Way"]. I think it's owned by the PF Chang company, and the food looks similar. But, here you order at the counter and the items are different, yet some are the same. Such as the lettuce wraps, one of our favorites at PF Chang. The food was good we had a good time with my sister, Becky, and husband, Don. They were at the Bowman family reunion at SunRiver in June.
At dinner Don pulled out 2 tickets to the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum that happened to be just down the street from our rv park. So, on Friday, we went there. Was expecting something like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, but this was much more western art than hall of fame. Each year they have a judged contest of western art, and that was on display. Artists from all over, but most from what we'd call the western states. And the art was outstanding. But, of course, you couldn't take pictures of any of what the museum didn't own, which was just about all of what we saw before we ran out of gas strolling and standing and looking. I managed to get mixed up about what you could take a picture of and what you couldn't, and was immediately reminded "not to take pictures in this room", so I had to delete a picture. I think it might have been the one I liked the most.
There were rooms and rooms of pictures and sculpture. We think the most expensive one was priced at $95,000. Many had little blue dots on the label that identified the artist, and medium [think, oil, pastel, water color, bronze, etc.]. That indicated that the picture, or a copy [?] had already been sold. Some of the artists had been in this competition for many years [think the most I saw was 27 years]. Good art. And then they had originals from years gone by. There was a wing with Charles Russel art [pictures and bronze], and Frederick Remington [pictures & bronze] - the 2 preeminent western artist of all time [I think]. I'd say people would recognize Remington's work more often than Russel, but both are at the top of the list of American western artists of all time.
By the time I got through the small room on firearms, I was ready to do something else, and Rita had gotten to that point before me, so we walked over to the dinning room and had lunch. You could order from the menu or pick the buffet. I picked the buffet, and Rita had something from the menu.
Last year when we were in OKC some fried chicken place out in the "country" was mentioned, so this time we asked about it before we left, and on Thursday night we went there. "Out in the country" meant you drive about 35 miles west of OKC to the town of Okarche, OK [not sure of the spelling. can't find the atlas, and no internet at mom's]. Anyway, there's this tavern called Eischen's Bar [supposedly the oldest in Oklahoma] that serves just about nothing but fried chicken. Oh, you can order Frito Pie, or nachos. And, they don't serve Coffee or Tea! Beer, soda or water. The place has been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The standard order is: how many chickens do you want [that's right, how many?], and how many orders of deep fried okra do you want? We got 2 chickens and 2 orders of okra. You get white balloon bread and
pickle chips with every order. I think we ate it all! That'll do Rita and me for fried chicken and okra for a while.
They do a business. In original bar it's individual tables and booths, and in the old grocery store [they shut that down to expand the bar some time ago] it's some booths and long tables that you may have to share with someone else when they get busy, which appears to be about every night.
On Saturday we had a family get-together. All of Becky & Don's kids [3 of them] live about 5 minutes away, and they ALL came over for dinner. Each of her kids have 3 kids [from about 15 mos to 12 yrs] so it got a bit noisy at times, but it's fun cuz they get along together so well. For dinner Don barbecued chicken, and we had beans, chips, salad, fruit, Rod made ice cream [yep, I took my ice cream maker on the trip - knew it would come in handy!]. Had a good time. Was really good to see everyone again.
On Sunday we went to Becky and Don's church - Church of the Servant [Methodist] in north OKC. We've been before and really like it there. They seem so plugged into the community. This time they were talking about mentoring kids, and they had the names of all the kids from a local school on sort of stick cut-outs. They asked people to come down and take a name and then begin a regular program where you would pray for that boy or girl throughout the school year. They had many more people than names. Pretty impressive. Two of Becky's kids go to church there, so we all got to sit together.
Not much else to report on in OKC. The next stop was Wichita, KS to see Rita's brother, Bud, wife, Helen, and son, Ray. If I work at it this week, maybe I can get caught up.
Hope all is well with everyone out there. We're having a great time. Is always nice to be home. It will be in the 90's today, but haven't turned on the air conditioning yet [2:30 pm] as there is a good breeze that blows through the windows. It was supposed to have cooled into the high 60's last night, and we were able to leave the windows open and the fans on. Slept very good. Tonight is supposed to be similar. Nice not to HAVE TO USE the air conditioner.
Till next time, so long from the Land of Ah-h-h-s [say Oz, kind of].
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
Finally! Back at it AND we're HOME [in Kansas, Phillipsburg, to be exact]. 34 days and 3,025 miles after leaving Eugene on August 27. And I'm listening to John Denver singing "Hey it's good to back home, again". We always listen to him on our trips, especially when traveling through the Rockies. I'm sitting in the motor home, looking out the window at the big Hackberry tree in mom's backyard. Good to hear the crickets, locusts and the doves cooing to us again. Home is always home to us.
It's breezy and will be in the 90's again today. We did have a break when we left Oklahoma City. It rained pretty hard early that morning, and we decided at first to stay the day and wait out the rain, but by 9:30 we decided the rain was over and we unhooked and set out for Wichita [about 180 miles]. That was on a Tuesday, and the cool front that blew in stayed until Saturday. Air conditioner during the day to keep the "house" cool, but turn it off and open the windows and turn the fans on at night. Actually got into the upper 50's a night or two. Actually, haven't run the air conditioner at night since that rain.
The last entry left off in Frisco, TX. We spent 5 nights there. Hot and muggy. And, it didn't it get much better 200 miles north in Oklahoma City. There are a few nice-sounding parks there, so we picked the one closest to my sister's house in Edmond [just north of OKC] - Twin Fountains RV Park. This one was much nicer than the one just north of Frisco where we stayed when there. Lots of trees, and we got a site with good shade, but it faced NE 63rd St, and the traffic could be pretty fast just 40 feet away. And, then on the north side of the park was I-44. It was elevated so we could see the traffic from the park. Overall, it didn't bother us that much. We were gone most of the day, so we missed most of the noise. The park was about 14 miles and 30 minutes from Becky's house. We tried a number of ways getting there but decided it didn't make a whole lot of difference which one we took.
Since I-35 has a lot of construction going on between Dallas and OKC, we took US-75 out of McKinney, TX when we left the Frisco area. Not a bad drive. Some construction going on there too, but not too bad. And the road was pretty good.
That night we ate at Pei Wei [say "Pay Way"]. I think it's owned by the PF Chang company, and the food looks similar. But, here you order at the counter and the items are different, yet some are the same. Such as the lettuce wraps, one of our favorites at PF Chang. The food was good we had a good time with my sister, Becky, and husband, Don. They were at the Bowman family reunion at SunRiver in June.
At dinner Don pulled out 2 tickets to the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum that happened to be just down the street from our rv park. So, on Friday, we went there. Was expecting something like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, but this was much more western art than hall of fame. Each year they have a judged contest of western art, and that was on display. Artists from all over, but most from what we'd call the western states. And the art was outstanding. But, of course, you couldn't take pictures of any of what the museum didn't own, which was just about all of what we saw before we ran out of gas strolling and standing and looking. I managed to get mixed up about what you could take a picture of and what you couldn't, and was immediately reminded "not to take pictures in this room", so I had to delete a picture. I think it might have been the one I liked the most.
 |
| Remington's "Coming thru the Rye" life size |
There were rooms and rooms of pictures and sculpture. We think the most expensive one was priced at $95,000. Many had little blue dots on the label that identified the artist, and medium [think, oil, pastel, water color, bronze, etc.]. That indicated that the picture, or a copy [?] had already been sold. Some of the artists had been in this competition for many years [think the most I saw was 27 years]. Good art. And then they had originals from years gone by. There was a wing with Charles Russel art [pictures and bronze], and Frederick Remington [pictures & bronze] - the 2 preeminent western artist of all time [I think]. I'd say people would recognize Remington's work more often than Russel, but both are at the top of the list of American western artists of all time.
 |
| John Wayne |
By the time I got through the small room on firearms, I was ready to do something else, and Rita had gotten to that point before me, so we walked over to the dinning room and had lunch. You could order from the menu or pick the buffet. I picked the buffet, and Rita had something from the menu.
 |
| Eischen's Bar |
pickle chips with every order. I think we ate it all! That'll do Rita and me for fried chicken and okra for a while.
 |
| Don, Becky, mom & Rita |
They do a business. In original bar it's individual tables and booths, and in the old grocery store [they shut that down to expand the bar some time ago] it's some booths and long tables that you may have to share with someone else when they get busy, which appears to be about every night.
On Saturday we had a family get-together. All of Becky & Don's kids [3 of them] live about 5 minutes away, and they ALL came over for dinner. Each of her kids have 3 kids [from about 15 mos to 12 yrs] so it got a bit noisy at times, but it's fun cuz they get along together so well. For dinner Don barbecued chicken, and we had beans, chips, salad, fruit, Rod made ice cream [yep, I took my ice cream maker on the trip - knew it would come in handy!]. Had a good time. Was really good to see everyone again.
 |
| Saturday Dinner |
 |
| Becky/Don's Grandkids |
 |
| Mom with Great-grandkids |
Not much else to report on in OKC. The next stop was Wichita, KS to see Rita's brother, Bud, wife, Helen, and son, Ray. If I work at it this week, maybe I can get caught up.
Hope all is well with everyone out there. We're having a great time. Is always nice to be home. It will be in the 90's today, but haven't turned on the air conditioning yet [2:30 pm] as there is a good breeze that blows through the windows. It was supposed to have cooled into the high 60's last night, and we were able to leave the windows open and the fans on. Slept very good. Tonight is supposed to be similar. Nice not to HAVE TO USE the air conditioner.
Till next time, so long from the Land of Ah-h-h-s [say Oz, kind of].
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Chapter 5 - Rozella's Road Trip
I'm back at it. Trying to get caught up. We're now in Oklahoma City, but this chapter is about our visit with mom's sister, Betty. Betty (not Elizabeth) is the youngest of the family at 82 (83 in October). She lives with her daughter Candy in Frisco, TX, one of many communities north of Dallas that have become incorporated into what is now called Dallas-Ft Worth. Not sure what the size of Frisco is - saw one sign saying 71,000+ and another saying 92,000+. Enough about that, this "episode" begins when we left Las Cruces for Frisco.
Not wanting to drive the interstate system, if another, less busy way was available, it became obvious that the only good alternative seemed to go through Roswell, NM and then straight into the Frisco area. Since mom’s brother, Darrold, had a daughter living in Roswell, we asked if that road was “any good” and how about US Hwy 380 from there into the Frisco area? We found out that US Hwy 70 from Las Cruces to Roswell is mostly 4-lane and a good road. And, according to Google Maps, the Hwy 70-Hwy 380 route to Frisco was actually shorter distancewise (Word’s spell checker doesn’t like that word, but I think it really is a word since you hear it all the time). I’d bet timewise, I-10/I-20 would be shorter. But, we’ll never know – we took the through-Roswell route.
This took us 3 days. After getting a late start from Las Cruces, had to have a “going away” breakfast at Cracker Barrel (one of Dot & Darrold’s favorite places to eat), we headed out. The drive to Roswell was pretty easy. The first part takes you through the Organ mountains just east of town and through the White Sands military missile test area to Alamogordo, NM. Not thinking of New Mexico as a “real” mountain state, I was surprised to see the roadside sign, about 25 miles out of town, announcing the elevation at San Agustin Pass at 5,715 feet! Highest one on this trip, and not many outside of Colorado will be higher. Once you get to the White Sands area, you’re surrounded by mountains, but the White Sands are basically “flat as a table”. Although, on a map there looks to be an area with lots of white sands, we only saw a brief bit while we were driving down Hwy 70.
The first town you get to is Alamogordo. We stopped for lunch and found out what hot desert heat is. It was very intense. We were glad to be on our way again. To get to Roswell, you have to make your way through the Sacramento and Captain mountains, and it didn’t take long to find them. The road winds through them and the area is very scenic. Lots of trees (mostly pine of some sort) and some pretty tall, although not like the Douglas Firs in western Oregon. I was impressed. This is the area of the Mescalero Apache, and hwy 70 goes through their reservation.But it is also the land of Billy the Kid, and the early cattle barons of the area. According to the internet, his real name, Henry McCarty, was rather ordinary. But his nickname still gallops across the high plains of America's imagination. Of all of the Old West's outlaws, it outdistances all the others. He used his familiar, formal alias of William H. Bonney in correspondence. For the last eight months or so of his harrowing life he was known -- as he is remembered today -- as Billy the Kid. Although McCarty roamed New Mexico Territory for only the last nine years of his short and turbulent life, he called New Mexico home. Today, more than 125 years after his death, scores of historic points of interest here still recall the life and legend of Billy Bonney; the five-month-long Lincoln County War; and the life and legacy of the man who tracked him down and eventually shot and killed him, Pat Garrett. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to explore this part of New Mexico.
 |
| Town & Country RV Park |
 |
| Rita & her dinner(s) |
Our 2nd night out we stayed in Haskell, TX at the city park. Was not sure where we’d stay but found this park on the internet site: rvparkreviews.com. I use this internet site a lot. The first night there is free, and is only $12 a night for a full-hookup (they have some 50 amp sites). It’s not fancy, and many of the “residents” there are workers that travel to wherever the job is. The city park around is pretty nice for a small town (about 6,000). Worked for us as we got to keep the air conditioner running without using the generator.
 |
| Haskell, TX |
Pulled into the Frisco area the next day and found Shady Creek RV Park & Storage. Fairly new, but few trees for shade. $30 a night for the first 3, then only $20 when we signed up for 2 more. Could have stayed a week for $125 +electricity.
Got the motor home settled in, and then drove to aunt Betty’s (about 7 ½ miles). Was really good to see mom and Betty together again. Last time was a few years ago. And, Rita & I got to see her daughter, Candy, again. Had only been 46 years (Candy was 14). We had such a good time.
 |
| Mom and Sis Betty |
 |
| Sam Moon's Main Store |
Rita found a few things, but not the real jewel of a store that we became intimate with – Sam Moon’s. There are actually 3 Sam Moon stores, in a row, but the one you just gotta see is the one with the jewelry and hand bags/purses. Even I think every woman needs to see Sam Moon’s – at least once. We had so much fun, we brought mom when we went back on Tuesday. I don’t know how impressed she was, but she did buy some things. Our first visit had to wait till Monday, since they are closed on Sunday, and we didn’t “know” what it was on Saturday. But, Candy did and she said, “Did you go to Sam Moon’s? You didn’t? Well, you’ll have to go back on Monday, cuz you will be amazed.” That was enough for Rita, and Monday couldn’t come too soon.
There are more purses, hand bags, totes, etc than either of us had ever seen in one place. Big bags, little ones, lipstick holders, shopping bags, etc. Frilly ones, plain ones. You name it, I think they had it. And then, there’s the jewelry. Lots and lots of that. We think all are knock-offs, and therefore inexpensive, but you can then buy more! Had a good time there.
On Sunday we went to church with Betty and Candy. It was a big church. A BIG church. Sat down, and then noticed the 30 piece orchestra on the stage and the 100 member choir behind it. To say they were really, really good would be to short change them and the music. Wow! And then, I looked at the bulletin we were given. Oh wow, this is Chuck Swindoll’s church – Stonebriar Community Church. [I thought it was interesting that the church’s address is on Legendary Drive] Unfortunately, Chuck takes the month of August off and was not there. Would have loved to hear him preach. Betty and Candy said he is really good.
 |
| Orchestra and Choir |
The church was founded in about 1998, and the current worship center was completed in late 2008, and will seat 3,000. They have 2 Sunday morning services. You can visit their web site at: www.stonebriar.org if you want to learn more about the church and its missions.
Candy’s daughter, Darci, and family live closeby and we met them Friday night and then we all went to dinner at Babe’s Chicken Dinner House for Saturday night. Although the building is only a couple of years old, it was made to look like it had been there for years and was ready to collapse. Turns out, this is a small chain of restaurants that began in 1998 in Roanoke, TX. All are in the Dallas-Ft Worth area.
 |
| Babes |
 |
| Mom, Betty, Rita, Candy at Babes |
We arrived just in time, as we were seated immediately, but when we left there were 50+ people in the waiting area, with an hours wait AND it was outside with temperatures in the 100 degree range. Although there were misters going, I'm glad we got there "on time".
Inside, the decor is definitely rustic. Chickens and signs everywhere. And the seating fits right in. Long tables and food served family style. Actually only the side dishes are served family style, and is as much as you want. The main dish is your choice from six: fried chicken, chicken fingers, chicken fried steak, smoked chicken, fried catfish (3 fillets) or pot roast. And, there's desert - Chocolate Meringue Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Coconut Meringue Pie, Banana Pudding, and Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Sorry to say, nobody had desert. Too much food.
 |
| Rudys BBQ and Gas Station |
Another good place to eat in the Frisco area (way too many to begin to mention) is Rudys BBQ. Most of the Rudys are bbq at a gas station. Again, long tables and you can order individual servings (sandwiches, etc) or "family style portions", meaning tubs of the sides and meat by the pound. Being the first time for us, we ended up ordering individual except for Rita and me. The meat (brisket, pulled pork, ribs, turkey) was all good, but the star of the night was the turkey. Never ordered bbq turkey before, but they gave us a sample, so we ordered brisket and turkey. The turkey was the best. And the creamed corn was something else! So good. Should have bought some turkey to take with us, but didn't and we're still wishing we had.
And then, there's Double Dip Frozen Custard. Turns out, the guy that owns this was a neighbor or close friend of the one that owned the Caliches in Las Cruces. Said the formula was a bit different, but we couldn't tell. Really good custard. Ended up going back about every night after we found it. It can be addictive.
Got to finish this. Will try to catch up in the next few days. So long from the road.
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
 |
| Frisco Sunrise |
And then, there's Double Dip Frozen Custard. Turns out, the guy that owns this was a neighbor or close friend of the one that owned the Caliches in Las Cruces. Said the formula was a bit different, but we couldn't tell. Really good custard. Ended up going back about every night after we found it. It can be addictive.
Got to finish this. Will try to catch up in the next few days. So long from the road.
rod, rita, lucy & rozella
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)