Branson and BBQ…

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We left the KOA park in Stanton, MO heading down the road about 190 miles to Branson, MO.  Leaving about 10:45 am, we pulled into the Turkey Creek – Escapees RV Park about 2:30 pm. We spent a while in the office looking at all the show brochures and getting info on the area.

About 3:30, after getting set up, we headed out for dinner at a nearby Famous Dave’s BBQ.  Great as usual!

Jan’s been making a list, and checking it twice, deciding what shows we want to see while we’re here in Branson, and trying to figure out a schedule. Some shows have matinees, some don’t.  Some are 7 days a week, some aren’t.  Eventually we’ll figure it out.

Getting back to the rig, we had a nice phone conversation with our daughter Brandi, while Jan watched Mister roam around and I got the satellite set up.

More tomorrow…

The Gateway Arch…

Today is our last full day in the St. Louis area, so we left the coach about 10:30, heading about 60 miles away to St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.

But rather than going straight to the Arch, we stopped at a nearby Hooters for a hot wing fix. But even from there we could see the Arch.

After lunch we drove to the nearby park.  Walking from the Arch parking garage we could see the Arch thru the trees. 

The Gateway Arch was designed in 1947, but construction did not start until 1963.  The Arch is basically built inside a imaginary square.  It is 630 feet high and 630 feet wide at the base, making it the tallest monument in the US.  Finally finished in 1965, it is covered in sheets of stainless steel, making it shine like a mirror.

Each triangular base is 54 feet on a side and had to be positioned on the ground within 1/64 of an inch or the Arch would not have met at the top. That would have been a bummer.

And even getting this part right, they still had problems. During construction, both legs were built up simultaneously. When the time came to connect both legs together at the apex, thermal expansion of the sunward facing south leg prevented it from aligning precisely with the north leg. This alignment problem was solved when the St. Louis Fire Department sprayed the south leg with water from firehoses until it had cooled to the point where it aligned with the north leg.

We entered the Arch thru an underground passage that took us to the Arch Visitors Center.  To do this, we had to pass thru airport-style security, doing everything except taking our shoes off.

Another fascinating fact about the Arch is that there’s a Ferris Wheel built inside.  Well, kind of.  It consists of 16 cars like the one below, 8 on each side.  Each car holds 5 people and makes the trip to the top of the Arch in a little over 4 minutes.

Because you are going up and around the Arch, the cars are gimbaled like a Ferris Wheel so they always stay level.

And the 5 people who cram into these are going to get real friendly.  Luckily, going up it was just Jan and I.

Once we got to the top we were in a narrow open area with 16 small (7” x 27”) windows on each side. They let us look out over the city.

 

There’s a plaque at the top showing the height.

The windows look even smaller from the ground,

But the view is spectacular!

   

  

And here’s some more pics.

 

The trip back down is faster, about 3 1/2 minutes.

I didn’t take this picture, but thought it was neat!

Before we left the Arch area, we purchased a National Park pass that will give us a 50% discount at other National Parks.

Leaving the Arch we did some shopping and then stopped off for supper at Sweet Tomatoes, a soup and salad place we had last eaten at in Fort Myers, FL.  They some of the best soups I’ve ever tasted.

Tomorrow we’ll head down the road to Branson, MO.

More then…

Wonderful weather…

Jan woke up a little under the weather this morning so we decided not to do the St. Louis / Gateway Arch thing.  Instead, around noon we drove up the road a piece looking for a Tractor Supply, a Walmart and a place to eat.

We ended up at a Colton’s Steakhouse and Grill, a small restaurant chain with stores in MO, AK, KY, TN and MS.

It was right across the street from a Walmart, so it was certainly convenient,

And it was good too!   Kind of like a Texas Road House, or Logan’s Road House, complete with roasted peanuts in a bucket on the table.

After lunch we hit the aisles in Walmart for more ‘stuff’, and then stopped at a nearby Tractor Supply Store to try and find some more neat LED flashlights that I found at a Tractor Supply Store in Decatur, IN.

The weather for our drive was great today!  Mid 70’s and sunny, going down to the 50’s at night.  Couldn’t get much better.

Coming back home I dropped off some Gypsy Journals to the park office.  Later I’ll drop some off at the laundry room too.

Before Nick and Terri headed south, Nick gave me a couple of bundles of the latest issue of the Gypsy Journal. As we head back to Houston we’ll drop some off at every RV park we stop at.  We did the same thing last year on our way to Alaska.

We also spent a few minutes talking to the folks in the RV next to us while we were letting Mister roam around.  They’re from Wisconsin, and although they’ve owned their coach for 7 years, this is the first time they’ve taken a trip longer than just a few days.  They’re heading toward Tucson for a while, then maybe on to California for a while. Hope they have a good trip.

Tomorrow we’ll probably head into St. Louis to check out the Arch.

More then…

Skeletons and Dragons and Owls…Oh My!

Well, we’re presently about 40 miles southeast of St. Louis, MO.  We’ll be here for a couple of days to check out the Gateway Arch and other sites in the area. We’re this far away from St. Louis because I had trouble finding an RV park that was still open.  Most of them closed November 1st.

Sunday or Monday, we’ll head about 190 miles further southwest to Branson, MO for several days to take in some of the shows and attractions.

We spent the last 5 days visiting my sister-in-law Debbie and her husband Jim in Vandalia, IL.  Just like last year, we were able to leave the coach parked at Burl and Shirley’s farm, right next to the barn.

We had a great time catching up with our nieces, Tana and Christina, our nephew Jason, and his wife Laura, and our grand-nieces, Gwen, Avery Jane, and the newest addition, Ella.

Here’s Gwen and Avery Jane helping Aunt Debbie water the garden.

And check out these Halloween costumes.  Aunt Debbie made Gwen a great looking owl costume.

And here’s Miss Avery Jane and Ella as a scary Dragon and a skeleton.

 

Vandalia is a very neat little town with some strange features.  I mean, how many towns do you know that have their own dragon.

And it breathes fire…if you put in a quarter.

Unfortunately we didn’t have any quarters.

And here’s Jan and her sister Debbie having one last hug before we headed out.

We finally headed out about 11:30 am and made the 140 mile trip to the Stanton, MO KOA in about 3 hours. It was a easy trip because it was pretty much Interstate all the way.

More tomorrow…

“Hitch Itch” Scratched

Today was a fairly long travel day for us.  We left Michigan about 8 am headed southwest about 330 miles to Vernon IL to visit Jan’s sister, Debbie, for a few days.

But since the trip was almost all Interstate/Tollroad, it wasn’t that bad.  We stopped at a rest area about 40 miles down the road to get a breakfast sandwich at McDonald’s.  The rest areas on the tollroads up here are full service, with gas, and several restaurants, not just restrooms.

It was raining slightly for the first couple of hours, but no problem.

I’m really appreciating the new shocks. They’re still a little stiff, but they’ll loosen up in the next few hundred miles. But, the excessive roll and porpoising are gone.

About 1 pm we stopped at a McDonald’s in Rantoul, IL.  Luckily it had a large parking lot in back so we had no trouble getting in and out.  We did get some strange looks from people, though.  I guess they thought we were trying to go through the drive-thru line.

We pulled into our parking spot about 3:30 pm, having gained a hour since we crossed into the Central Time Zone again.

We’re parked next to a barn owned by a relative of my brother-in-law, Jim.  And even better, we have a 30 amp outlet to plug into.  Since we leave the cats in the coach, we leave the heaters and a couple of lights on, so plugging in keeps the batteries charged.

Jan’s sister Debbie had a great meal for us that evening and it was good to talk over old times. We’ll be here until Friday or Saturday at least.

More tomorrow…

The Fourth Time’s the Charm…

Today we finally leave Elkhart, but it’s going to be a short trip…just up north into Michigan. We have some things to do up there before we head south.

Around 10 am I fixed coffee and we had some of Terri’s great Pumpkin Cheese Bread/Cake.  Then about 11:30 we saw Nick and Terry hooking up to leave so we walked over to say goodbye.

We’re really going to miss Nick and Terry. They’re nice people and fun to be around.

Travel Safe!

Coming back in, I puttered around the coach, getting things ready to travel.  Next I took down the satellite dish and dumped the waste tanks.  Lastly I stowed everything away and close all the bays. Everything was ready to go, except for disconnecting the shore power.  I always save that for the very last.

Coming back inside, I finished up by vacuuming the carpet.  Then about 3:15 Jan pulled in the slide and locked down all the doors.

I fired up the diesel and went outside to disconnect the power, while waiting for the air pressure to build up.

And then about 3:30 pm we headed out up north to Michigan. Since we weren’t going far, we didn’t hook up the toad. Jan just followed me.

We had a great dinner at Lunkers and then drove the toad over to the Tractor Supply Store in Niles, MI

Coming back to the rig we topped off the night with another piece of Terry’s Pumpkin Cheese Bread/Cake.  I think it gets better as it ages.

Tomorrow we’ll drive about 330 miles southwest to Vernon, IL to visit Jan’s sister Debbie for a few days.

After that we may head toward Branson, or we may not.

We’ll see…

Pumpkin Cheese Bread…err…Cake

Today was our last full day here in Elkhart, IN.  We’ve been here almost a month and we’re starting to get a bad case of ‘Hitch-Itch’.  It’s time to hit the road.

And since we’re hitting the road tomorrow,  today was cleaning day…along with trying to find a place for everything.  When we stay in one place for a while, it can be a challenge to get back in the groove of packing up to travel again.

Around 2 pm Michele Henry of Phoenix Commercial Paint came by to look over our rig.  She had been at the park visiting Nick and Terry and I wanted her to check out our rig because I want her to do some repair work / painting for us when we’re here next year. I’ve seen a number of rigs Michele has painted and she really does quality work.

Then about 3:30 we headed out to Bob Evans with Nick and Terry for our 3rd going-away get-together.  Nick and Terry have been trying to leave here and head south for Key West since Thursday, but the weather been so bad, rainy and windy, that he kept putting it off.

So every night we’d have a final get-together in case they left the next day.

As usual we sat around talking at the restaurant longer than we spent eating to start with.

Later, after we got back home, Nick called with an electrical problem.  While Terry was mixing a cake, his power glitched, and despite still being plugged into shore power, his coach was running on his internal batteries. After a lot of head scratching we found that his inverter had popped the Input circuit breaker.  Resetting the breaker fixed the problem, but it doesn’t make sense why an inverter problem killed shore power.  They should be two separate systems. But, at least the problem was fixed.

A little later, Nick called me to come over and get some of the cake Terry had baked.  It was a Pumpkin Cheese Bread, or Cake.

It is fantastic!  And here’s the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Cheese-Bread-II/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

It’s called a bread, but it’s really a cake. The cheese filling is cream cheese.

It’s a Duesy!

Today was an early day…a VERY early day.

We got up at 5:30 AM and left the rig in our toad about 6 am on a 130 mile trip south to Decatur, IN.  We wanted to be there by 9 am to take the American Coach factory tour at their plant.  We left early because the weather was pretty bad, with a lot of rain and wind. With all the wind, I was glad we weren’t in the rig.

But before we hit the Interstate, we stopped off at McDonalds for a quick breakfast sandwich.

We got to the American Coach plant in Decatur about 8:45 am, right on time.

We were really surprised to see how full the parking lot was, considering the condition of the RV industry.

After filling out a form, a gentleman named Tom came by to be our tour guide.  Unfortunately we were not able to take pictures inside the facility, but it’s really amazing how the RV’s are put together.

In this case American Coach starts out with a pre-built chassis/engine combination from Spartan Chassis that looks like this.

These are complete ready to run units just waiting for an RV to be built on top of them.

The floor and the walls are built up from welded aluminum tubing that form a single unit. Then the carpet / tile / wood flooring is added and the cabinets / furniture are installed. Finally, the roof is put on and the rig is moved into the paint area to be painted and striped.

It takes about a week from start to finish to build a rig and roll it out the door.  They are presently building about 30 rigs a week, around 1500 a year, and at this point business is increasing by about 5 more rigs a month.  Good news for the RV industry.

Our tour took a little over an hour, and after it was over, we drove over to American Coach Service to buy some parts for my coach.

Leaving there, we headed about 30 mile south back to Celina, OH where we were a month ago for the Gypsy Journal Rally.  We wanted to eat lunch at  La Carreta, a Mexican restaurant that we really enjoyed while we were there.

After lunch we started back toward Elkhart, stopping in Auburn, IN to visit the Auburn – Cord – Duesenberg Museum.

Founded in 1874, the Eckhart Carriage Company was a successful manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. Frank Eckhart had not only the foresight but also the engineering ability to steer the buggy company into the “Age of the Automobile.” His Auburn Automobile Company prospered, particularly after E.L. Cord was brought in to run the business. Cord was both inventive and astute, and in 1929 created his own company, which, among other things, bought out the Duesenberg Automobile Co.

Despite the enthusiastic public response, sales were disappointing. The estimated production figure of 500 cars per year was never matched and eventually only 481 Model Js were constructed. Being extremely expensive, the Model J was popular with the rich and famous. Among the owners were many greats from the showbizz industry like Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, James Cagney and Greta Garbo. Various kings and queens were Model J owners as well. Part of the Duesenberg legend is based on the many famous owners.

Styling and engineering failed to overcome the fact that Cord’s vehicles were too expensive for the Depression-era market and that Cord’s stock manipulations would force him to give up control of his car companies. Under injunction from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to refrain from further violations, Cord sold his shares in his automobile holding company. In 1937, production of Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs ended.

The building that now houses the Museum was the original Art Deco headquarters / showroom of the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles, and it’s beautiful in its own right.

And the inside is even more outstanding.

 

I won’t bore you with all the details. I’ll just show you pictures of these beautiful automobiles.

Leaving the museum we drove back to Elkhart through more heavy wind and rain.

And arriving back about 5 pm, we immediately headed out to dinner at Ryan’s with Nick and Terry.

Tomorrow we start getting ready to leave here on Sunday afternoon.

Turkey & Dressing and Key West…maybe

Today started with Turkey & Dressing at the nearby Cracker Barrel.  Jan loves their Turkey & Dressing. She says the dressing is almost as good as hers.  Almost!  So Thursday is very often Cracker Barrel.

After lunch we drove back over to the Verizon store to get the correct belt holster for my new Storm 2.  The one they gave me was for the Storm, and the Storm 2 is slightly smaller so it wouldn’t stay in the holster. A quick swap-out cured the problem.

I also found out they had the problem fixed with transferring my contact list from my old phone to my new one. But since I didn’t bring my old phone with me, I’ll have to come back later.

Getting back to the rig, I pulled out my air hose and gauge to air up one of the coach tires.  When I had the new shocks put on a couple of days ago, I also had them bring my tires up to the correct level. But they did not screw the air pressure sensor back on the valve stem all the way so the tire starting leaking down on the way back to the park.

Our coach has a built-in air compressor that operate the air brakes and the air bag suspension system.  There is also a connector that lets me tap into the system and, by starting the engine, I can air up my tires.

Coming back in, I found Jan napping so I decided to head back down to Verizon to get my contact list transferred to my new phone.  Then coming home I stopped off and got gas in the toad.

About 5 pm Nick came over to tell us he was waiting to hear from Al Hesselbart about getting together for dinner.  Al is an RV author / historian we had met at the Gypsy Rally in Celina, OH a month ago.  He lives here in Elkhart, and is a good friend of Nick and Terry’s.

We ended up meeting him at North Garden Chinese Buffet at 5:30 and had a great time listening to Al tell some great stories about the RV industry.

Tomorrow we take a road trip about 130 miles south to Decatur, IN to see where our coach ‘Beauty’ was born.  The American Coach factory is there and they give tours. Then coming home we’ll stop off in Auburn, IN to visit the Auburn – Cord – Dusenberg museum.

When we get back tomorrow night, we don’t know if Nick and Terry will still be here.  Nick is thinking about heading south tomorrow if the weather holds. He wants to be in Key West within the next two weeks.

We’ll see…

Culver’s and Storm 2…

This morning I went over to Nick’s to help him get his new Acer Netbook set up for his VMSpc computer/engine interface.

After a few minutes, Nick’s new toy was humming along and working great.

About 12:30 we all headed out for lunch at Culver’s, a chain restaurant we hadn’t tried before. It’s kind of a cross between a Dairy Queen, a McDonald’s, and a Denny’s.  It’s counter service, but besides ice cream and hamburgers, they also dinners like fried chicken, pot roast, and sandwiches.  It was good and we’ll go back.

Coming home we found a new neighbor a few sites over from us who are also full-timing.  They’re from up in Michigan, but are heading down to Florida, then down to the Texas Rio Grande Valley, and then on to Yuma, AZ for the rest of the winter.  We hope to see them at the Gypsy Rally in Yuma in March.

Later, Jan and I headed out to a local Verizon store so I could upgrade my Palm Treo to a new Blackberry Storm 2.  I’ve been waiting for the new Storm 2 to come out since my Palm was on its last legs.

After getting my upgrade I dropped Jan off at Walmart to get her hair cut. while I ran an errand.

Coming back to the rig about 5:30 pm we decide to stay in for the evening.

More tomorrow…