We’re Finally On Our Way!

We spent another night in Burlington RV’s parking lot last night.  Here’s our lovely spot.  We did have water and electric and didn’t have to find a place to stay, so we were happy with that.

Yesterday they repaired our bedroom slide so it is working properly and no longer sitting too low.  We had a few other minor things we noticed so we had them do those, too.  They still weren’t sure if the leak was fixed.  They wanted to water test it again today.  After rain last night and running water on it for 1.5 hours this morning, everything was dry so we were out of there!

Jayco has given me written confirmation that they will honor our warranty beyond its expiration date regarding any leaks.  Hopefully, we won’t have to take them up on it.  I must say they have been very good about honoring the warranty and fixing anything we found lacking.

We are, however, somewhat disappointed with the quality of this Jayco.  It’s the fifth Jayco we’ve owned, and we’ve never had any serious problems before.  This time there were some major problems caused by shoddy workmanship.

Some of our windows weren’t sealed properly when they were installed.  One wall in the bedroom slide wasn’t attached to the floor which caused a leak.  The big slide had numerous gaps in the caulking which caused a leak.  The siding under the part that hangs over the truck was not attached to the plywood underneath and eventually began pulling loose.  I don’t know if we’ll buy Jayco again.  We’ll have to see.  Maybe we just got a lemon :( 

Now on to the adventure.  We had to change our plans and skip visiting Galena, Illinois and Kevin’s brother in Iowa.  We have reservations in Estes Park, Colorado Friday night.  We were told to make reservations because this time of year the aspen are in full fall color and the elk are rutting so the campgrounds tend to fill up. Since we planned to arrive on a Friday, I made a reservation.

Now we have to hustle to get there on time.  We’ll be driving about 8 hours today and spending the night at a Love’s Truck Stop in West Des Moines, Iowa.  Tomorrow night we’ll stop at a Passport America campground near North Platte, Nebraska and then onto Estes Park on Friday.  Hopefully, this will be the last time we have to do this much driving in such a short time.

I’m writing this in the truck.  I sure do appreciate our Verizon air card.  We’re in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  At least we are finally out of Wisconsin :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Fall is Here, Or Is It?

We spent the weekend camping with our camping club at Green Lake Campground in Green Lake, Wisconsin.  We had a great time.  The weather was cool and gloomy.  Highs were in the low 60s and it was overcast all weekend with a few showers thrown in.

Green Lake Campground has a 9 hole, par 3 golf course.  Golfing on the course if free for campers.  It’s not very well tended, but it’s fine for a little fun for all levels of golfers.  We had a scramble tournament with members of our club.  In the evening we had a mini golf tournament.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves regardless of their golfing abilities. 

The camping fees are $45 a night for water and electric sites.  We got a club discount and paid $35 a night.  I think that’s just too much even if they do have a golf course and 2 pools. 

Some of my friends were teasing me by saying all I talk about in this blog is the weather.  Since we were camphosting in the same place all summer, sometimes I didn’t have anything new to tell you.  This summer the weather was so strange so I had lots to say about that :)

Fall is definitely in the air.  Tree leaves are turning colors and many leaves are already falling.  The other morning when I was walking through some leaves, it smelled so much like fall.  It’s funny how each season has smells associated with it.

Last night we camped at Cliffside County Park in Racine which is close to Burlington RV.  We had an appointment this morning for more warranty work.  These beautiful leaves were on the ground when we got there.

I’m sure you’re dying to know how our repairs went today :)  Since I am writing this blog from Burlington RV’s parking lot tonight, I guess it wasn’t exactly great.  They fixed some loose moldings and adjusted the awning arm which was not closing properly since they replaced the awning fabric last time.  They also tried to fix our leak.  The technician thought he had found the leak and fixed it.  After water testing it, water was still leaking in.  They’ll work on the leak again tomorrow.  They also didn’t get to fixing our bedroom slide today.  We sure are hoping they can get it done tomorrow so we can get on our way to Colorado. 

They did allow us to park in their parking lot tonight with electric and water hookups.  So, I’m enjoying the season premiere of Dancing With the Stars and hoping we can be done with these repairs once and for all tomorrow.

We spent all day today running errands and doing some shopping.  We went to an outlet mall and found some Christmas gifts for some wonderful young men in our lives.  They read this blog, so I can’t tell you what we got them :)

I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow.  No more shopping; we don’t need to spend any more money.  It’s supposed to be a nice warm day tomorrow so maybe we’ll try to find a nice park.  It’s supposed to be 83 degrees tomorrow with higher humidity.  Summer seems to be making a comeback!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Invasion of the Flies

We had the strangest thing happen a few nights ago.  Kevin was grilling supper outside, and there were a bunch of flies around.  We didn’t think much of it since we’ve had flies bothering us since July.  Well, the flies just kept coming and coming.  The whole side of our camper was covered with them.

Kevin brought the supper in along with dozens of flies.  After that, we didn’t dare open the door.  They were everywhere including all over the outside of the window screens.  Take a look.

I took the pictures from inside.  I wasn’t going out there.  We figured the food must have attracted them, and they’d go away once it got dark.  But, they didn’t.  They were still there in the morning.  Kevin had to take a broom and brush them all off.  Many were dead; some were still alive.

We don’t know what to make of it.  Maybe it was their last hurrah since there haven’t been many flies since that night.  Maybe it is some sort of dying ritual.  All I know is it was really strange!

We’re leaving our camphosting position today.  We’re camping with our camping club this weekend, taking the camper in for repairs on Monday and then heading towards Colorado.  I’m excited for the next part of the adventure to begin!!!

I’ll keep you posted :)

I wish everyone a terrific weekend.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Quilt Expo

On this anniversary of the terrorist attack on the towers in New York, I’d like to reflect on how lucky I feel to live in this country.  As I’ve said before, my parents immigrated to the US from Germany when I was a baby.  I have always felt so appreciative to be a citizen of a country where I have had the freedom to pursue my dreams; now more than ever!

This picture of Korey and myself was taken in 1998 during a trip to New York. Both boys were in band, and I chaperoned the band trip to New York for the Macy’s Parade.  The picture is taken from a look-out platform on the Statue of Liberty. 

On that tragic day 9 years ago, I felt such a connection to what was happening because I had been there a few years earlier.  We stayed at the Marriott Hotel in front of the towers (the building was crushed when the towers fell).  I kept thinking about what we would have done if it had happened while we were staying there.  My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones in the brutal attack!

We’d like to thank all of you who sent your best wishes for a speedy recovery for Kevin’s knee injury.  He’s doing better.  He’s able to limp around, but still taking it easy to make sure he’s ready to leave next Friday. 

Our site here at the park only has electric hook-ups.  We don’t have water or sewer.  There is a water spigot for campers to fill their tanks up the hill from us which we can reach with two hoses.   Kevin has always been the one to take care of tank filling and emptying.  So, this week I learned how to do those chores.  On Wednesday, he came out and sat on a stool and walked me through filling the water tanks.  We put off emptying the black water tank, but yesterday it had to be done.  He was able to come out and hobble around.  Between the two of us, we got the job done.  I didn’t like that job one bit :)

On Thursday I went to the Madison Quilt Expo.  In 2002 I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt so I could make a t-shirt quilt for Korey, our youngest son, as a high school graduation gift.  He was very active in many organizations, and had all kinds of shirts as mementos of his activities.  I took a beginning quilting class and was very pleased with how his quilt turned out.  I never took a picture of it; I need to do that.  He really likes his quilt.

After that, I was hooked on quilting.  I took a few more classes at a local quilt shop.  Mostly, I’ve been making baby quilts with fabrics I had in my stash after years of crafting.  I used a few for gifts and donated a few to Project Linus.  I’ve also been making the “Snap Happy” bags I posted about on August 1st. 

I’d never been to a quilt show before.  Wow, was I impressed.  The Madison show was huge.  There were many classes offered and hundreds of vendors.  There was a very large display of quilts for judging.  There were so many beautiful quilts; my head was swimming by the time I got to the end of the display.  I don’t know how the judges can pick a winner.

I was especially blown away by the hand quilted entries.  It looked like these quilts were done on a sewing machine.  The stitches were so small and evenly spaced.  Wow!!!

I saw so many projects I wanted to buy.  I had to restrain myself, and came away with spending about $100.  I could have gone nuts!

I bought 3 projects.  One is a beautiful poppy quilt.  After I opened it up, I realized it’s pretty hard.  It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together.  I may save this one until I have a little more experience.

Another project was using photos to make placemats or other quilting projects.  I’m planning on making some placemats with beautiful nature pictures of places we will visit.  I’m also going to make some placemats for my mom with family pictures.

The third project I purchased were gorgeous flower fabric panels to make this quilt.  I love the colors!  I’ll be keeping this one for myself :)

 

 

I also purchased a small ironing wand to press open seams and iron small quilt pieces.  I used it yesterday, and it’s great!  No more digging out the portable ironing board and large iron.

These projects should keep me busy until next year’s show!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Unlucky Labor Day

I’m not usually superstitious, but let me just say that next year Kevin and I will be staying in bed the entire Labor Day weekend :)

Last year on the Saturday before Labor Day I fell off my bicycle and tore my ACL. I had surgery in October, and it is still not 100%. I have been assured by the doctor that eventually I won’t even know I had surgery, and it will feel completely normal. He also said it would take at least a year to heal completely. I’m sure hoping he’s right!

This past Monday Kevin was bending down while locking up the canoes. As he was getting up, he somehow twisted his knee the wrong way. This happens to him about once a year. He injured his knee about 30 years ago playing softball, and it’s never been quite right. We know that he just has to follow the RICE plan (rest, ice, compression and elevation) for about a week, and it will get better. However, I’m starting to think Labor Day is not a good weekend for us!

So, we’re pretty much sitting around doing nothing for a few days. The nice thing is with this lifestyle, we can. We had tickets to a Milwaukee Brewers game tonight, but we’re not going. Kevin was supposed to golf on Friday with some friends, but had to cancel. He’s taking it very easy so he’ll be ready to leave Wisconsin in 10 days.

Over the weekend we had company on Sunday and Monday. We had a great time visiting with friends we won’t see again until May. Thanks for coming!

It seems like I’m constantly talking about the weather, but it has just been so strange this year. The last two days we had winds of 20 to 30 MPH with gusts up to 50 MPH. There are branches and leaves down all over the park! I had a hard time sleeping Monday night with all the wind noise.

Night temps have been in the mid 40s. The next few days are predicted to be in the low 70s and sunny; beautiful September weather.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Brrrr!

The weather this summer seems to be all about extremes.  We’ve had record heat, rainfall and humidity.  Two days ago reality returned.  We literally went from running the air on Thursday to running the furnace the last two mornings.  Lows were in the 40s and highs in the 60s; yikes!  It was also incredibly windy the last two days.

Today highs are expected in the mid 70s and the winds have calmed down.  Perfect! 

The good news is the mosquitoes seem to have left town.  The flies,  however, did not get the memo.  They’re hanging in there.  I must have killed dozens in the camper this weekend.

We had two groups brave the cool temperatures and winds yesterday by renting canoes.  I’m thinking we may have a few more today.   Firewood sales, however, were very brisk!

The campground is only half full this weekend.  I’m really surprised since we were full Memorial Day and the 4th of July weekends.  Maybe people are winding down by this time of the year.  I’m sure the cool, windy weather didn’t help either.

I got a kick out of watching people wrestle with tarps yesterday.  Some were trying some creative techniques to create wind protection.  Not all were successful :)  These people must have been really cold.  They wrapped both ends of their pop-up with tarps.

Today we’re expecting visitors.  Two couples are visiting for a cookout.  Kevin used to work with one of the guys, and we have all become friends.  Tomorrow, two ladies I used to work with several years ago are visiting.  I’m looking forward to the company.  We’re trying to get in visits with friends and family before we leave. 

An update on our camper repairs.  We have an appointment for Sept. 20th at the RV dealer in Wisconsin.  Jayco is working with the technician to make sure our leak and slide are fixed correctly.  I sure hope we can put all of this behind us!!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Ouch!

Ouch, ouch, ouch!  That’s what I’ve got to say about our truck repair bill.

We’ve been debating over the last year or so whether we should get a new truck or pay for the maintenance our current truck was going to need.  We have a 1999 GMC 2500 Heavy Duty pick up truck with only a little over 60,000 miles on it.  We have used it almost exclusively for towing.

When we purchased our new camper in 2008, we knew we were at our weight limit with our current truck.  Kevin is a GM man.  The problem was that even the 3500 trucks didn’t have much more weight capacity than the truck we currently have.  The 2011 GM diesel truck has been revamped and has a much greater towing capacity. 

We were hesitant to purchase a new 2011 for two reasons.  New models sometimes have bugs to be worked out, and GM is not offering any decent rebates or incentives for their larger trucks.

So, we decided to keep the truck we have and do all necessary maintenance before we head west. That included four new tires, brakes and rotors, new spark plugs and filters and all the other tune up type stuff. 

Kevin was a service consultant at a GM dealer in his former life.  Even after a nice discount at his former work place, our bill was still $1,700.  OUCH!

I’ve been keeping very close track of our spending since we began fulltiming to try and figure out what our average monthly expenses will be.  So far, every month has had some large expense.  The first two months we had to buy items for the camper.  Last month was airline tickets for our boys to visit at Christmas, this month a large truck repair bill. 

I guess all those items have to be factored into the budget.  It will be interesting to see how our budget numbers look after a year.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!