Lazy, do nothing day.

Today was kind of a slow, lazy start to a couple of weeks in Davenport. Got together with my brother Russ, sister Nancy, sister-in-law Cheryl and Beverly..........oh yes and my Mother! It was good seeing them all, especially my Mother who's been having short term memory problems now for a couple of years and not getting any better. I guess we're lucky she has her health and still knows everyone by sight and voice even at 89 years old. Anyway we all met at this pizza joint they like called Happy Joe's and as far as my family is concerned it's the taco pizza that makes it worth eating there, for me it's not really that big of a deal. We had a nice chat for about an hour and a half and discussed the next days reunion and who all we might see there and not see there and just some catching up talk. Nancy had to go to work, and Bev and I had to go to the market for a few things and items to prepare for both Saturday and Sunday's reunions. Exciting day so far don't you agree? After the market we just sat around the motor home while Bev did a little work and I paid a couple of bills (on-line) and before you know it 5:00 p.m. rolled around with a knock on the door. Bev's cousin Olin and wife Cheryl stopped by and while we were chatting there was another knock on the door...........holy shit it's cousin Darilyn and Ed from Tennessee! This was a big surprise because they hadn't planned on coming but at the last minute hoped in the car and hit the road for a 12 hour drive to the Quads for the reunion. Very happy they made the trip because even though it's been many years with only the visit a couple of years ago here and at their place in Bristol, TN. we sure to enjoy being with them. We do have to make the trek to Bristol for the NASCAR race real soon, they party hardy for a week up to and including race day and I'm we'd enjoy hanging around the camp with them and their friends. After everyone took of I told Bev about "Gumbo ya-yah" down at what the call the "District" in down town Rock Island, Ill. just across the river. New Orleans music, New Orleans food, drinks abounding, and some crazy folks dressed for the occasion it real goth/voodoo garb even vampire looking at times. I just love a good gumbo so I tried some from two different booths in the food area of this festival, and the first was by far the best, not just the best but real top notch stuff......I loved it and was very disappointed with the stuff from the vender across the street. We met a couple of sisters from Chicago who come down each year for this festival, we had a nice chat about a number of things and parted way. Since we were so close to Jumer's (We all know that's where Bob plays) we decided to give them a few bucks but as it turned out Bev was hot once more and we walked out replenishing the gaming kitty with another net $800......now if we could only win together! Once again we had to sneak in the exit between the gate and the fence with the Jeep which just barely fits since they lock the main gate at 10 p.m. Bev and I just can't seem to make that at anytime or at any night while visiting on these trips to Davenport, other wise it would be a walk in the dark from the outer parking area to the motor home. For our ages we really are a couple of night owls that's for sure! Tomorrow is the first of the two reunions, we have things ready and look forward to a lot of catching up and then Sunday the reunion for Bev's side of the family. I'll be taking the ipad so we can facetime with the kids back in Phoenix and share them with some of our family here.

Finally arrived at out first destination on the trek

Sorry for the absence yesterday but things got a little hectic at times. Between the wind, rain, lousy weather all around we made it to Council Bluffs at about 7:30 p.m. and set up for a short evening. I say short because with the need to get to our home for the next couple of weeks, West Lake park, we needed to get up early and bust ass to Davenport in the morning. We had heard from a few folks that were already at the park that it was filling up fast and the place takes no reservations to camp or hook-up. We called an old friend(Wally Branquist who worked for me at Dal-Tile about 25 years ago)that lives in Council Bluffs, he had just finished his golf league play so we met for a quick dinner. Last year we stayed a day or so and played some golf with Wally but this year the damn schedule kept us from that form of leisure we so longed for. I had planned on getting up at about 3:00 a.m. and hitting the road, but when the alarm went off Bev didn't have the heart to wake be beings I was so freaking tired.....thanks for the extra hour and a half Bev. We ended up hitting the road about 6:00 a.m. and had coffee and an egg sandwich on road, thanks again "B"! We filled up a Flying J on the way out of Council Bluffs and actually beat the semi's on the road, the rest area's were packed as we drove by each until about 7:00 a.m. We ended up having a call from two different cousins with reference to the sites at West Lake due to our concerns with making it there in time to land one of those remaining sites, they figured arriving before noon would help. All turned out just fine and we thank God for that. After the first hour of setting things up, hooking things up, and cleaning things up(I've been told I'm a bit annal that way)we were pretty much set my about noon. I showed, and didn't even get dressed, just hoped into the bed and took a much needed nap for about two hours..........yes I miss my naps when on the road. Woke up fresh made a couple of calls while Bev prepared a good dinner and now catching up here, it will be a quit night, but called Mom and will be picking her up for lunch tomorrow. We're sorry we couldn't at least stop in Des Moines on the way through to Davenport, but we'll see them on Sunday at the reunion and then after this time in Davenport we have a week or so planned for out time in Des Moines with our family there. We had company tonight, Robin and Johnny(cousins)stopped by to welcome us and we chatted for a couple of hours. Their camping across the way for the weekend and to be here for the reunion this weekend. It will be nice to see what family decides to attend, hopefully we have a great turn out and the weather turns for the better. By the way I'm hoping and praying I can maintain the weight loss program I've been on, trips like this where there is a lot of eating out with friends and family can be brutal on these sorts of things. So far so good but I'm sure there will be prices to bay especially at "pot luck" family reunions!

Denver Sucks!

Today was a bitch in many ways, but productive as far a miles traveled and days almost caught up after delays in Albuquerque. We ended the day up in Fort Morgan, Colorado about 73 miles north east of Denver, that would be 551 miles traveled and a 13 hour day. Things were going well but running low on gas so I usually top off around a half a tank and no less than a 1/4, unlike my family who all seem to enjoy testing the gauge and seeing how long they can go on the "E". We us a Pilot/Flying J card when traveling because of it ties to Good Sam and discounts on gas and most any item you can buy there. Not only that but they have separate pumps for trucks and RV's so we don't have to try and jockey around the pumps for auto's, very convenient that's for sure. Well I totally went against everything I'm made of and figured I'd try and make a Flying J just outside of Denver since the on board computer indicated I had the miles left in the tank to make it with 50 miles to spare. Bev looks up the Flying J and puts it in the GPS and Sammy is going to take us there. It's not only a bad idea but it's 5:00 p.m. in Denver and the freeway is a parking lot, Mike get frustrated, pissed, and believes we'll run out of gas in the middle of this mess and goes into panic mode (the kids can just picture this I'm sure). I'm following the GPS turn for turn and it's looking more and more like this station is going to be right smack dab in the middle of down town Denver, and the more I drive and the more the computer is telling be "low on fuel"......."low on fuel" the more panic stricken I become. Shit who wants to run out of gas let alone right down town Denver during rush hour? As it turns out I had the GPS set earlier for just Denver and when Bev plugged in the Flying J to make it a via point something went wrong and it kept the destination as Denver! Yep we're thinking we are heading to a Flying J and instead we're being taken right in the middle of down town Denver and no stations in sight! After a bit of the blame game back and forth we finally get to a station (the only one in down town) and have a bitch of a time just getting to the pumps but finally fill that bad boy up and head out of town ASAP! All turned out well I guess but it could have been a whole lot worse that's for sure.......even in between my potty mouth here and there the good Lord must have been watching over us, thank you Jesus! Best news that came out of the ordeal was by traveling like the tortoise by that I mean nice and steady at between 55 and 60 mph we managed 7.45 mpg on that tank of gas. Towing the Jeep and getting 7.5 mpg is a record I believe, but tomorrow I'm trying 65 mph and seeing we get with that speed. First tank (mountains and hills) we got 5 mpg and slight hills and flat land we got 7.5 mpg, looking forward to Nebraska and Iowa a couple of pretty flat places. On a totally different subject, I was thinking about thumbs today earlier. Watching Bev sit in the co-pilots seat and working on her phone in e-mail and texting I notice it's the thumbs doing all the work. Before these phones and hand help items like the ipad etc. the thumbs were pretty much useless, oh sure they were used to hitch-hike back in the day, used to stick into a pie usually plum, and even sucked on by some. We used to hunt and peck (I still do because I have a dump phone yet and pecking is easier for me on the ipad) but other than giving your critique on a movie with one or two up or down what the hell were they good for before texting? Now the thumb is probably the most important and most used digit folks have these days, the younger generation would be lost and confused without a thumb. Hell they don't even know what the hell "hitch hiking is" or what the word critique means............their all thumbs if you ask me. By the way the folks in Denver are the rudest, selfish, bad driving folks I've ever ran into on the road. They worry about themselves and nothing else when driving these inadequate streets and freeways, just plain rude.

Monday, June 3rd and stuck in Albuquerque, NM

Well thanks to Olivia(service tech that helped us)at Camping World in Albuquerque the motor home is being taken care of. A black water tank flush, replace one of the A/C units on the roof that has a bad compressor, and fixed short in wire for bedroom reading lights and closets. A/C unit falls under extended warranty but $500 deductible still hurts, bill was right at $1400 and ended up costing us $885...........my fault on the black water tank so my bad on that $119. I still learn something everyday and sometimes that learning experience cost in more ways than one! It was 5:20 p.m. before we departed Camping World with the motor home and Jeep in tow, decided just to spend the night here in Albuquerque and get a start in the morning. We now have 3 days to get to Davenport and hopefully can get a good spot at West Lake to park for a couple of weeks, got some driving to do the next few days. The winnings from the first Casino stop took care of the $885 that was are share of the ticket for the repairs, so thank God we had that so the Ouch wasn't as bad as it could have been. Won't be making too many more casino stops now that we're virtually a good day and a half behind schedule or at least what was kind of our schedule. I'm not too keen on driving this rig at night anymore, not like it was "back in the day" when I could drive all day and night if need be..no can't do that anymore. God willing and the creek don't rise we'll have smooth sailing from here on out and no problems, I love my motor home and enjoy the hell out of it but this kind of shit makes one wonder if it's all worth it. Let me answer that question right now, you bet it's worth it, we really enjoy this life and style of traveling. By the way a lot of hills and mountains getting to this point, I've topped off the tank twice not and the first yielded 5 mpg and a bit flatter since entering NM and the second was 6.5 and that's towing the Jeep...we'll be back up to 7 or 7.5 before too long especially going through Nebraska and Iowa. It's late and we have an early morning, life is good and tomorrow will be a better day!

Not too far today.

Woke up this morning started unhooking and dumping the grey and black water and oh my God the black water didn't drain.....why I have no idea. We found a Camping World just outside of Albuquerque, NM and by the time we got there they were close.....after all it is Sunday. We should have been further along but the only reason to spend anytime in New Mexico is a stop at Sky City so we did. If there was a way to not go through New Mexico when heading east or northeast from Phoenix that would be great, the place has not much to offer in the way of travel scenery! Anyway we've parked at Camping World and are waiting for the morning when they open at 8:00 a.m. and hoping they can fix the black water problem and then look at a couple of things the Camping World in Phoenix supposedly fixed but didn't get it right in my opinion. A fuse for the bedroom reading lights, and the breaker on the generator tripping when the front A/C is turned on while using the generator. So we will be a day behind and that's if they can get us in tomorrow morning and get these items taken care of. Oh well it's this first part of our summer journey that has a time schedule to meet with the reunions on the 8th and 9th, heck after that we come and go as we please when we please with no set time to be anywhere. Albuquerque lights up the night sky so beautifully, coming into town off the little mountain or hillside is an awesome sight to me each time I see it. I guess seeing that takes away all the crappy scenery an the way into the city. Way too many casino's in New Mexico, never thought we'd drive by so many but we're still was ahead after a few stops here and there. Here's hoping they can get us in first thing in the morning and we can be back on the road tomorrow at a decent hour. Weather is nice and cool tonight, will be great sleeping.

Day one on the road

As has been the custom with these road trip or journeys for the summer our first day doesn't even get us out of Arizona. We left 8:00 a.m. and made our first stop the new Twin Arrows Navajo casino 20 miles east of Flagstaff. Yes we're like the vast majority of retired folks and spend a few hours here and there visiting casino's, we usually don't get hurt and actually have made a lot of money at this one of our favorite pass-times. Anyway the new Twin Arrows is one of the finest Indian casino's we've frequented and we ended up spending about 5 hours there and had a great lunch. We ended up winning $840 so that will be a few tanks of gas and is the start of our gaming kitty! We left there and drove about 30 miles and filled up at Flying J and drove another 20 about to Joseph City, AZ. population 500 but a nice little RV park with full hook-up for $15 a night......won't find another that cheap the remainder of our 3 months on the road. All in all day one not too eventful and not too productive as far as distance traveled, but hey it's 5 more days until we need to be in Davenport. By the way Bentley has finally settled in after 12 hours of not knowing exactly what the hell is going on!

Day/night before departure

OK we're in full swing now, my glasses came in yesterday and now we can leave on Saturday. Brought the motor home down to the lot next door to finish loading up and doing some minor cleaning, like windows, getting pictures back up etc. The Carpet needs replacing and Bev wants wood instead, but in the mean time I might just get a 5x6 rug for under the table for this trip or until we get to Oregon and check out the pricing in and around Bend, Oregon. I woke up this morning to my lowest weight since January 1st and with the hauling in and out and cleaning I'm already exhausted and may have hit or might hit my FIRST goal before we take off. For those that don't know Bev and I have been on a weight lose program of our own, basically numbers counting and logging daily on www.myfitnesspal.com, being accountable for what you eat each day. I started off great guns but have been in a real rut for the past month bouncing up and down between the same 4 to 5 pounds. My FIRST goal is to get below 300 pounds, sure sounds huge to you skinny folks but yep we topped out at 335 after the first of the year and tipped the scale this morning at 302 and feel like I lost that 2 pounds this morning already! By the way Bev is doing great also, down 25 to date and looking good! Enough of that stuff, back to the travels. Mike's pretty much all loaded and ready to hit the road and as you might imagine Bev hasn't started putting things in the motor home, she's been busy making gas money. I'm going to wait now until after dinner with the kids and then finish up my stuff and loading the basements and finish the windows, it will cool off this evening and like I said right now I'm exhausted. It will get more interesting starting tomorrow as we embark on our 5th summer journey exploring these United States and it's many little interesting cities and towns and sites. Between this blog and FB and e-mails I might just keep busy but love every minute of it.