Tuesday, July 25 - Returned to Centertown

 We had an uneventful, 300 mile, cross country drive from Champaign to Centertown. We were set up in Centertown by 4PM.

We stopped in a Thrift Center parking lot in Pittsfield, IL and ate lunch. Kathy went in and checked out their wares, and to buy something (or make a donation) since we were using their lot. She found some type of Tupperware bowl she thought Kelsey would like.

Weather was hot, humid and just NASTY upon arrival in Centertown, normal Missouri summer weather. After we were hooked up to utilities I came in to enjoy the AC and noticed the rear AC unit (the one that was replaced last March while we were in TX) wasn't on. I checked circuit breakers and fuses and everything looked good. The unit wouldn't even run in just fan mode. I gave up and planned on searching for an RV Technician the next day, RV Techs are scarcer than hens teeth in central MO. A little later I set the TV antenna so that it did a scan and located the available over the air signals. The TV wouldn't come on. I started checking and found that a couple of AC outlets did not have power. I went out, pulled the 50 amp plug and plugged it back in and everything seemed to work. When (if?) it cools down a little I'm going to pull the plug and see if I can clean the contacts.

We drove 1,416 miles on the trip. We had filled up with diesel when we arrived back home April 1. During the 3 months prior to leaving for this trip I had let the Cummins warm up once & had run the generator a total of 4 hours to "exercise" it. We ran the generator another 8 hours during the trip (minimal power at Mom's and the dash AC doesn't get the job done in hot weather). We filled up once in Jamestown, IN, near the MI border, 93.6 gal, and again in Kingdom City on our way back home, 101.7 gal. Just looking at the miles and the fuel it figures out to 7.1 mpg, without considering how much fuel was burned warming up the engine and running the generator.

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Friday - Monday, July 21st - 24th

Friday - We didn't do a lot, other than visiting with my Mom & brother. About 6 PM my brother David, Kathy (his wife) and his kids and grandkids, left for their place near Baldwin, MI. It is a lot on a lake. The lot has power, water and and outhouse.

Saturday - Kathy's sister Cindy drove up from NW Ohio and they went shopping and out to lunch. Mom and I went to visit my last living Uncle Don (His first wife was my Dad's sister Norma. She died of cancer many (50?) years ago.), and his wife.

Sunday - We just hung around and visited with Mom.

Monday - We drove to D & W Lake Campground near Champaign, IL, 275 miles. We got of the Interstate in Fort Wayne, IN and drove "cross country" from there to Champaign.

Leaving Mom's

We parked at a gravel lot and ate lunch in Fowler, IN.

Field of sunflowers.

During the drive across Indiana we saw over a thousand windmills, at no place were there more than 2 of every 10 actually turning. Temps were in the mid/high 80's. Who would invest in something that produced so little (government - tax dollars?)? All these windmills and the electricity to run all the AC units was being generated at power plants burning fossil fuels. There could have been a million windmills but if none of them are spinning they don't generate any electricity.

Parked at D & W Lake

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Sunday-Thursday, July 16th-20th - We Are Still Alive and Well

 I just haven't found the time, or perhaps just didn't have the drive, to get online and do daily blog posts.

Kelsey has posted a lot on Facebook, check out her stuff if you are a Facebook user. Tuesday morning she and the kids flew back to Missouri. Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday Kathy and I didn't do much. Actually Kathy did a lot of cleaning, I'm the one who didn't do much.

Tuesday we went to a pizza place for lunch. Kathy ordered a "specialty pizza" and I ate off the pizza buffet, a mistake on my part. Kathy said hers was good, the pizza on the buffet might have been good if it was hot but it was barely warm.

Getting around the area is a pain. Most intersections on the main streets don't allow left turns so you have to make a right turn, go a block, make another right turn, go a block, make a third right turn and go a block. All that instead of a simple left hand turn. On top of the the main east west street was being repaved. If you were eastbound and wanted to get to a store on the westbound side of the street you had to drive the full length of the paving area, several miles, make a U-turn and drive back to that store. 

Wednesday Kathy found a listing for a  restaurant named Grand Coney. My mouth watered as I thought about all the great hot dogs that they would have on the menu. (I like hot dogs.) We fought way around side streets in an attempt to beat the several mile drive thru the construction site. It probably took us longer than if we had just given in and driven through the construction.

This area is all relatively new retail construction. I'm not sure what the Architect was going for when he/she designed the building façade. As we pulled into the lot we wondered about the lack of cars. Grand Coney had already failed and was closed.

We ended up driving another 8 miles to a BBQ place located in a micro brewery. Kathy's hamburger was barely edible. My pulled pork was good. The place wasn't busy and it took forever to get our food. I left a Google review saying that I didn't much care for McDonalds but rather than go back to this restaurant I would eat at the McDonalds across the street. The food might not be a lot better but at least it would be a lot less expensive.

These were the "premium" sites on the other side of the campground. While the concrete pads and patios were nice I liked our tree covered shady site much better.

The weather has been good, although the temperatures are low enough that even the pool water is cool for Nolan. He got out in Lake Michigan but the water was to cold for him to stay long.

This morning (Thursday) the weather forecasts included warnings to not go out on the Lake Michigan piers because the waves were high enough that you  might get washed into the lake. We hung around the campground until noon and then left for Mom's. The first 80 miles were windy enough that driving wasn't fun for Kathy. We stopped at a rest area on the north side of Kalamazoo for lunch. By the time we left the wind had calmed down. For the last 20 miles of our travel the pavement was wet and we did get some rain, nothing heavy. Just before we got to Mom's it started raining heavily. By the time we stopped back by the pond the rain has almost stopped. We did get another shower later.

It was humid today, to the point of being uncomfortable, when combined with the 83 degree high temperature. Now, 11:30PM, the temperature is down to 67 degrees, with a humidity of 77%. The dew point is 59 degrees. By morning the temperature is supposed to be down to 61 degrees. The humidity is supposed to be lower tomorrow and temps are forecast for a high of 80 with an overnight low 57 tomorrow night. I do love Michigan weather, to bad the state government is controlled by Socialist Democrats. There are enough people in Detroit to outvote the rest of the residents of the state.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday - July 12-15

 Wednesday afternoon we went to Ed & Cindy's (one of Kathy's sisters) for a family get together. Anthony, Doug's husband, is cutting Nolan's hair. Ed (Cindy's husband) is in the blue shirt on the right.

Beverly (my Mom), Kathy, Nancy (Kathy's oldest sister) & Colton.

Our son Doug on the left.

I went inside and heard someone playing with the piano. It was Lydia, she had the doors closed and wasn't happy about being photographed.

It stormed during the night. We were in a tornado watch area for 5 hours and a tornado warning area for 2 hours. The event that caused the warning never touched down. 

Thursday we moved to the KOA campground in Allendale, MI, near Grand Rapids. We have put 715 miles on the coach since leaving Centertown.

Parked in Allendale. Nice size sites, most of them are wooded. It is definitely big rig friendly. $56.50/night weekdays & $61.50/night Friday & Saturday nights. Prices include taxes. We received a $35 discount because we have a KOA membership, which costs $35/year (I think).

Friday we went to the beach in Muskegon. There were quite a few people in the water. Nolan initially walked in and then right back out. Later, after some time playing in the sand, he did go in for a little while. Lydia spent much longer in the water.

Supper after the beach.

After supper we took a "hayride" tour of the campground. They had an interesting game for everyone to play. At 5 locations around the tour route there were 5 gallon plastic buckets nailed to a tree, top of bucket about 6' off the ground. Before we started they handed up a bucket full of tennis balls. The driver stopped at each of the buckets and everyone had a chance to try and throw their tennis ball into the bucket. A lady in a golf cart took our bucket, collected the balls and handed the bucket full of balls back up to us for the next stop.

Saturday Kathy, Kelsey &  Lydia went to the groceery store, had lunch out and looked around Allendale a little. Nolan & I stayed home. He spent his time on his tablet and I read. We had leftover homemade potato soup, cheese, crackers & carrots for our lunch. Temps are good, highs in the high 70's and low 80's. Overnight lows in the high 50's. It had rained here before we arrived and rained again last night. There is enough humidity that we are running the AC a fair amount.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday - July 9th-11th

 It gets busy with 5 of us in the coach. Difficult to find a time to post.

Sunday - Doug, Anthony, Kelsey & kids went to the 860 acre Riverside Park in Indianapolis. Kathy and I enjoyed the quiet.

Monday - Doug, Anthony, Kelsey & kids went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We packed up and left the campground at noon. We drove up to the northeast side of town (I69 & 96th St), parked in a Kohls parking lot to wait for them. We fired up the generator, turned on the AC units, did some reading and had lunch in the coach while waiting for them. When they arrived we hooked up the Flex and headed for Michigan. We arrived around 6:30PM, It was a nice evening for sitting outside and enjoying a quiet evening. Temperatures were in the mid 80's but with the breeze it was not uncomfortable. It was still a little warm in the coach at bedtime, but tolerable with the windows open and the breeze. The overnight low was 64. 

Tuesday AM - It is a beautiful morning. At 11:30 Kelsey, Lydia, Nolan and Colton (my brothers youngest grandson) left to meet some Ohio family members at a waterpark in Ohio.

Parked at Mom's. Sitting out and enjoying the evening.

Lydia, Nolan and Colton heading out in the canoe.

It is dry here. Mom & David (my brother) rent the tillable farm ground. I doubt that there will be enough corn to even bother harvesting it.

I filled up the propane tank in California before we left. The previous fill up was in Tucson, AZ on December 17th. Our daily average propane cost was$0.26/day. Our electricity cost is much more than that because we use it for AC and most of our heat. Our electricity bills while in MO average $145/month. The two highest months Dec/Jan, average $230/mon.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Saturday, July 8 - Effingham to Indiana State Fairgrounds

We had a nice overnight rain. The 150 mile drive from Camp Lakewood to Indianapolis was uneventful, other than a stop at one of our favorite restaurants, Lou's Diner in Cloverdale, IN. A lot of the corn in Illinois and Indiana looked good and is already tasseled. We "found" Lou's several years ago and whenever we are in the area at meal time we try and stop in for good service and good food. As we visited with the waitress during our first stop there she told us that all the employees were part owners. Each also was assigned a specific area of maintenance. She was the plumber.

Lou's

Lydia took this photo. She also took one of the photos I posted yesterday.

Kelsey ordered a breaded tenderloin, one of my favorites. The piece of meat is larger than Nolan's head. I ate all of my beef manhattan but I was the only one who finished. We carried out enough food for another meal.

Then it was on to the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Along the west fairground fence line, left side of above photo, are RV sites. The largest number I saw was 101. You back up to a chain link fence and have a full hook up site. FHU sites are $45/night. This is the first time we have stayed here. I thought that there would be more RV's since this was the only place I looked at that had sites available. You pick a site number when you make a reservation. When you arrive you drive to your site, call Security and they come and unlock the electrical box. At least every hour we saw a Security car making a loop around the property. The Monon Trail runs on the other side of the fence. There have been quite a few walkers, runners & bike riders.

Fairground Main Street

There was some kind of auto racing event going on inside the mile long horse racing track. Lots of different style cars running on a winding short track. They raced against the clock. There were two cars on the track a lot of the time but they were not close to one another. Lots of different styles. Lap times ran from 27 to 33 seconds. I think an Indy club was competing against a club from Columbus, IN.

Doug and Anthony brought over supper.  Kelsey, Nolan & Doug in the photo below.

Kathy, Lydia & Anthony

The skies threatened rain during the day and evening but we stayed rain free. It was a little muggy but not so bad that it kept us inside. We did a lot of walking around the fairgrounds.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Friday, July 7 - Headed toward Michigan

 This morning we left home and started making our way to Michigan. Tonight we are staying at Camp Lakewood in Effingham, IL, 240 miles from home. East bound traffic on I70 wasn't bad but we saw several backups and a lot of bumper to bumper on the westbound lanes. 

We stopped at the Silver Lake Rest Area, first one in IL, if you are eastbound.

Then it was on to Camp Lakewood.

Temperatures were only in the mid 80's but the humidity is higher than it has been in Centertown.

The process of getting left was interesting, again. Our big awning quit working around the time we got back to Missouri. I called around and finally found a mobile guy who came out on June 7th. He said the awning motor was fine but the controller board was bad. I gave him the information on our Service Contract people and asked him to fix it. I told him that we planed on leaving before the 4th of July. On the 14th I called him for an update. He told me that he had not heard back from the Service Contract people. I offered to call them to try and expedite things but he said he would handle it. I sent him a screenshot from Tiffin Parts that showed a new controller. Finally, on the 28th he came with a replacement controller. After seeing that it didn't work I found out  that it was a used controller and he told me that I might have to replaced the entire system because it was out of date. After some discussion he called Dometic, the awning maker, with the actual model number off our awning. The Dometic guy gave him the model of a replacement controller that would work and told him where he could buy it. He called and found out that the cost was $200 more that the price the Service Contract people had agreed to. The problem was that the controller model they priced would not work with out awning. Then he told me that he was going on vacation with week of the 4th. I asked him to make a deal with Service Contract people, have the correct controller shipped to me and that I would install it. I told him I would pay extra to have it shipped overnight. I never heard from him and no controller arrived. If anyone know a competent RV service person in central Missouri please send me their name.

I  planned on having our onboard propane tank filled Wednesday afternoon, at AA Propane in California, MO. The last time we bought propane was mid-Dec in Tucson, AZ.  As I was doing my pre-drive checks I found a flat inside dual on the passenger side. Something was bad with the stem and I couldn't get it to hold air. I called Brockes Tire on got on their schedule to have a Service Truck some Thursday and fix the tire. I couldn't find my valve stem removal tool so I bought a new one. In the evening I pulled the stem out, played with it awhile, put it back in and the tire seemed to hold air. Thursday morning at 7AM I called Brockes and told them not to bother ending a Service Truck I would drive the coach to them. I did and they replaced the valve stem and the extension.

Also, as I was doing my checks on Wed, I learned that the onboard water pump wouldn't work. I called US Rents it and the quickest he could get me one was Friday. I called Camping World in Columbia, MO, gave them the pump model numbers and was told it was to old for them to get a replacement, it was a 2007 model. He suggested I try Amazon. I  had already found one on Amazon but was uneasy over it arriving the next day. I ordered it and by 4PM Thursday I had the pump. I installed it Thursday evening. It seems to work fine.

On top of that, on Wednesday some issues about the results of my April 25th blood tests came up. That issue won't get resolved until we return to MO.

Praise God for getting me through the above pre-drive problems with a minimum of stress.

Tonight I'm setting outside at a picnic table typing this up and enjoying God's creating. 

God is good. I  pray that He blesses you and yours.