Trip Stats

 For those who wonder: We put 3,570 miles on the coach and 2,300 miles on the Flex while we were gone.

Day 123 - Thursday, April 4 - Back in Missouri

 No problems during my overnight stay at the Wright City rest area. The 95 mile trip to Centertown went fine. I was parked and set up before 11 AM.

This will be my last post for awhile. I will start again when we head to Michigan for the summer, Lord willing.

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

Days 121 & 122 - Tuesday & Wednesday, April 2 & 3 - Leak Fixes & Travelling

 Tuesday - I dropped the coach off at Lakeshore at 7:30 and then drove in to Iuka for breakfast (& free WiFi) at McDonalds. I downloaded several episodes of a TV series and a movie while there. After that I drove to the park and read until around noon. I tried Taco Bell for lunch. It has been ages since I had a taco from Taco Bell, they weren't bad.

Bryan/Lakeshore texted me in the early afternoon to tell me that think they have the leaks fixed and that he had parked the coach back on the site. When I got back he explained what they had done and I paid him.

Several rainstorms went through the area in the evening and during the night. No leaks but no high winds. There was a tornado watch during part of the evening.

Wednesday - I headed for Missouri at 8:10AM. My plan was to get at least half way home today. I did miss a couple of turns in the first 100 miles but, PTL, getting back on track was easy in both cases and it only added about 6 miles to my travels. The first 125 miles, Lakeshore to Dyersburg, TN, was Mississippi county roads, Mississippi state highways and US highways. The road surfaces were decent and traffic was light. When I headed west on I155, out of Dyersburg, the wind became noticeable. I don't think the wind speed increased but the country was more open so I felt it more. When I turned north on I55, I was driving through a lot of open, flat areas. The wind out of the west made driving interesting. I drove through one little "storm", it wasn't raining very hard,  where I got hit with several big gusts of wind. They pushed me over onto the paved shoulder, tires on the wrong side of the rumble strip. That slowed me down to 45-50 mph for awhile.

Our generator draws diesel from the main fuel tank. Once the fuel level is down to 1/4 it can't get more fuel. It made that way so that you don't strand yourself by running the generator until you are totally out of fuel. I didn't know where I was going to stop for the night, and I wanted the flexibility of being able to run the generator as much as I wanted. I stopped and bought $100 worth of fuel in Marston, MO, price $3.72/gal. I planned on filling up at Mr. Fuel, west of St. Louis. We often buy fuel there when we go through St. Louis, because it usually the cheapest price around. The price $3.55/gallon. Seventeen cents a gallon adds up, it took 86 gallons to fill up.

For lunch I stopped at a truck parking area and made myself a sandwich.

After fighting the wind and St. Louis traffic (not to bad, only one 12 mile slow down and then a 6 miles stop and go) I knew I was to tired to drive the rest of the way home and arrive after dark.

I'm spending the night at the Wright City rest area, 395 miles from Lakeshore and 90 miles from Centertown. 

I haven't driven this far in a long time. I think that without the wind I could do a 500 mile day.

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

Days 119 & 120 - Sunday, March 31 & Monday, April 1 - EASTER & the promise of eternal life for believers.

 Sunday - I didn't actually do anything Easter Sunday. I watched the Cowboy Church Sunrise Service, wishing I was there. It must have been great sitting out on the bleachers at sunrise, by the corral and listening to Chris give the message using a horse for a visual aid. 

Jeff, my cousin who is in prison in Texas had asked me for information on payload and towing capacity for gas and diesel RAM 2500's & 3500's. He also asked for some information on Airstream trailers. This spring he was denied parole for the 3rd time. He will apply again this fall. Once he is out he wants some type of mobile home (motorhome, 5th wheel, travel trailer, pickup camper) a truck(?) and a bass fishing boat. (He has access to reasonable resources when he gets out.) His daughter and I are his only contacts with the outside world now that his Dad died a couple of months ago. Over the past several years I've been his "go to guy" digging out information on trucks, campers, boats, etc. I spent about 6 hours gathering information and putting together emails to transfer it to him. I also keep send him emails updating him on our travels.

I talked to Kathy. She is working herself to a frazzle helping Kelsey, which she enjoys immensely.

Monday - kind of a null day. I didn't do much again today. I did go down and drive around the J B Coleman State Park some more. It was supposed to be warm today (78) but I don't think it ever got above 71. It felt quite cool while I was out washing the RV windshield after I returned. I did spend another couple of hours putting together emails (you can only send 5 photos with each email) to catch Jeff up on our travels. This evening I need to get things around to minimize what I need to do before taking the coach over to Lakeshore at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

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