I'm Back For Now, Lake Delton,Tomahawk, WI, Land O Lakes and Ahmeek, MI

Ahmeek, MI.
56 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today High temp. 78 deg. partly cloudy, possible t-storms this evening, W wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Monday, 7/19/2010

Well, I'm back for now. I'll try to get you caught up as best I can in the next day or so, providing that the Internet stays up. This post will cover the days of our trip up here to the Keweenaw Peninsula.


Tomahawk, WI. – Monday 7-12-2010

54 Deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 80 deg. mostly sunny, NW wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Well, the weather people on TV were all wet again, but we were nice and dry and not wet like they were saying we were going to be.;-)  The rain that they were forecasting just didn’t come and except for some clouds, it was pretty nice when Jim pulled me out of my site and drove me to the dump station to dump 11 days of black and gray water.

By the time my tanks were dumped and we were pulling away from the dump station it was just 10 minutes after 10:00.

From Lake Delton, we headed SE on I-90 to Portage where we took Rt 33 a few miles East to I-39 / US51 where we turned North and followed 39 / 51 up here to Tomahawk and the Tomahawk CG and RV Park, which is right next to and connected to the Tomahawk speedway. The CG is almost empty now, but I’ll bet it gets pretty full on weekends when they’re having races at the speedway.

The trip up here was uneventful. I-39 from Portage to Wasau is in very good condition, but once past Wasau, the road was kind of rough in places, but not too bad. This CG, on the other hand is not the best. Who ever designed the park knew nothing about RVs and how much room they need to get into the sites.

The sites are at a 90 deg angle to the road and not slanted at all, so you just about have to jockey around to back into most of them. Many of the sites are not level, and many are too short to accommodate anything larger than a medium sized trailer. There was no one at the office when we got here, and when the man that manages the park came back, he came to my site, knocked on my door and asked Jim how he had gotten me into site #38?

Jim told him that it wasn’t too hard to get me in here and he had chosen it because it was a full hook-up site and had good shade. The man said that they had never had a 40 MH in this site before, and didn’t think it was even possible! 

It was 1:20 when we pulled up to the stop sign by the office, so it took us 3 hours and 10 minutes to travel 167 miles.

A nice easy day. ;-)

We’ll be leaving here this morning and heading further North. I don’t know how far we’ll go, but I doubt if it will be too far. We’re really taking it easy because my reservation at Sunset Bay RV Resort doesn’t start until Wednesday, and we’ve got less than 200 miles to go.


Tuesday, 7/13/2010

Land O Lakes, WI – Tuesday 7/13/2010

59 Deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 83 deg. partly sunny. Showers and t-storms this afternoon,

We left the CG in Tomahawk about 11:10 yesterday morning because we only had a short way to go and a long time to get there, ;-) and, we really didn’t want to get to this park before noon. The way it was, we got here at about 12:40, so even though we took our time, it only took us about an hour and a half to travel the 63 miles.

Oh, and I almost forgot!!!! Along the way, Jim pulled me into a gas station and bought me a nice big drink of that good old #2 diesel fuel!! :-)

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

From Tomahawk, we got onto US 8 and took it NE to Rhinelander where we turned North on Rt. 17. 17 took us up to Eagle River, where we got onto US 45 and took it up here to Land O Lakes, and the Borderline RV Park, which is just 1 ½ mile from the Michigan State Line.

This is a neat little park. Jim and Linda liked the “feel” of the park as soon as we turned in. There are a lot of seasonal RVs here, but the park is well maintained and someone has planted flowers at many different places. When we got here, we didn’t know just where to go, so Jim pulled me over to the side of the park entrance road and got out to check things out. As soon as he got out, a man came over from a 5th wheel and asked if he could be of any assistance. Well, Jim told him that when he had talked to the CG owner a few days ago, he had told him that I should go to site #2. Well, the man from the 5th wheel knew exactly where it was and showed Jim how to get me around to the site.

So, I’m sitting in a pull through, full hook-up site with 50 Amps that is quite level. I have some shade, and the view out of my windshield is of the forest.

I think I like it here too! :-)

Today, we’ll head up to the Sunset Bay RV Resort near the little town of Ahmeek, MI. It’s only about 100 miles from here, but it will be all 2 lane roads with a few cities to go through, so I’m thinking it’ll take me close to 3 hours to get there.

Hopefully I’ll have an Internet connection there.



Land O Lakes WI to Ahmeek MI - Friday, 7/16/2010

65 Deg. clear, 10 to 15 mph winds out of the West.
Forecast today = High temp. 72 deg. mostly sunny, W. winds @ 15 to 20 mph.

We left the CG in Land O Lakes about 9:15 on Wednesday morning because they were forecasting rain and possible t-storms in the afternoon, and Jim wanted to get to our destination and get me into a site before it all started if possible. It was just 111 miles up here by taking US 45 up to Rockland, then 26 over to Houghton, and then US 41 up to Ahmeek, where we turned off on Five Mile Point Road and followed it for about 7 miles until we came to the CG Road, (that is gravel and about .8 of a mile long), here to the Sunset Bay RV Resort & CG.

It was 11:40 when we pulled up in front of the office, so it took us about 2 hours and 25 minutes. And, we beat the rain! :-)

This CG is surely going to be one if Jim and Linda’s favorites. The site I’m in has a great view of the lake, and on the very first night, even though it rained most of the afternoon, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

The family that’s running the park are very friendly and helpful. They have gone out of their way to make sure everything is to Jim and Linda’s satisfaction, and have said time and time again that if they needed anything, just ask.

There’s only a few sites available that you can get into with a large RV and some of those aren’t very level. This park was built back in the 40’s so they weren’t really concerned about RVs at all, as most of their customers were tenters.

When we got here in Wednesday, I was able to get on the Internet using the CG’s .Wi-Fi for a short time, but later in the afternoon, they were doing some construction work up on the highway, and they evidently damaged one of the repeater towers that this wi-fi uses.

So, the Internet to the CG is completely shut down, and I and a lot of the other people, including the CG owners, are trying to be patient.

I would sure like to publish these posts that are accumulating.

Did you know that at it's deepest point, Lake Superior is 1276' deep?
 
My next post will be published possibly later on today, or tomorrow morning, if I don't have any more trouble with the Internet. Please excuse any formatting errors as I've had trouble with that when I've copied and pasted from the word processor before.
 
 

A Little Glitch, Grocery Shopping Again? and A "Heads Up"

Apex, NC
58 deg. cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 80 deg. partly sunny, NE wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Well, finally something happened around here to write about! Now, I don't think it's something that Jim and Linda wanted to happen, but yesterday, their cell phone rang and when Jim went to answer it, it shut off for no apparent reason!!! Well, he turned it back on, and then when he went to push some of the buttons, to find out who had called, none of them would do anything.

His next thought was that maybe the battery was low, so he put it on the charger for awhile and then tried again. Still nothing!!! Then he removed the battery because he had heard that sometimes the phone just needs to be completely shut down and restarted, (you know kind of like rebooting a computer), but now the phone wouldn't come on at all!!!

Well, even though Jim had other things he wanted to get accomplished, both he and Linda knew that they needed to get this problem solved as soon as possible. So.... Jim fired up the computer and found the nearest AT&T store, which turned out to be only about 5 miles from here. Then after Linda ate her lunch, they took the broken phone, hopped into CLT and headed over there.

Now, the last time they had been to an AT&T store, (down in Florida), it took them hours to get waited on and get out of there. :-( This time, they were in and out of there in about an hour. :-) 

Anyway, by the time they got there, the phone was working again, but quickly started acting up, so it was decided that it would be best to just get a new phone. Well, they found one that was very similar in operation as their old one, the lady at the store transferred all their phone numbers to the new phone, and in no time, they were out of there!! :-)

It really went easier than they had thought it would, the phone they picked out wasn't very expensive, so all in all, this little glitch wasn't too bad. 

On the way back here to the CG, it was decided that since they were already out and about, they would head to Pittsboro, NC, (about 10 miles West of here), and go to the Food Lion grocery store to try to find the items that they were not able to purchase at the Harris Teeter store yesterday.

Well, guess what?  They found almost everything, and it a short time they were back here and relaxing after their adventure. ;-)

Oh, and that person that called yesterday morning? Well there was a voice mail, and it was Louise. She was wondering when we would be getting to their place on Friday. Jim called her back, explained why he couldn't get back to her earlier, and told here that we would be getting to their place sometime during the afternoon.

A little before 5:00 Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over to Mike and Gina's. It had been decided earlier that they would be ordering a couple of Pizzas for dinner, so about 5:30 the pizza was delivered and everyone had a nice meal without having to do any cooking. :-)

About 7:30, it was time for the kids to start getting ready for bed, so Jim and Linda headed back here and watched TV until they started getting tired.

So.....with the phone glitch, it was an interesting day.  Not one that was planned, but one that turned out OK.

Today, Jim and Linda need to get me ready to travel, because as you know, tomorrow morning we'll be leaving here and heading for Forest City. It's about 200 miles over there and it will probably take us about 4 or 4 1/2 hours to get there.

OH, one more thing I need to tell you about.

The last time we were in Forest City, (Actually Roland and Louise's place is about 5 miles North of the city), I had absolutely no Internet signal at all!!!! So, I doubt if I'll be able to post on this blog from there. The plan is to stay there for about a week, but as you know, all Jim's plans are written in pencil, so I don't know how long it will be before you hear from me once we leave here.

Just a "heads up", so you'll know what's going on. ;-)  I should be posting from here again tomorrow morning before we leave.

Did you know that on this day in 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis were given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world's most famous garments: blue jeans?

Prescriptions, My New Counter and Thank You!!!

Virginia Beach, VA.
62 deg. cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 79 deg. mostly cloudy with a 75% chance of strong t-storms. SW wind @ 10 to 15 mph with 25 to 35 mph gusts.

If the temperature does get up to the predicted 79 deg today, it will be almost 20 degrees warmer than it was yesterday. It was suppose to get into the middle to upper 60's yesterday, but my thermometer never got over 61 deg.

About the only thing that happened around here yesterday was that Jim and Linda took CLT and went to Walgreen's to get Linda's prescriptions filled. Again, there were a couple of glitches. The first one Linda's not worried about, it's just that they didn't have enough of one of the medicines, but will have it by Tuesday. The second one could end up being more of a problem. It seems that when Linda took her scripts into the Walgreen's in Deltona, FL, somehow, one of the prescriptions didn't get entered into the computer, so now when this pharmacist looked it up, it wasn't there. He said that Linda shouldn't worry and he would get it straightened out, but Linda's not so sure.

I sure hope it works out. Linda really gets up tight about her meds anyway, and doesn't need this extra hassle. :-(

By the time they were done at Walgreen's, neither Linda or Jim felt like going to the grocery store, so they came back here and watched some TV and relaxed. Then for dinner, they just went over to a Hardee's and got something to eat there.

We didn't see anything of Joe, Nancy or the girls at all yesterday. Well, I did see them coming and going from the house to the car a few times, but that's all. I think that today, things will be a little calmer, and maybe everyone will be able to visit some more.

Oh, did you notice the new "hit counter" that I have installed on this blog? It's on the left side of the post and I think it's kind of neat. It tells me what country the people are in that are viewing the blog and how many different people there were from that country. And, it also tells me the total number of times the blog has been looked at. As of right now, (6:30 AM), it's telling me that 101 different people from the US and 2 different people from Canada, have looked at this blog since noon on Friday. It also tells me that those 103 people have looked at the blog 162 times. :-)

I really didn't know that so many people were looking at this blog that often.

Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!!!

Did you know that Virginia's state flower is not really a flower, but the blossom of the dogwood tree, which is also the state tree?

Almost Finished, A Steak Dinner, And Saying Good-bye

Lakeland, FL.
41 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 64 deg, sunny, NW wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

As promised, early yesterday morning, Glenn came and moved me inside of the building that I"ve been parked next to since I've been here. Shortly after I was inside and got hooked up to electric, 2 mechanics started working on the window awnings on my left side. While they were working on the awnings, 2 more mechanics came with my 2 front seats and started to install them!!!

Wow!!! I don't think I've ever had 4 mechanics working on me at once before!!

They had installed the used parts on the seat base that fell apart when the the seats were removed, and in about an hour, I had both reupholstered chairs installed in me. :-)  Now, Jim didn't get to take any photos of them yet, but I'm sure you'll like how they look. I'll try to get him to take some photos so I can post them here real soon.

The window awning fabric took a longer to install, as each one of the awning roller tubs had to be removed, the old material removed, (it's pop riveted onto the tubes on my awnings), the tube cleaned up, the material pop riveted back on and then the tubes installed back on me. Oh, and of course they had to get the spring tension just right so that the awnings would roll up properly.

There were a few little glitches during both the installation of the seats and the awing fabric, but everything worked out in the end.

There were a few other things that the mechanics did yesterday, like tack weld my exhaust pipe together, re-caulk both of my bedroom windows, check and repair a very small oil leak on my leveling system, and re-install the valances on my kitchen window and over my door.

It was about 4:30 when Glenn backed me out of the building and back into the same spot that I've been in since we got here.

They didn't quite get everything done on me yesterday, so this morning, they'll repair the battery cable connection on my inverter under my couch, and install the cover on my furnace. Then, barring some other delay, Jim will hook CLT to the back of me and well be heading to Frostproof, FL to see Roland, Louise, and Big Herb! :-)

Oh, Jim took a photo of Bob and Wanda's Contessa MH for me yesterday. Like I said, she's parked right across the lot from me.

It sure was good to get to know her, and I'm hoping we can get together again sometime soon. ;-)

OK, enough about me.

About noon, yesterday, Bob cooked some steaks out on his grill, and Wanda baked some potatoes and made salads. It sure smelled good from where I was, and by what Jim and Linda said, it all tasted great too.

Jim and Linda want me to thank Bob and Wanda for the great meal, and to tell them that it really wasn't necessary that they do that.

Thanks.

Being that they had a big meal at noon, Bob and Wanda came over here and had sandwiches with Jim and Linda for the evening meal. Then, about 8:00, after hugs. handshakes and saying good-bye, they went back to their MH for the evening. They will be leaving here this morning also. They still need a part for their Countess's furnace, but Bob knows what to order, and will install it himself when they get it.

I don't know just when I'll get out of here, but it really doesn't matter because it's only a short drive down to Frostproof, and I've got all day to get down there.

Did you know that in 1992, five cows were killed in a drive by shooting in Clay County Missouri?

A Day Of Mixed Emotions

Lakeland, FL.
45 deg. cloudy, light rain at times, N. wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 56 deg. cloudy, periods of rain, SE wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

It was a day of mixed emotions yesterday. The day started out with the mechanics coming out and removing my 2 front chairs so the upholstery guy could take them when he brought back my couch. Everything was going well, until the mechanics removed the passenger chair and started to carry it outside. As soon as they tipped the chair on its side, things started to fall off of the bottom of it. Now, by things, I mean metal parts, plastic parts, and little pieces that were so broken that you couldn't tell what they were.

This was not good!!! :-(

OK, now, the guy is coming to get the chairs, but the base is broken and Jim's wondering if parts or a base is still available for my almost 18 year old chairs? When Jim talked to Lester about it, he didn't think that parts were any longer available, but said that he should be able to get a new base. Well, this base has all kinds of electric motors, switches, and mechanical parts, and immediately, the only thing that Jim could see were $$$$ signs!!!!

Now, Jim and Linda are spending a lot of money on me already and really didn't need this. I'm afraid to tell you that Jim didn't handle the situation very well at all. He got angry and told Lester to just put the drivers seat back in and the h**l with reupholstering them!!!! Then he walked out of the office.

Jim is usually pretty easy going, but for some reason, this set-back hit him hard. It's true that I've had a lot go wrong with me, but as Jim and Linda have often said, I'm still not costing near as much as payments on a newer MH would be. And, no matter what has happened, I've always managed to get back to a mechanic instead of breaking down out along the road and having to be towed or something.

Well, anyway, in a little while Lester and Robin came out to me and were very concerned that Jim had gotten upset. Lester told Jim that he had found some good used parts to fix the chair base with, and said that it shouldn't cost much at all. Robin was concerned that Jim was upset with Creative Coach, but Jim assured her that it was completely the fact that something else unforeseen had gone wrong with me and was concerned about all the money he thought it was going to cost.

So...... Jim apologized to Lester and Robin for his outburst, and told them to go ahead and get the chairs upholstered and fix the base with the used parts. He then thanked Lester for locating the parts.

OK, now by this time, it's almost 10:00 and Jim and Linda are supposed to be going to Hudson to pick up my repaired window. The original plan was to go get it in the morning and be back here with it by noon, but that wasn't going to happen now. So.... A little after 10:00 they took CLT and headed over there.

Everything went well, and the window was ready. CLT said that they were only at the window repair place for about 15 minutes before they started heading back here. It was just about 1:00 when I saw CLT pull back into a parking spot.

A pretty quick trip. :-)

When they got back, I had a surprise for Jim and Linda. You see, while they were gone, the upholstery guy brought back my couch and Butch and another mechanic installed it back in me. Well, when Linda opened up my door and looked inside of me, the fist thing she saw was the couch, and by her reaction, was really pleased with how it turned out. :-) 

Oh, and Jim....he liked it too!! :-)

Jim went and told Lester that they were back with the window, and in about an hour, a mechanic came out and installed it back in my side. It sure feels good to have that hole closed up with a real window that is not made of plastic!!!

So,,,,, what started out to be a kind of bad day, turned out really good. My newly re-upholstered couch is back, my window is finally repaired, my 2 front chairs are being worked on, and Lester has the parts for the chair base.

I really like my couch, and I'll try to get Jim to take some photos of it  so I can show you those "before and after" photos I promised.

Did you know that New York was the first state to require vehicle licensing? The law was adopted in 1901.

My Oil Change, A Little Glitch, and Plans To See Old Friends

Lakeland, FL.
49 deg. cloudy, light SE breeze.
Forecast today =high temp. 72 deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 5 mph.

I don't believe it!!!! They're actually forecasting temperatures in the 70's today!!!!!

Yeesssssss!!!!!!

I finally had my oil and filters changed yesterday. First they were going to do it Thursday morning, then yesterday morning, but it wasn't until almost 3:00 yesterday afternoon that they finally did it. Now, I suppose that it really didn't matter when they did it, but once it was done, I could settle in and Jim could get me leveled for my stay here until the other stuff is done.

Oh, and I had another little glitch! When Jim went to level me, the levelers wouldn't work. In fact as soon as the levelers started to go down, all kinds of weird electrical things started to happen. :-( Come to find out, there was a battery cable connector that had come loose off of the battery cable at a junction block near my battery charger/inverter and it was causing all kinds of problems. Jim found Butch and he came in and got it put back together well enough to get me through the weekend. :-)

I'll need a new cable, or at leas a new connector on the end of the old cable, but for now, it'll be OK.

You know, I wonder how long that connection has been bad? In the past, every once in awhile I have experienced some kind of weird little electrical problems, but it has never really caused any trouble.

Hmmmmm!!!!

Jim and Linda went back to Walgreen's yesterday afternoon and picked up the last prescription item that they had ordered. Then for dinner CLT (Cute Little Truck) took them to a Bob Evans Restaurant where they had breakfast for dinner. After they got back here they watched the Olympic Games again until bedtime.

Oh, I almost forgot!!! Yesterday afternoon, Linda called Donna and Monte who live up in Wildwood, FL, and made plans to take CLT and drive up there to see them today. They are old friends who used to come up to Rantoul, IL during the summers and spend time at the Prairie Pines CG where we usually stay. They have bought a house in Wildwood, and have basically "hung up the keys" as far as Full-timing goes, although as of last year, they still had their home on wheels.

Both Jim and Linda are really looking forward to seeing them again. :-)

Did you know that it was on this date in 1998 that 15 year old Tara Lipinski became the youngest woman figure skater ever, to win a gold metal in her sport at the Olympic Games?

"Hooray For Hollywood" and A Glitch

Hollywood, SC.
52 deg. clear, light NE breeze.
Forecast today = high temp. 70 deg. sunny, NE wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

"Hooray for Hollywood" Oh yeah, I know, that's a different Hollywood, but I couldn't resist. ;-)

We left the Pirateland CG in Myrtle Beach about 10:10 yesterday morning and turned left onto Bus. US 17. In a few miles, Bus. 17 and US 17 came together, as we headed South. There's lots of traffic lights and heavy traffic all the way down to Pawleys Island, so the going was slow. Then, when we got down to Georgetown, Jim pulled me into a Texaco station and bought me a nice big drink of that good old #2 diesel fuel. It sure tasted good because, if you can believe it, I hadn't had a drink since way back on the 26th of September, which was the day before we got to Virginia Beach!!

After getting my drink, we continued South on 17 until we came to I-526 just North of Charleston. Rather than try to go through the city, we took 526 all the way around until it hooked back up with US 17. Then after about another few miles on 17, we came here to the Lake Aire RV Park, which is just a couple of tenths of a mile off of 17 on Rt. 162.

When we pulled up in front of the office, it was 1:00, so it took us 2 hours and 50 minutes to get my drink and travel exactly 100 miles.

Lake Aire is a pretty nice park with lots of trees, a small lake, fairly large grassy sites with full hook-ups, a picnic table and fire rings. The roads coming into the park are pretty rough, but if you don't exceed the posted 10 mph speed limit, they're not a problem. Oh, and it's a Passport America Park, so the rates aren't too bad either.

The plan was to stay here for just one night before heading to Beaufort to see Anna, but when Jim called the CG up there to get directions, he found out that they have a group of 30 RVs coming in today, and are completely booked up until Saturday!!

So- - -, After calling Anna and making sure it was OK with her and Chris, Jim got out that big eraser of his and started changing things around and came up with a solution. If we can, (and we don't know for sure because the CG office was closed by the time Jim got back up there), we'll stay here until Saturday, and then head to the CG in Beaufort where we'll stay Saturday and Sunday nights. Then, by changing the places we stay and the amount of time we stay along the way, we'll still get to Orange City on the 15th as planned.

This is exactly why Jim and Linda hate to make reservations!!! Because we have a site reserved on the 15th in Orange City, we are tied to a schedule and when something like this comes up, it gets very difficult to make changes. This time Jim was able to work it out by staying for shorter periods of time at planned CGs along the way, but it isn't always possible to do that. :-(

So, in a couple of hours Jim will go up to the office to see if we can stay here for 3 more nights. If we can't for some reason, we'll have to try to find another park in the area.

Did you know that as of the 2000 census there were 3,946 people living in Hollywood, SC?

The Class Reunion, A Little Glitch, And A Fun Time

Rantoul, IL.
66 deg. light fog, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 88 deg. mostly sunny with a 30% chance of t-storms this afternoon and a 50% chance of t-storms tonight. S. winds @ 10 to 15 mph.

Friday evening, CLT took Jim and Linda to the restaurant in Rockdale where the reunion for the class of "59" was being held. Jim said the meal was excellent, but the reunion with his old classmates was even better. He said he thoroughly enjoyed seeing most of his classmates again.

Now, the plan for yesterday was to go to the City Park in Peotone for some social time and a pizza party. Well, there was a little glitch. It seems that there was a problem with the "facilities" at the park, plus, they were forecasting temps close to 90 degrees. So, they decided to move the pizza party and social time to the pizza restaurant in town. Well, all that's fine, but then where do you park a 40' Motor Home, near a restaurant that has a small parking lot?

Well, one of Jim's best friends and one of the "Illinois Bunch", Denny, came to the rescue!! Yep, Jim called Denny and asked him where he thought he could park me, and after a little planning, it was decided that I could park right out in front of his house!! That was really nice of him.

Soooo, we left Joliet about 9:30 and headed back West on US 6, turned South on I-55, and followed it down to Wilmington, IL. where we turned East on a County Road that Jim and Linda knew about, and then took the Peotone Wilmington Rd East, to Peotone. Of course Jim know exactly where Denny lived, so he drove me right up in front of the house and parked me on the street.

As soon a we pulled up in front of the house, Denny came out and greeted us. He also suggested that Jim pull me ahead a little so I would be far enough away from the fire hydrant which was to the rear of me. (Didn't want any trouble with the police). Well, after pulling me ahead, getting me leveled (with my air system), and thanking Denny, Jim unhooked CLT from the back of me. By this time it was about 10:45, so he and Linda took CLT and headed over to the restaurant.

Now, from what I can gather, the pizza party turned out to be really fun. The pizza was good, many of the classmates were there, and everyone was seated close enough so that everyone could talk about old times at school. ;-) About 1:30 the party stared breaking up, so Jim and Linda said their good-bye's, came back to Denny's, hooked up CLT to the back of me, and then we left for Rantoul.

Now, I-57 runs just to the West of Peotone, so we got on it, and then followed it right down here to Rantoul. By the time we got back here to the Prairie Pines CG, it was 3:10, and I had traveled 119 miles.

A good stretch of the old shocks!! :-)

All in all, it was a good little trip. Jim and Linda had fun, and I got rid of my itchy tire condition. Just what we all needed.

Did you know that Seattle, Washington, like Rome, was built on seven hills?

Thanks Denny and Bev, for letting me park in front of your house. Hope you get over your cold, Bev.

Another Glitch, Reservations, and Still Itching

Rantoul, IL.
61 deg, partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 79 deg. partly sunny, 50% chance of showers, SW winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Well, the guy came about my broken window yesterday morning, but there was still another glitch. :-( It seems that when he checked the Plexiglas that he had in stock, he found that he only had the thin stuff. Well, the thin stuff wouldn't fit right in the channel of the frame, and he would have to run a bead of silicone or some other sealant around the edges to seal it. It also wouldn't be near as sturdy. Soooo--- he is going to order the right Plexiglas and he promised Jim and Linda that he would have it here Monday morning.

I don't know why he couldn't have checked his supply and ordered the right stuff last week!

Anyway, everything is not lost. :-) As always, Jim has built a few extra days into our trip plan up to Wisconsin, and by juggling the schedule a little, we will still be able to make it up to Glenn's house on the planned date. Also, because of our short travel days, (and if the guy comes in the morning like he says he will), there's a possibility that we can still leave here Monday and follow the original plan. If we can get out of here by noon, we would still get to our first planned stop by mid to late afternoon.

This is why Jim hates to make reservations. Things like this happen way too many times, and if he had made reservations at Campgrounds for this trip, he would now be worrying about weather we could keep them or not. And, if the guy doesn't come Monday morning, he would have to get on the phone and try to change or cancel them.

In all the years of travel, you can probably count the number of Camp Ground reservations that Jim and Linda have made on your fingers. Those time were for holiday weekends or special places where it was essential that we had a site, like the CG in Portland, OR where we stay to visit Jeff. Now, there have been times when Jim or Linda have called an hour or so ahead of time to make sure the CG had a site before we went there, (especially if the CG was kind of out of the way), but those calls were made simply to save time and miles driven in case there were no sites available. Because of our short travel days, (3 to 4 hours), if the CG should happen to be full, we still have plenty of time to continue down the road to the next park. And that has only happened a few times.

Jim did quite a bit around here yesterday. He drained and flushed my tanks, serviced my batteries, reorganized one of my basement compartments, pop-riveted a panel in another compartment back together, (some screws had come out for the second time), and cooked a brat and a hot dog out on the grill for dinner.

Today, I don't think there are any big plans. There's supposed to be rain off and on, so unless there's something Jim can do under my awning, he won't be able to do much outside. He did say something about going down to the Farm and Fleet store in Champaign, but I don't know if he'll go today.

Oh, I know some of you are wondering about my itchy tire condition. Well, it's sure not getting any better, and in fact, I'm sure it's getting worse. :-( I sure hope we can leave here Monday!!

Did you know that half of all men start to lose their hair by the time they are 30?