Chirp, Chirp, Chirp

June 27, 2015, day 13, 1,902 trip miles to date

Guess what we found at 5:30 this morning. We have a smoke alarm. And guess what else. It started chirping and we had to go find it. We did, remove the unit from the ceiling just above the entry door, took out the bad battery and no more chirping, but also no more sleep, we are wide awake.

Made it to Rock Springs, WY today about 3:30, parked, set up and fueled the truck, under $100. Happy hour at the RV then dinner at Broadway Burger. 50's theme place with great burgers and shakes. 

Bone Fish

June 26, 2015, day 12

All you can eat pan cakes, not quite TPH, and sausage links, I only had two. Another great feature of the WaKenney KOA.

Made it to Loveland, CO, with a time change, in the 3:00 rush hour. Staying at the Loveland RV resort, not really a resort, at least they did not charge us a resort fee. A really nice guy parked us in a really difficult space. Yes, I drove and he guided. 

Great happy hour. Dinner tonight at the Bone Fish Grill, tourist trap. Not really, but a real locals happy hour hang out. We got there around 6:00 and we had an hour wait. It didn't matter, we sat at the bar and had a great Ahi Tuna Susshimi appetizer and I had a Blanton's bourbon, both were fantastic. Dinner was just as good, I had Rock Fish Thermidor, with crab and lobster and Sharon had Shrimp and Scallops.

On the way back to the park we stopped by Target and picked up a stand-up toilet paper holder and a Swiss Army knife to replace the one I lost on this trip, I think somewhere in the old trailer. I just felt naked with out my trusty Swiss Army knife with its scissors, knife blade, finger nail file, tooth pick and tweezers. Fell in bed and died. Must have been the time change.

On The Road Again, Again

June 25, 2015, day 11

OK Willie start warming up. La, La, La, On the Road Again ............

We left Chanute today for our first Idaho destination, Boise.  But before leaving we had to go by the factory, because we forgot to unload a couple of drawers in the bed room on the old unit.

 We made it as far as WaKenney, Kansas our planned stop for the evening we arrived around 4:30. Filled up with $2.52 fuel using the debit card. Dinner was Ice Cream social at the park. 

The Big Reveal

June 24, 2015, day 10

We made it, but it was a full 12 hour day. 

Closing at 8, then walk through, inside and out, a hitch adjustment was required to make the trailer and truck more level.  

They arranged for us to do our transfer from one trailer to another in a separate building out of the 90+° day and sunshine it didn't do anything for the humidity.

 First rattle out of the box, we had to get new bins as our old ones were too wide to fit the new slide tray. That done it was just a matter of time moving stuff, too much stuff from one place to the other. The problem is that there is not a one for one place to put things from one trailer to the next, you just have to do the best you can and hope you remember where everything is. 

The good news is that we finally got to happy hour around 8:30 and I successfully found the Grey Goose, and Olives along with the Jameson, cheers. Can't wait to get to the shower.  

Stuff Before

More Stuff Before

Stuff Put Away After

Found the GG, Happy Hour

Truck Wash

June 23, 2015, day 9

Best breakfast in town. Off to Walmart for a few more items, some for the new RV. We have a closing scheduled for 8:00 AM tomorrow. Thinking of a truck wash today, saw an automatic one down the street. Did it. 

Parked two spaces down is a couple from Dripping Springs, they just bought a new Mobil Suites 5th Wheel at the same place and are headed off to Colorado. 

Did Sonic for desert after burgers on the grill. 

Cross Borders KanMex

June 22, 2015, day 8

Today is laundry day since we have been through our weeks worth of clothes. We found the Landmark Laundry right down the street from McDonald's. Air conditioning and everything, what a place and much closer than Iola, 20 miles down the road.

Fixed another drawer, that makes two for this trip.

This evening we met up with Sharon's brother Mark and his wife Betty in Burlington which is half way between Topeka and Chanute. We met at the DQ and then went to Cross Borders, some more KanMex food. The place had lots of good Texas stuff on the walls, interesting place and cold Corona.





Fill up on fuel for the trip back to Chanute, 44 gal @ $2.58 per gal.

This one is for Williamson

Scenes around the Park

Bonus Post

He Did It

June 21, 2015, day 7

Happy Father's day to all.

Big event for the day was to dump the holding tanks, they we're getting pretty full after 6 days.



Sonic happy hour and I just couldn't resist a Kevin Durant fresh fruit slush.



Found a laundromat 20 miles away in Iola will probably go there tomorrow.

Father's day feast, lamb chops on the grill with a fine three buck chuck Cab.



Did my best to follow Jordan Speith down the stretch using the USGA app and Face Book and Email updates. What a great finish, somehow he held it together.  Poor Dustin, that  will haunt him for a while.

I forgot to mention Andi and David's wedding anniversary on June te

enth.

Go Speith Go

June 20, 2015, day 6

We were all pumped up to go to the Chanute Farmers Market. You know Kansas, farmers, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, we thought this is going to be great. It runs from 8 to 11, so we wanted to get there before all the good stuff was gone. It is located in Santa Fe park just a couple of blocks from our RV. When we got there there were two small shade tents and a table. What a disappointment we just drove on by and went to Walmart and did our shopping.

This afternoon Sharon and I went for 9 holes at the Chanute Golf Club. The course was reseeding some of the fairways so they made a few more par threes. A nine hole course with a nice layout and lots of big trees. No US Open course but it got us out and about for a few hours which was nice and relaxing, if you call wind, heat and humidity relaxing.  A cold beer at the end of nine was really welcome.

Afterwards we went for dinner at Benchwarmers and watched a little bit of the U.S. Open. Speith was in and out of the lead. We only get two channels at the RV park and one of them is not fox so we have to rely on alternate sources for our sports fix, like WiFi.

Closing no Closing

June 19, 2015, day 5

This morning Sharon and I took a short walk around the park, Santa Fe Park.  It's a very nice place with a number of ball fields, lakes and green open space.

We had a closing on the 5th Wheel scheduled for today at 1 PM.  So we all gathered at the dealership where I  objected to the interest rate on the financing.  It was higher than the various quotes I had seen and I was just not comfortable.  It kind of broke their balloon, but they did go back to the bank and were able to negotiate a lower rate, which is acceptable.  However, this will require new paperwork which will probably not be ready until Monday or Tuesday.

We did get a good look at the mostly completed unit and we are very excited about it.

So for now we will continue to hang out in beautiful downtown Chanute.  Maybe something exciting will happen other than the barking dogs and the noisy kids.

Sharon just contacted her brother Mark, who lives in Topeka and they will probably come over and pay us a visit either Sunday or Monday.

Best Breakfast in Town

June 18, 2015, day 4

We asked Russ, a long time resident of Chanute, what the best breakfast place was in town.  With out hesitation he said Grain Bin.  Old time place, all the locals go there.  So we had breakfast at the Grain Bin.  You know in the old towns when you go in you feel that all the local people are staring at you, saying what are they doing here, they don't belong here.  And you sit down at a table and someone comes in and as if to say, you are sitting at our table.  Maybe its just me.  But the all were very friendly and the food was, as they say, hot off the grill.  We will be back. 

 

We spent most of the day waiting, there was a light rain most of the day so not much for going out. We had used up our two free days, so it was time to go pay the RV bill for the next few days.  You take your money over by the Dump Station and there is a small collection box there where you slide your money in.  Nothing is real fancy.

After dinner we decide to splurge on desert and went to Sonic, yes they do have a Sonic in Chanute. I eyed the Kevin Durant fresh fruit slushy, but in the end settled on the Master Blaster.  Sharon had a strawberry sundae. 

Sneak Preview

June 17, 2015, day 3

We met with our sales person at Kansas RV to go over the status of where they were on the modifications we requested.  We were pleasantly surprised at the status.  They had removed all the furniture as they were working on the unit and did not want to get it messed up.  We stopped by where they were building the Island and were pleased with the progress and how it looked, very nice. We can't wait to get our hands on it and drive it away.  But not so fast, they have to complete their work.

On to Chanute

June 16, 2015, day 2, total miles 590

Left Durant around 9, earlier risers, and drove pretty much all day in overcast and rain.  Arrived in Chanute about 3:30, not a bad drive.  Pulled into the Chanute City Park, Santa Fe Park, RV Park to set up for our stay.  A no frills park, water and electric with a dump station on the way out.  Price is right, first 48 hours are free then $10 per day, max stay 10 days.  Looking froward too what is to come with the new 5th Wheel.

On the Road Again - 2015

June 15, 2015, Day 1


On the road again for our Summer Vacation, ultimately ending up in McCall, Idaho for July and August.   This year we are going to take a little detour up to Chanute, Kansas to pick up a new 5th Wheel.  It's a long story and I am not sure you or I have the time right now.

We pulled out of Sun City at the crack of 9:30, not wanting to rush things, making sure everything is done and we are ready to go.



We made our first 100 miles and stopped at a rest stop just outside of Hillsboro, a fancy brand new rest stop.  There was some highway history there, a windmill set up outside pumping water I don't know where and some very nice farm animal art on the inside.  I really know that I needed a rest stop at that time and it was good to get some mileage under our belt.





Oh I forgot, we are making the trip in our almost brand new GMC pickup.  For anyone that has an interest the color is Sonoma Red and when we left it had a little over 2,000 miles on it.  We thought it was appropriate that if we were going to get a new 5th Wheel that we should pull it with a new Truck.

Our first stop is scheduled for Durant, Oklahoma.  We went up 35 East toward Dallas then skipped over on 20 and then caught 635 around Dallas.  That way ends up being about 19 miles longer but much easier on the nerves.  We then caught 75 through Sherman and on into Durant, home of the Choctaw Casino.  there was road construction outside of Sherman and on one stretch it took us over two hours to go three miles.  Other than that we made good time.   Arrived at the Choctaw Casino KOA around 3:30, a very nice campground with  nice level, long concrete pads.  Dinner this evening was in the elegant Blue Moon Cafe, inside the Casino.

Franz I found me this really nice looking bike and I thought we could do some dirt biking while in the McCall area.