Dalton, WI

We left the Rustic Barn RV Park around 8am this morning and headed to Dalton, WI where Frank's brother lives. We will boondock in his yard tonight and will continue on to Menominee, MI tomorrow.

Kieler, WI

Getting an early start again this morning, we left Amana right around 8:00am and headed to the Dubuque, IA area where we are staying on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River in Kieler, WI at the Rustic Barn RV Park. The wind was blowing somewhat this morning and we had some snow flurries but nothing sticking. Barb didn't like the idea that it was snowing. Frank and Jill are following us but shortly after getting on the road, Frank call on the radio saying his motorhome was over heating. We pulled over about 3 times in our 100 mile trip today to let it cool down. I think it's more a bad temperature gage than it actually over heating.

Amana Colonies, IA

We got an early start this morning leaving Independence, MO around 7:30am. Our destination today was the Amana Colonies RV Park in Amana, IA. It was a good trip today until we got into Iowa where the wind always blows. Today's winds were coming out of the west with gust up to 40 mph. We stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Des Moines where we paid $4.119 for diesel. With a west wind, we had a strong tail wind pushing us 100 miles until we turned off on US151 for Amana then it became a bad cross wind. Everything is closed here at the Amana Colonies on Sunday so we will probably stay an extra day leaving out on Tuesday so that we can tour the colonies. Our next stop will be the Rustic Barn RV Park in Kieler, WI where we will spend a couple of days while we tour Dubuque, IA.

Independence, MO

Well we are back on the road again after leaving Grove, OK around 9am this morning. Our destination today is Independence, MO where we are staying within walking distance of the President Truman House. Our friends Frank and Jill Welti are following us. We are at the Campus RV Park and will be here for 2 days and then off to the Amana Colonies in Iowa for a couple of days.

Grove, OK

We left Norman around 9 this morning along with Frank & Jill Welti and headed back to our home park, The Bear's Den Resort in Grove, OK. The lake here is way up covering the back half of the campground with a couple feet of water and the water is still on it's way up. We are high and dry in the front half of the campground though. The weather is a little cool and the wind is blowing pretty good. It's supposed to warm up some come next week.

Meanwhile at the dam...

Norman, OK

We finely left Buddy Gregg Motorhome's repair facility and Lewisville, TX around noon today on our way to Norman, OK. We have paid for a one week stay at the Sooner Mobile Home & RV Community while renewing our vehicle tags and visiting our daughter and granddaughters here in Norman.

A hail storm came through around 3:20 this morning which caused damage to both our pickup and motorhome. The hail left several small dimples on the hood and roof of the pickup and knocked holes in both of the air conditioner shrouds, the refrigerator vent cover and one of the crankup vent covers over the bathroom on top of the motorhome. Before leaving I covered the holes with duck tape.

We were also presented the bill for the repairs we had while at Buddy Gregg's, which will lighten our saving's account for awhile. The repairs included replacing the brake shoes on the front and rear axles, resurfacing the rear brake drums, repacking the front bearings, replacing both front tires, replacing the windshield gasket and reseting the windshield, troubleshooting and repairing the generator and replacing the screen door handle for a total price of $3,933.26. We also spent two nights in a motel while the motorhome was inside the shop building costing $141.96. Our road hazard service contract will reimburse us $536.96 for the replacement of one of the front tires.

Motel 6

Well we have to spend a second night in a motel since they haven't been able to complete the brake job on our motorhome. Tonight though we are staying in a Motel 6 for half of the total cost that we paid last night at the Best Western. They found another problem with the motorhome that's going to cost another $1000 to fix. Our left front tire has a large bolt in it and the tire is not repairable. They told me I could leave the bolt in and run it that way but that's all we need is a blowout because of it. The tires are 6 years old so I told them to replace both front tires. We are in luck on the price of one of the tires though. When we bought the coach, we also bought a 5 year tire hazard warranty which expires in July this year. That brings the cost down to a little over $500 for the one tire we have to buy. Hopefully they will have everything fixed by tomorrow so we can continue our trip up to Oklahoma on Thursday.