Kerrville--2011--Day 6

The rest of the coaches arrived, kicked off the rally and then sat around and visited.

We now have all the coaches that were scheduled to attend the rally but one. We have not heard from those folks but have reports that a Monaco coach was seen being hooked to the back of a very larger tow truck up the road a few miles. We have everything in place and are ready to get things rolling. The Vendors have set up their wares in the area set aside for them and are ready to sell us all the extra stuff we need for our coaches. This afternoon we had RV Mobile Lube come to our coach and change the oil and filters and the other annual services. We were a couple of months overdue for these services but was waiting until we were at the rally to use this company. (I had a $50 off coupon from them that I won as a door prize at another rally last year.)

This evening we met with our "first timers" to introduce them to the officers and give them some info about the club. Afterward we had our rally welcome meeting with some light snacks and open bar. This gave us all a chance to visit with old friends and make new ones. Later, as folks returned to their coaches, many pulled up the lawn chairs and continued to visit. Here are some pictures of our group including Tony Honeycutt and his "lap dog".

Kerrville--2011--Day 5

Down time, a board meeting and pot luck dinner.

The last couple of days have been mostly relaxing and welcoming the new arrivals for the rally. The majority of our attendees are here with a few to show up tomorrow. Most of the pre-rally activity is done and we are just ready to get it underway tomorrow evening. The Board of Directors met this morning to plan for the business meeting and election of new officers. (The Board is made up of the current club officers.) Here in the picture to the left our President, Gary Granat, leads the board in the discussions.

After the board meeting we opened up the information center for the folks to be able to come in an pick up their rally packages, sign up for volunteer assignments, sign up for coach maintenance items and a chance to purchase some of our club logo gear. Joanne spent the afternoon helping to man the information desk. I went back to the coach area and watched some of the guys play their "washer toss" game.

Kerrville--2011--Day 3

Relaxing around the coach and then a good dinner.

We spent most of today just relaxing and visiting with friends. Several more of the coaches came in today, adding to our gathering. This evening a bunch of us went to a local restaurant, The Lakehouse, for dinner. Afterward we sat out in our lawn chairs visiting.

Kerrville--2011--Day 2

More rain to start the day.

After we got in yesterday evening we got the coach hooked up to the utilities but decided to wait until today to finish setting up. About 7:00am a front rolled through and we had buckets of rain coming down. We were on the west edge of the front and it was moving east. The San Antonio area got the bulk of the wet weather. This area really needs the rain so we could not complain much. It started clearing off by mid-morning so was able to get out and complete setting up our stuff. At the last rally we attended, the past March in Georgia, Joanne ordered a new shade/cover to go over the windshield when we were parked. This is our first opportunity to use it. It is held in place by magnets so it is easy to put up. The shade has magnets sewn into the fabric. Other, corresponding magnets are permanently attached to the inside of the windshield. The previous shade we had was held on with a suction cup on one end and a strap attached to the side window on the other. It was pretty weather beaten and the suction cup was worn out. This is a nice upgrade to the coach.

After lunch and a trip to Wal-Mart I decided to upgrade the security on my Sprint Hot Spot Internet connection. As it turned out, I wound up disconnecting myself and screwing it up to the point I could not get back on the Internet. Wound up having to take the computer and the Hot Spot to the local Spring store to get some help in getting it to work. After getting the unit reset and the settings in my computer back to where they were we were back in business. Spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with old friends and met one of the new club members who are marking their first time out one of our rallies. In the evening several of us went to a local Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Then it was back to the coach for a little down time and television. The Rally Master's for this rally are Dale and Ann Lemons. Since this was Dale's birthday the restaurant recognized him with special treatment.

Kerrville--2011--Day 1

Rain and wind but we made it down south.

We rolled out a little before 8:00am this morning heading south to Kerrville, Texas. We have our Monaco America Spring Rally starting next Monday. We like to go to these rallies early to help set up and get organized. Most of the club officer's arrive early.

While driving we were going into a pretty good headwind. Just south of Wichita Falls, Texas, it started to rain. This is the front that the Oklahoma City television weather guessers have been predicting that was coming up from Texas. The farther south we drove the harder it rained. Just south of Mineral Wells we decided to pull off until the storm lessened up. With the heavy rain and the head on wind it was getting hard to see the roadway. After about 15 minutes the worst was passed us and we continued on. About another 100 miles and the rain quit. We arrived at the RV park in Kerrville about 5:30pm. There were about a half dozen coaches already here but those folks had all gone out to eat. After getting the coach hooked up we went down the street to Wendy's for something to eat and then just crashed for the evening.

This is shaping up to be a good rally. We are expecting a total of 53 coaches. We have several vendors scheduled to join us. These are the folks who bring all those things that all RVer's need to personalize their coaches. One group, from Florida, washes and waxes coaches for a fee. Another, which I definitely plan to use, does the oil & filter change and lube job on our diesel coaches. We need to have that done every year or 15,000 miles. I usually have mine done once a year and it is a little past due.

A day to honor our Mothers

On this day I wish all Mother's a Happy Mother's Day.

I would love to be able to tell my Mother how much she has meant to me over the years and to get a big hug from her. She turned 92 this past March and currently resides in a nursing home in Purcell, Oklahoma. Due to the injuries she suffered in an automobile accident last year she is bedfast and kept on some pretty strong pain medications. That coupled with her progressed dementia she is pretty unresponsive and asleep most of the time. When she is awake she does not seem to have any recognition of anyone, including her family. Next Sunday will be my parents 74th wedding anniversary. Below are some pictures of my wonderful Mom.

Left: Mom at age 16.

Right: Mom in 1957.

Left: Mom in Hawaii in 1965.

Right: My parents at their 71st anniversary party.

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Today we celebrated my Dad's 92nd birthday.

He lives in an Assisted Living Center in Purcell, Oklahoma. (My Mom lived there with him until last August when she needed full nursing home care. She is now in a nursing home a few blocks from the Assisted Living Center.) My oldest brother and his wife provided a large cake and ice cream which was shared by our family members and the other residents of the center. We took our oldest grand daughter, Emma, with us and she had a good time with her Great Grandpa. He also had a big time showing her some of the memorabilia he has collected in his many travels over the years. He also made sure she got to take home some of the trinkets he has collected. It was a great day and everyone had a good time. The only down side was not having Mom there with us. Come this May my parents will have been married for 74 years. This is Dad's first birthday without Mom at his side. HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP!

East Coast Bound--Day 33

Well, actually we are not bound for anywhere. We are home in Oklahoma.

Yesterday was fairly uneventful as we traveled northwest up through Alabama and Mississippi. When we got to Tennessee we were able to take a bypass to the south and west of Memphis and picked up Interstate 40 in West Memphis over in Arkansas. At this point we were heading due west with heavy wind coming out of the south. This was hitting our very high profile vehicle very heavily. This made it very hard to keep the coach on the road. We made it all the way to North Little Rock and stopped for the night at the Downtown Riverside RV Park. After going out to dinner we returned to the coach to relax and turn in early. The wind had gotten even worse and we were told a cold front was moving in with heavy rain. To protect the awning slide covers from the wind we pulled in all the slides except for the one that hold the bed.

This morning we got up to heavy rain which had been coming down since the wee hours of the morning. It slacked off long enough to allow us to unhook the utilities, dump our holding tanks and get the car hooked to the tow bar. About 9:00 am we headed out again. Drove in rain for the first 50 miles or so and then heavy wind, this time coming out of the north and still hitting us broadside. The wind really made for two very hard and tiring driving days. We arrived home about 4:30 this afternoon. Unloaded the necessary things and then locked up the coach. We'll get back to it later. Joanne did immediately start doing the laundry that has built up over the last month. We had a very good trip, saw a lot and enjoyed visiting with our friends in Georgia. Not everything worked out as planned but that is what sometimes happens when we are out on the road. That is one good part about being retired, we have the flexibility to take things as they come and rewrite the schedule as things happen.

East Coast Bound--Day 31

Actually, we are western bound now.

Finally got our car back yesterday afternoon. Although it took a week longer than the shop originally told us it looks like a brand new car. They did a very good job and we are pleased. After we returned to the RV Park our friends, Diane and Russ, picked us up to go to dinner on the beach in Tybee. We had planned to go back to Fannie's on the Beach but Russ suggested another place that was owned by the same people. This one was in a beach front hotel and was actually right on the beach instead of across a parking lot. The food was wonderful as was the company. Afterward we returned to the coach and visited for awhile. Little Bridgit Jeane was very pleased to see her "Aunt Di" again. Since she lived with Di and Russ for several weeks before we were able to get to Savannah last November to get her she always is happy to see them again. (Russ claims to dislike dogs but somehow he manages to live in a house that has six permanent ones plus often several that Diane is fostering until she can find them homes.)

We rolled out of the RV Park on Tybee Island a little before 9:00 am this morning. It took about an hour to get across Savannah, including stopping at a truck stop to fill the fuel tank with diesel. The it was west to Macon and north to Atlanta. Traffic just south of Atlanta was horrendous. In that area Interstate 75 is four lanes in both directions. For some reason traffic was backed up and at a crawl in all four lanes in both directions. It took us just over an hour to travel twelve miles. Then, all of a sudden, the traffic cleared and we were back up to highway speed. We never did see what had caused the backup. After Atlanta we headed west on Interstate 20 toward Alabama. We have stopped for the night in Heflin, Alabama, just about 10 miles west of the Georgia state line. This is a nice RV park just off the Interstate for a reasonable price. We plan to be in eastern Arkansas by tomorrow night and hope to be home by Monday evening.

East Coast Bound--Day 30

We've pretty much had down days this week. It had been pouring down rain since last Tuesday evening so we have not ventured out much. We did make a trip over to the body shop yesterday. Not to pick up the car but to take them a second set of keys since the Tech locked the first set in the car. They were planning to finish it yesterday so we could leave Savannah today. Unfortunately, they ran into some problems with the "after market" parts (meaning non-General Motors parts). Mainly the left front fender and the bumper cover. They got the correct parts in last night, plan to paint it today and, hopefully, get it back to us this evening. If that happens we'll plan to head west tomorrow morning. Due to the rain we have been pretty lazy and even sleeping as late as little Bridgit Jeane will let us. (After about 8:00 am she starts yapping to be let out of her kennel and be taken outside.) As you can see from the picture, Buddy Joe does not sleep in a kennel but takes his share of the bed. As we wait around for the body shop to call we are enjoying the glorious sunshine that came out today. The storms have finally moved out to sea and the weather has turned nice, although a bit on the cool side.

One thing that has fascinated me while we've been here is the tide from the ocean. It goes out every six hours and then comes back six hours later. Just down the road is a place where some folks have a small inlet that comes in directly behind their houses. They have built some nice docks and have their boats tied up there. Each time the tide goes out this inlet is completely drained and the boats wind up sitting in mud. When the tide comes back the boats then float again. Guess these folks have to really follow the tide tables when they want to go out fishing. I'm just amazed they let their boats sit in mud for half the day every day. I went over there yesterday morning an took a picture about the time the time was nearly out. In another hour their would have been no water in the inlet at all. Amazing what interest a person when boredom sets in.

It is finally such a beautiful day we decided to walk back down to the Tybee beach. The sun is out but it is fairly windy with the wind coming out of the northwest. When we got to the beach it was at low tide so the surf was out really far. With the wind blowing so hard the sand was really whipping out toward the water. (Not sure if it really shows on this picture but those streaks of white sand are what was blowing directly toward us as we were walking.) Down the beach were so "kite surfers" having a good time in the wind. These guys were amazing in what they could do on these small surf boards using a huge kite to move them around. A couple of them were able to life well off the water and do flips. This last picture is of one of them in the air. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you'll see his lines going up to the kite. I missed getting the actual kite in the picture.