Volume II of C&C’s Retirement Adventures Blog began formulating just after Thanksgiving as we began loading the Road House with our warm weather gear and enough provisions to sustain a small community! It seems we now agree that a lighter weight coach would be far more economical (especially with diesel fuel at $4+/gallon) than packing along Sam’s Club 6-packs of green beans, corn, tomatoes, and other bulk goods. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and hey, we had plenty of room for all that stuff!
Last year’s adventure began on January 10, 2011 with
blustery, snowy weather, nearly 15 inches of snow already on the ground, and
high temperatures reaching only into the single digits. The extreme cold only exacerbated the
mechanical problems that dogged us during the first week on the road. Quite a contrast this year—there has been
little snow in Detroit Lakes (DL) this season.
We are hoping this bodes well for our journey! And we fervently hope that we don't experience as many challenges as we did in January.
On the eve of our departure, our neighbors Jim & Nancy,
Leroy & Mathilde, and Curt & Judy bid us a Bon Voyage with a fun and yummy pizza party. While munching on pizza, dips, chips, veggies
and li’l wieners, we reminisced about a few of our favorite celebrities of
yesteryear—remember Gail Speck aka Julie London and her sultry “Cry Me a River”
or jazz singing Bill Cosby before he became TV’s Dr. Huxtable! LOL
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| Sampling some of Jim's Home Brew--Cheers! |
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| LtoR: LeRoym Cathy, Nancy, Curt, Corky, Judy, Bill Cosby, Jim & Mathilde |
Best wishes to you guys for a good holiday
season! We’ll see you in the Spring!
Departure Day, Dec. 4: After partying heartily with our neighbors, an early start
on Sunday morning was just not going to happen. Last minute loading of perishables,
electronics, and cosmetics started about 8 a.m. amid light snow flurries. So Corky backed the coach onto the driveway
to make it easier to do the last minute packing and to hook onto the tow car. While he was backing it, we noticed that the coach appeared to
list a bit to the driver’s side. It was
not level. Hmmmmm. Raise and lower hydraulic leveling legs; no
change; hmmmmmm. Raise and lower
hydraulic leveling legs again; still no change. OH NO! De ja vu!!!!! Not again. Frantic call to Freightliner. The advice:
continue to raise and lower legs until pressure rod (which must be
frozen/stuck) releases the appropriate amount of air to level coach. Whew!
It worked. We are off!
Our first stop is Oakes, ND, a whopping 157 miles southwest
of DL, to visit Corky’s mom who will be 90 this month. A family birthday surprise had been planned
and we were happy to be able to visit with her and other family members before
we leave. We parked the coach at Jerry’s
& Carol’s (Corky’s brother) for the overnight.
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| Margaret Rodine, 90 years old on Dec. 18 |
Dec. 5: We awoke to a skiff of snow, but it was not unbearably cold
and there was a promise of sunshine later in the day along our route. But don’t forget, there’s always that little
black cloud that brings rain to a perfectly beautiful sunshiny day. Yup, you guessed it—another little
problem. The bedroom slide wouldn’t
retract. After several choice words from Corky and
some encouragement/sympathy from Jerry and nephew Kevin, Corky tried once again
to bring in the bedroom slide—SUCCESS! Again,
We are off!
Weather was good through southern North Dakota and South
Dakota although we encountered occasional light flurries. But the farther we drove into Iowa, the deeper the snow on the ground.
Fortunately the roads were plowed, or at least most of them were clear of ice and snow, EXCEPT the one rest area that we chose to use. Thick ice covered the parking area making for some fancy footwork and motorskills. Corky had to draw from his past defensive driving skills as we exited the rest area and began to slide toward the ditch. It was only a momentary slide, but the scare forced our decision to get out of this snowy area ASAP!
Fortunately the roads were plowed, or at least most of them were clear of ice and snow, EXCEPT the one rest area that we chose to use. Thick ice covered the parking area making for some fancy footwork and motorskills. Corky had to draw from his past defensive driving skills as we exited the rest area and began to slide toward the ditch. It was only a momentary slide, but the scare forced our decision to get out of this snowy area ASAP!
So we continued southerly to a Nebraska City Travel Plaza where Corky had stopped a few years earlier on his way to a surveying seminar. He remembered it having a restaurant and nice restrooms and an area where we could spend the night comfortably. We began to get an uneasy feeling, though, when all the services signs along the highway leading to the exit had "CLOSED" decals across them. What was going on?????
Well, the Truck Stop was still there. Seems these businesses had been among the hundreds in the midwest inundated with flood waters this past summer. Most were in the process of rebuilding. The Truck Stop had reopened only 3 weeks ago! So, instead of enjoying a meal in the restaurant (still undergoing renovations) we opted for a couple of hot dogs, added some warm soup, and spent the evening watching a little TV. We were the only RV among about 20 semis overnighting here!
Dec. 6: We got up and on the road by 8:30 a.m.--a rather remarkable feat for us! The weather was still cold, but warming up quite nicely. And our route to Topeka was the same as the one we took last year, a state road rather than the interstate--nice scenery. As we passed the casino where we experienced our biggest challenge last year, we saluted in a fashion and vowed not to stop there ever again. Not 20 miles down this same road, we came up behind a dump truck that had just exited the landfill on the right side of the road. One would assume that if a truck is leaving the landfill, the truck is empty. WRONG!
An errant gust of wind dipped into the truck and tossed out what looked like the bottom of a dutch oven kettle--right at us! No amount of evasive action could have avoided the wrath of this flying pot. Thank goodness it missed our windshield. It smacked the ground in front of the fender, then bounced under the chassis tearing the fog light assembly from its housing. To add insult to injury, the pot was followed by a metal teapot that was a "near miss" and luckily did not wreak any havoc on the coach. There was no opportunity to pull our 40+ foot behemoth off the road when the incident occured, so we had to drive some 20 agonizing miles imagining the worst damage before we we able to safely stop and inspect the coach/car. We are now seriously considering finding another route south next year!
Well, the Truck Stop was still there. Seems these businesses had been among the hundreds in the midwest inundated with flood waters this past summer. Most were in the process of rebuilding. The Truck Stop had reopened only 3 weeks ago! So, instead of enjoying a meal in the restaurant (still undergoing renovations) we opted for a couple of hot dogs, added some warm soup, and spent the evening watching a little TV. We were the only RV among about 20 semis overnighting here!
An errant gust of wind dipped into the truck and tossed out what looked like the bottom of a dutch oven kettle--right at us! No amount of evasive action could have avoided the wrath of this flying pot. Thank goodness it missed our windshield. It smacked the ground in front of the fender, then bounced under the chassis tearing the fog light assembly from its housing. To add insult to injury, the pot was followed by a metal teapot that was a "near miss" and luckily did not wreak any havoc on the coach. There was no opportunity to pull our 40+ foot behemoth off the road when the incident occured, so we had to drive some 20 agonizing miles imagining the worst damage before we we able to safely stop and inspect the coach/car. We are now seriously considering finding another route south next year!
We are now comfortably parked in a Golf RV resort in Guthrie, Oklahoma. We have showered, eaten, and are calming our frazzled nerves with a favorite elixir.
Here's hoping for an uneventful Wednesday, but I guess I will always need fodder for my blog.
Stay tuned.
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