What Day Is It?

With all the fun we are having here in Elkhart, it’s hard to tell what day it is…They all run together.

The guys seem to start the day solving the problems of the world…

No matter what we do during the day, we end up with Happy Hour everyday around 4pm. It brings us all together. 

Jim and Ellie and their kids….

We all headed out one day for the RV Hall of Fame. It was a great take.

Started with a movie presentation…

Mac likes this one..

Kathy & Chuck having fun..

Lynette and Kevin found something better to do…

After the tour we all headed in different directions. Donna Keith, Kevin and I searched for a place for lunch and ended up at Charlie’s for a great sandwich.

We have had a Mexican Food night and Hot Dog night to name a few…

Dee and Jim, Chris and Jim…

Yesterday Mac, Lynette, Kevin and I headed to Shipshewana to do a little shopping and have a great lunch at the Blue Gate…

Mac and Lynette…

 

Tonight is heavy appetizer night…MMM…  This is also our last free day before the rally begins tomorrow..

The Road Back to Elkhart

Saturday morning we met Lynette and Gregg at a designated rest stop on the highway, so we  could follow each other for our trip back to Elkhart.. They have a new trailer hooked to the back of their 5th wheel and they wanted us to keep an eye on it, to see how it would behave.

It did very well.. We stopped for the night in Champaign, Il. Nice little overnight stop with a water view.

Out the back window…

Sunday morning we headed out to complete our trip to the Elkhart Campground…

We got checked in, set up and then the visiting started…

And the food came out…

This was just one of many nights of friendship, fun and food.

We have gone to the flea market, done line dancing, been out to lunch and had a baked potato bar for dinner.

 

We have had storing telling, jokes a pin ceremony and lots and lots of laughter…

Donnie, Dee, Mac, Lynette, Bob

 

Dee, Dortha, Kathy, Ellie

Downing that wine…

Mac acting up….

Nick drops by…

As you can see we are just having way too much fun. This is all before Nick’s Gypsy Journal Rally even begins!

Lots more to come.   Life sure is good!!

More Time with Family and Friends

After dropping our son and grandkids off on Sunday Kevin and I headed to Scott AFB Famcamp in Illinois.  We are parked in the wooded area so not getting satellite which isn’t a good thing in this RV.. Kevin doesn’t like it when he can’t follow the Red Sox! Well, we are only here for a few nights. Tuesday morning we had an very early flight  out of St Louis into Houston and onto Mobile Alabama for Kevin’s surgery appointment for his ear.  We got as far as Houston and that is where we stayed..Fortunately I was smart enough to call the  drs office in Mobile  to confirm the appointment. They told me the appt was cancelled.. What, we didn’t cancel. To make a long story short, Humana VA messed it up and cancelled.  Now we have to wait for another consult and then they will call to reschedule him. Luckily, we hadn’t flown into Alabama and taken the cab to the office…..We made a visit out of the trip. Stayed at our daughters house for two nights and got to play with our 3 grandsons. I had time to go out for Mexican with friends and had a badly needed color and cut… 

Thursday afternoon we arrived back in St Louis.  We are currently back at the famcamp and plan on being here until Saturday.

Friday…Fun day!  We headed to the Casino Queen in St. Louis to meet up with Mac and Lynette, who had just arrived. We all went to lunch at the casino and did a little gambling.  Then back to the RV park Karen and Donnie had arrived. We visited for a short while before heading out.

We had dinner plans with our son and  two grandkids,  to see them one more time before leaving the area. Unfortunately we didn’t get to have any time with our daughter in law this trip, as she works weekends. After dinner we said our goodbyes..

How lucky to have seen and spent time with all five of our grandchildren this past week.  We are truly blessed with them all…

Our Grandkid Fix

We headed out of Elkhart a week ago yesterday with all work completed, yeah!  Next destination Illinois/Missouri..

We stayed the night at a nice little Passport America campground in Lincoln Il.. 

Thursday morning we picked up our grandaughter and grandson and headed to the Yogi Bear Park in Missouri for the weekend.

Crossing the Mississippi River…

 

The Arch….

 

Busch Stadium…

The arrival…

 

This campground definately does not have the “it” factor but it would serve the purpose with the kiddos onboard.  They really squeeze you into the site and it is built up on a hill so the sites are not level at all. But it does have full hookups and that is what we needed with record high temps to 100.  We  spent a good part of the day coloring and doing puzzles and an art project at the clubhouse.  Dinner was at McDonalds, staying cool….

Friday morning we headed to take a train ride around the park and to wake up Yogi…

 

The pool was the next adventure on the list.  We spent about 3 hours in the water staying cool.

Friday night our son arrived and we went out to a barbecue place for dinner.  After renting some movies we had a relaxing night in the RV.

Saturday morning my son and I decided we would brave the heat and take the kids to Six Flags right next door. Kevin opted out of this, so he was our chauffeur.  We only spent a few hours doing the kiddie rides and then headed back for lunch and a rest.  Later we headed back to the water park and found it quite refreshing for a few more hours.  After returning home we did manage to grill some steaks, but ate inside.

The weekend ended all too soon and we enjoyed spending time with Chris and Kailyn….

Houston We Have a Holding Tank…

We are still here and waiting, but maybe soon we will be gone….

Monday.. We got an early start and headed to have coffee/tea and donut at the Rise n Shine.. Then we stopped to pick up a few things.  I was patiently waiting for a call from our rep at Heartland. By 11am I called him and he said he had been really busy but would call me right back.. In the meantime got a call from Kathy & Chuck who were in Elkhart and wanted to meet for lunch. We suggested Charlie’s that serves up a great sandwich, among other things.   About 2pm got the call and was told they were hoping to pull a tank from the plant  in the morning. So wait again we did.

Tuesday…Got the call, that they did indeed have our tank in hand. Now for our guys here to pick it up and install it.  The way things are done here,  everyone is given a tech from the start and that guy does all our work.  Well, we are now told that “our” guy went home early today!!!!!    

I just went into the shop here, and I actually saw our tank, how exciting is that, lol!! Would you  ever think I would become so happy to see a holding tank?!!  Like I said before, our tech is gone home for the day but we were promised (crossed his heart) they would do the work first thing in the morning. I was also thanked for being patient with them and not yelling.. I do realize that it is not the fault of these guys, but someone at Heartland definately messed up.  I will address that, somewhere down the line.  So now we have a plan. I just got off the phone making reservations for the next week in Missouri and Illinois.  We hope to leave here by noon tomorrow if all goes well, and stop  somewhere on the road tomorrow night.  Yippee!!  Hooray!!  Oops, guess I shouldn’t celebrate too quickly….

Casino and Beach Fun

Saturday…

Well to cheer ourselves up,  due to spending another weekend in the parking lot here in Elkhart, we headed to Michigan City, Indiana.   Kevin is a morning person, so we were off pretty early. It was about 50 miles and an easy drive, passing more corn fields of course. 

This was our first stop….

 

Kevin headed to the black jack table and I found a 2 cent machine that I liked and we both ended up with $100 extra,  in each of our pockets. That doesn’t happen often!  We also each got a twelve pack of coke for getting 200 points on our card.  Not bad!   We headed out with plans to come back, most likely when our friends arrive in the area.

Next stop was to see Lake Michigan. I have been told that it looks like an ocean with pretty blue water, and I  just had to see it, to believe it.  Little did we know, that it was speed boat weekend and man was it packed.  We had to park quite a distance and walk up and down the dunes to the beach.

 

 

Worth it though, it looked just as described and I definately want to spend some time back at this beach.. The water felt good.

The boats were practicing for their big race Sunday….

Perhaps we can add that to the list of things to do when friends arrive.

Sunday..

We got a few things accomplished in the morning.  A/C vent cleaned, freezer defrosted, just things we seem to put off.   I needed to find an ULTA store so I could buy some makeup, looked it up on the computer and I headed out for the 12 mile drive.  But, just before arriving at the mall I passed a Christmas Tree Shop!!   For years this was the store we always shopped at while at Cape Cod. Many years later they opened one near our home in Ma.  I always thought they were a Ma or NE thing, so shocked I was!  I couldn’t pass by without stopping..even though I was just in one last week at the Cape. Oh well, I managed to spend over an hour browsing the aisles and spending some cash.  I headed to ULTA, spent more than I planned and  headed home.

Tomorrow we are suppose to hear from Heartland to see if they could find our tank. With any luck we may be on our way to Illinois in a day or two.

Waiting and More Waiting

We have spent the last few days just sitting and waiting for our holding tank to arrive.

They told us 7-10 days and on Wednesday it was the tenth day. Kevin was over at the office early morning. They made a phone call and said it would be here Thursday or Friday.  Well, it didn’t. By 2pm today I called Heartland and when they looked into it, said yes it should have arrived with them on Wednesday. Ok, it didn’t, so now what?  Well we will find out first thing Monday morning, what has happened to it!  I have asked, where does it come from, answer nearby.. Well then, where is it and why is it taking two weeks to arrive.  I think we have been very patient but now our patience is wearing thin. Our plans had us arriving in Mo today, for a visit with our son and his family. We should be out playing with grandkids now, and here we sit.. I cancelled our reservations but can not make any, since I don’t know when we will GET OUT…  Kevin has to be in Mobile, Al to see the surgeon on the 17th so we are kind of in a crunch to get the  visit in.  That being said , we will make the best of it and head to Michigan City tomorrow. I really want to see Lake Michigan and there is a casino nearby.

Maybe we will get lucky!!

Meeting Up With Friends

Tuesday

I received an email from Kathy and Chuck Donley  that they were in the area.. We decided we should get together. This morning Kathy  called and asked if we would like to go with them to an RV surplus store in Michigan. Sure, was our reply. We picked a meeting place, jumped in their truck and off we were for the short trip to Michigan. It was a very large store and we had lots to look at.  We all were getting hungry so after leaving the shop we stopped for lunch at the Country Table just up the road.  We enjoyed our lunch and chatter. 

When we finished with lunch we drove through the farmlands for many miles…

Until we reached…

 

This is the home and business of an Amish carpenter that makes all kinds of beautiful furniture for RV’s.  Beautiful things and I think Chuck and Kathy found just what they were looking for!

The drive back to our truck was just as adventurous as the ride to the shop. Many, many detours.

But Chuck did a fine job returning us back to our truck. With a little help from Kathy and the gps..

It was a great drive through this beautiful country and we really enjoyed our day with friends. Thanks Kathy and Chuck for asking us along…