Webmasters RoundTable

Omaha to Shreveport and Back Day 6 - 12

CMA members waiting to leave for Jefferson Texas.  It was hard to get all of the in one shot.

Sometime in the middle of the night we were ripped out of our sleeping to a very loud crash sound just outside our bed.  I fumbled around for my 10 minute rechargable light and opened up the back door to look around.  I call it my 10 minute light because it takes me 10 minutes to find it and once I turn it on it only lasts about 10 minutes.  It doesn't matter how long I charge it either.

Anyway eventually I put my light straight back into the trees and I light up a set of eyeballs about 50 feet back into the woods.  The thing about Arkansas trees is they grow straight up into the air (no lower branches).  It sure makes it tough to hide if you're trying to. 

Now you may be wondering...what was it?  The answer to that question is quite simply I have no freaking idea what it was.  It was long and slender like a fox but it had a big bushy tail like a coon.  We have coons all over (even in our own yard back home) and I've never seen one this long before. 

I do know it was big and strong enough to lift the 25 pound off our trash can and eventually help itself to our T-Bone steak bones in the trash can.  It was sort of funny because I would shine the light on it and it would run off into the forest.  A few minutes later you could hear it rumbling through the leaves toward the can again.  This repeated several times until eventually the light had no effect. 

The best way to get around town if you're six and you have a good dog.

The next morning we did the dishes and packed up camp and hit the road.  Looking back at the camp we decided that this was for sure the very best campsite we've ever had so far.  Again I had set my trusty GPS for Shreveport and requestd that it take me there. 

This started out okay however it took me down some pretty skinny residential looking roads.  They look like nice bike riding roads but they weren't really anything for high speed interstate type travel.  Eventually it tried to turn me on to a gravel road which I promptly declined.  That was the final straw.  I think it's time to update my software on this thing. 

Eventually we did make it to Shreveport and for the next 7 days we would be spending time with family.  The camper was parked on the front yard where it sat the entire time.  When I loaded the bike up at the last campsite in Arkansas the tailgate broke and I had to back the bike off and figure out another way of loading it.  Eventually I did get it loaded by taking a good run at the ramp.  In Shreveport I made a few trips up to a Home Depot and bought some bolts (I say a few trips because I had to return twice for longer bolts), some paint and some ply-wood. 

I placed the wood on top of the ramp and bolted it through the cheap metal grating that came with the camper.  I also painted the board black and added some sort of plastic stuff into the paint for traction.  The ramp worked very well and for the rest of the trip it was actually easier to load the bike than it was before I made the change.  I also added an extra board to place under the end of the tailgate because the wing would on occasion bottom out on the way up or down. 

I also made a trip to the local RV shop and tried to buy a new caster wheel for the trailer.  That turned out to be an adventure in itself.  They wanted like $25 and had to order it in.  They kept telling me it would be back the next day and it never came (after 3 trips to pick it up).  Eventually I found a place just down the street (suggested by a neighbor) called Tiger Axles and although they didn't have one in stock they did have a used wheel.  They took my old caster, put the used wheel on it and charged me $8.  Nifty.

The band at Tilley's.  They were very good and entertained us for an hour or so.

Saturday Uncle Tommie and Dianne took for a ride to Jefferson Texas with the local CMA group in Shreveport.  We met at this burger joint for breakfast and headed out bright and early in the morning.  It was fairly cool (especially for Louisana and Texas) so I was able to wear my leathers.  The local CMA chapter or director gave me their card but I can't find it right now.  I did find a card from GWTA Region C Chapter GB directors from Green Bay though.  I think I was supposed to contact them after the Region C rally.  Whoops!  I'll be sure to do that right away tonight.

Anyway I must say the roads in Texas are pretty awesome.  They are in tip top shape and they must be proud of them.  We took an indirect route to Jefferson.  To me it resembled that large coin funnel you find at Wal-Mart where you drop your penny in and it goes round and round for 60 seconds.  Am I complaining?  Heck no.  There must of been at least 30 bikes for the trip too.  When we got to Jefferson there were even more bikes.  Bikes were everywhere.  It was like a mini-sturgis or something. 

We parked our bikes in a grassy field and headed for the local burger joint.  I found myself waiting in line (which means out in the street) at this place called the Old Fashioned Hamburger Store.  If you ever get a chance to go in there you can't help but notice that all over any flat surface are one dollar bills that are autographed in some way.  I spent quite a bit of time checking that out.  The meal, as I can recall, was very good too. 

They were having some sort of civil war production that night in town and everybody was going every direction.  We hung out in town, tried some home made root beer and eventually headed back to Louisana.  On the way back we stopped at this lake which I believe was called "Lake O the Pines" to look around.  It was here that I learned that I couldn't get a photo because I had actually filled up my memory card on the camera.  I had yet to unload the camera to the laptop the entire duration of our trip.  Oh well no big deal. 

I would call this bike a board walk racer but I'm not sure what it's official name is.

The very next day we were invited yet again to a motorcycle and car show.  This time Laura rode along.  She didn't want to make the ride to Jefferson on Saturday (we have both been to Jefferson before too).  This even was, believe it or not, at a mobile home sales lot called Tilly's (if my memory serves me right).  They had all sorts of old classic cars and motorcycles lined up everywhere at the show.  Even better is all motorcycles got to park right on sight (others were parking a few blocks away and walking in). 

We stayed here for several hours eating catfish, listening to the band (which was very good by the way) and walking around to see all the cars and bikes.  When I'm in Shreveport visiting I tend to eat catfish as much as possible.  There is a restaurant there I like to eat at called Jans.  Try it out if you ever get down that way.  The CMA group won a prize for the club with the highest number of bikes present.  I think it was like $500 for the club.  Neat!

The next day we visited the largest garden dedicated to roses in Shreveport and it was there I got to push grandma around in a wheel chair.  It was great exercise.  As I found out the park is on a slight hill and of course you enter from the top.  It was here I took a photo of a dedication stone with Michael Crafts name on it.  I'm pretty sure we're talking about two different people but it shows that I did think of everyone back home every now and then. 

Soon we would dig out our camper and head North again.  Laura and I were both ready to head out on the highway and venture towards home.  This was two full weeks away.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Omaha to Shreveport and Back - Day 5

The 1500 sits waiting to go for a ride at camp.

Last night the loud cricket visited us again. The temp got down to the upper 30's and until that dumb cricket came we were fine. Yes that's right, the battery ran dead again and the heater wasn't working.  I was thinking that I knew that charger was a cheap-o but I thought it might at least survive the weekend.  Gee wiz.   

I tried to unplug the charger and plug it back in to reset it.  This didn't work.  It just kept saying "Check the Battery".  I'm not going out there to see if the battery was there.  After a few choice adjectives and nouns, I told Laura we were going to have to cuddle again.  Just before returning to bed I opened up the screen door cover to take a peak out the window.  Nothing out of the ordinary...except one thing.  The stupid porch light was on.  Why was that dumb light on? 

I turned off the stupid porch light and reset the charger.  Now it is charging again.  Almost instantly I turned the heater off to reset it and turned it back on.  Very soon we were cranking out heat again and I returned back to bed.  Preparing for bed I bumped into the porch light and again it went on.  Now I get how that happened.  That switch is in a very dumb place. 

Even more stupid is the porch light itself.  On this rig it is two tail lights with clear covers on them attached to the back of the camper.  I call it stupid because they put one of the lights behind the door so all it does is brighten up a little area about the size of a shoe box behind the door.  I don't get why they did this because the only way this light would work is if the outside door was shut and you would never have this door shut when the camper was set up.  It might be useful if the camper wasn't being used but the stupid switch is inside the camper.  I'll probably never understand the stupid porch light deal but it's something I don't care for on this rig. 

Camp is all set up at the Crystal Mines in Jessieville (just before sunset).

The next morning I woke up...warm...and decided I better do last nights dishes.  By the time we ate supper last night it was too dark to do the dishes.  As I started doing dishes, one of the resident camping dogs, a boxer dog, stopped by to see me.  He is such a good doggie and I don't recall what his name was.  The night before he got a couple of potatoes from the dinner.  I'm thinking he was thinking there might be a few more items to clean up.  That just wasn't the case. 

Overall camping at the crystal mines in Russleville was a lot of fun.  The campground wasn't the best and I wouldn't want to ride my wing up to the campgrounds from the highway.  That prevented me from taking a ride back up HWY 7 and I really wanted to try that out on the wing.  The rest stop where we pulled off the previous day was a short ride back and would of been a nice break from all the digging we did.

We found a ton of crystals in the mine but we didn't find anything so awesome we would need a armed guard escort to get home.  I think it was worth the $30 we spent at the mine to camp and dig for a day.  The staff was pretty nice too and the two resident dogs were very friendly.  Across from our camp was a collection of what I call Tonka Toys and none of them had all their tires.  We were asked not to go over there but I took some pictures of them.

All packed up and ready to go.  You can see the evil eye that the wing gives me in the rear view mirror.

After digging all day, we finally hopped into the Tundra and made our way out of the mine.  On the way out another nice couple stopped us and asked if they could take a picture of our trailer.  This is like the third or fourth time someone has stopped us to ask questions about it.  He mentioned that he was thinking about making something similar to what we had.  We chatted for a few moments, John gave us a pointer on which way to head South and off we went (I had to reconfigure the GPS too). 

We headed South and we were heading straight for the Diamond Mines in Murphysboro.  John had said that diamond hunting was not going to be as fun as his camp.  We wanted to see for ourselves. 

We found our way to Murphysboro in about 5 hours but we drove right on by it.  That's because the stupid GPS map that I had fooled me right past the stop (on the route we had to backtrack the next day when leaving Murphysboro).  We used the GPS to route us through some interesting roads and managed to get back to the park after an extra 30 minutes driving time. 

The drive down there was very nice and scenic.  We took some really curvy roads and even stopped in a town somewhere (who knows where it was now) and got a Subway sandwhich (yep...she got the meatball sandwhich again). Around the corner from Subway we stopped again and got a T-Bone and a 6-Pack of Pepsi.  This would be dinner. 

This is the town where we bought our T-Bones. Can you guess what town it was?

Around 5:12 PM we pulled into the park.  I know this because they closed at 5.  They left us a note on the door and told us which campsite was ours (I called ahead and made a reservation).  I must say I was very impressed with this park.  It was so cool.   We found our campsite and made a few U-Turns to unload the bike and to evetually back into our spot.  There were no pull through spots in this park.  Because of the incline I had to put the caster wheel on the trailer jack and jack it up about 1 foot in order to get the wing off the trailer.  Without jacking up the trailer slightly the wing would bottom out on the trailer.

After the bike was off I was ready to back into my spot and set up camp.  Whoops!  I neglected to let the trailer down off the jack.  The caster wheel broke off and I was picking up the pieces.  Fortunately, the jack itself was not damaged and I was able to take what was left of the caster off the jack and get the trailer all set up.  I will be looking for a new caster tomorrow.  That should be fairly easy to replace.  Right?

Camp is all set up at the Diamond Mine State Park in Murphyboro (minus one caster wheel).

That night we cooked a T-Bone steak on the Coleman Grill and boy was that good.  Along with that were some good old potatoes and some drinks.  Laura thought it was a pretty good steak too.  We only paid $9 for it and it didn't look like it was going to be that good.  Boy were we wrong.  We found our little Coleman Grill at Canfields on 84th Street in Omaha.  It was the only one like it that had both a grill and a burner on it.  I bought an extension hose and coverter kit for it so we could connect it directly to the bottle on our trailer. 

We also picked up a Coleman electric cooler that we have been using on this trip too.  The cooler is best purchased at Wal-Mart because for the same price as the one at Canfields and Cabella's you get the $30 plug in adapter for free.  It is supposed to keep stuff 40 degrees cooler than the temp outside the cooler.  So far it has been working great for us.  When we get to camp we plug it into the camper and while we are travelling we plug it into the lighter in the Tundra.  No messing with ice this trip.

After dinner Laura and I cleaned up and I took a nice long shower in the shower house.  You can't walk down the road at night in the campground without a light because it is pitch black.  I managed to find my way anyhow but Laura had to stop me because I walked right on by our campsite.  That's how dark it was.  I'm really not sure how she spotted me though. 

We played a few games of cards with our new deck of KOA cards we got from the camper and boat show at the Qwest Center and then we went for a short walk.  Tomorrow we would try our luck in the diamond mines and I would go shopping for a new caster tire (that really shouldn't take too long).  Lights out.  By the way, we didn't really play cards, it was more like she kicked my butt almost every game.  I think the cards were against me. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Omaha to Shreveport and Back - Day 4

Camp is all set up at the Crystal Mines in Jessieville (just before sunset).

Last night was good. We woke up early again and folded up camp. This would be our last visit to Branson for awhile. We may decide to bounce back through here for one night on the way back. The trouble is that it is just far enough off the path home to make it worthwhile (especially when we were already there earlier on the same trip). We'll decide later.

First thing in the morning I decided to head up to the showers to get all fresh and stuff.  After all that camping and hiking I thought it might make the trip south more fun.  When I arrived at the showerhouse I noticed that the door was locked up tight and there was an "out of order" sign on the door.  Previously they had just one stall out of order in there.  Now it was the entire mens room.  That doesn't fly.  Those guys do have a little "mean" in them.

The ladies room was just fine.  The camp ground was pretty vacant and it probably wouldn't of mattered much if I went in the ladies room but I utilized a nice tree in the forest instead.  They really didn't leave me much choice.  Which tree it was I'm just not saying.

Anyway I marked my campsite (36.66712 N & 93.32566W) and pulled out.  On our way out of town we drove through the "non-tourist" area and low and behold you wouldn't believe what I found.  Yes, you guessed it, an autoparts store.  That figures.  I drove right past as I already had my cheap-o battery charger from Wal-Mart and it is working fine (for now anyway). 

At the scenic lookout on HWY 7 (35.97402 N & 93.16744 W)

South on 65 we go.  Eventually we turn onto one of my favorite drives...good ol' HWY 7.  I was a little concerned how the Tundra would pull that trailer through there and now I was about to find out.  Once you pass the Subway in Harrison, Ar, you are on your way.  Last time through here we stopped in at the Subway and of all things to order, she orders a meatball sandwhich.  Picture a curvy drive through the mountains while trying to eat a meatball sandwhich.  Need I say more?

Just South of Jasper you start this uphill climb that lasts for a long time.  It's keeps going and going and going.  Then eventually at the top of the hill (35.97402 N & 93.16744 W) you come to this pull off where you can look out and see lots of trees down there (and other stuff).  There is a small gift shop up there and we always stop and have lunch.  We did it this time too.  It's a nice break.  Then off we go again.

The drive through the mountains was effortless with the trailer for the Tundra.  We actually made pretty good time.  There were times when I even forgot the thing was back there.  Then I'd look in the rear view mirror and see the wing giving me that evil eye.  I know what you're thinking but I wouldn't want to make Laura drive the Tundra through the mountains. 

It wouldn't be long before we made our next rest area.  This again is a place we love to visit when we come this way.  It's a little turn off just north of Jessieville, Ar.  I can never remember exactly where it is so I end up watching for it for miles before it actually comes.  This time I marked the sucker on the GPS map so I can find it next time.

This rest area is one of our favorites.  It's just North of Russleville on HWY 7.

Again, I don't know why we stopped here the first time but it is a really neat little park. The first time we were here Laura found a bunch of butterflies in a huddle. She thought that was pretty cool. This time I wandered away a little ways and found myself a 4 pack of those armadillos. Laura had always wanted to see a live one (they are always legs up on the side of the road).  It's no wonder that they are always found dead on the side of the road because we got within a few feet of those things and they were totally unaware we were even there.

Anyway we had a little snack, took some pictures of on the road we went again.  We didn't realize just how close we were to our next campsite.  When I called ahead to secure the campsite the previous week, the nice guy on the other end gave me the GPS coordinates to find (34.67084N & 93.21244W).  Boy did those sure come in handy.

I pre-configured the GPS to locate this spot and off I went on the back highway.  At first the drive was fine and I had made plans in my head to unload the wing and head back up HWY 7 for some riding later on.  Laura would perfectly fine digging for crystals for a few extra hours.  Unfortunately the closer to the location we got the more coarse the roads got.  Eventually we headed up this hill which, at first, seemed innocent enough but the further we went up the hill the higher the grade went.  Finally the truck starting spinning tires a little on the gravel (it was like driving on marbles) and I popped it into 4WD.  No more problems and the hill finally revealed the crystal mine. 

When we got there the nice man on the phone greeted us (I recall his name being John but not certain now) and explained to us how the digging works.  He let us poke around for a bit but we were unable to do much because they were getting ready to do two blasts.  We waited for the better part of an hour and eventually we heard the first blast.  This was followed by a big puff of smoke and then large rocks falling from the sky.  The second blast was just the same. 

Shortly thereafter John showed us our campsite (34.67022N & 93.21478W) and I unloaded the wing and set up camp while Laura poked around in the mine.  Later she returned and cooked me up some fish (no lakes around but we stopped at Wal-Mart in Russleville) and potatoes.  Man that was really good too.  Later we called it a night.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Omaha to Shreveport and Back - Day 3

Riding in Branson was a lot of fun

Last night was probably the best night we've had so far on the trip.  It was still cool however not nearly as bad as before.  I finally got to shed my jacket the previous day and Laura and I had made a bond fire in our handy fire ring.  I found a piece of wood nearby that looked like it had been sitting around for awhile.  It must of been from a pretty hard tree because it never did finish burning.  We eventually had to pour water on it in order to go to bed. 

First thing this morning, before Laura even got up, I jumped on the wing and took it out for a nice ride.  The previous day I had taken a long loop ride on the bike to try and find an autoparts store.  I was pretty amazed that I was able to find none.  The Bass Pro Shop amazingly didn't have anything near what I was looking for either.  I have made a decision to just take the plunge and buy the cheap-o battery charger from Wal-Mart and move on.  So off I went to Wal-Mart to get the charger.  It was an amazing ride into town.  There is one spot where you turn off one highway and onto another and the grade takes you straight down (or up depending on which way you're going). 

Upon returning to camp Laura was already awake.  I put the cheap-o battery charger on the battery and we planned our day.  While I was out I had noticed that the butterfly garden (something she really loves) had apparently moved.  They were now in a brand new building up on the hill.  I figured we'd have to make a trip there to see them.  I had wanted to see the new Titanic deal which was also new (since we've been there anyway). 

The new Titanic Dealie 1/4 scale of the original

We decided first to hit the Titanic (why not the ice berg does too).  We both enjoyed our tour (Laura more than me).  I was thinking that there would be more artifacts recovered from the actual wreck.  To me it was mostly artifacts taken before it sank.  They had a nice detailed room complete with model of the ship wreck as it sits to date and I spent quite a bit of time there.  They also had a room dedicated to the movie. 

The butterfly house was fun too.  Before you go in they stick you in this room with these 3-D glasses so you can watch this cheesy film about this bug who they try to get you to fall in love with.  Then in the end...well I'm not going to spoil the movie for you.  I'll let you catch it at your nearest Branson butterly palace movie theatre near you. 

Watching the cheesy 3-D film at the butterfly house

We had lunch at this nifty Italian place called The Pasta House and dinner at a place called Dockers.  Both places are joints we like to visit when we go to Branson.  We hit them both in the same day.  Imagine that.  We made a stop into Walgreens for supplies and eventually a stop again at Wal-Mart where we jointly decided to purcase a porti-potti for the camper.  This thing was like a 5 gallon bucket with a seat on top.  You might try and imagine us heading back to camp on the 1500 holding on to that thing.  It was an interesting ride to say the least but we got it done. 

After returning to camp from an all day event we took a hiking trail, which orginated right next to our campsite, which turned out to be a hike straight down to the bottom of a long hill.  We could hear the steam engine at Silver Dollar City off in the distance.  I haven't been there in a long time.  Anyway, at the bottom of the hill was a large clearing with a dump truck parked in it (of all things to find).  This is where we found a wild turkey which Laura nearly stepped on before it flew out of its hiding place.  I'm pretty sure all underwear stayed in tact after that. 

Right before sunset we returned back to camp and prepared for our next days journey.  We were planning on heading south via HWY 7 and dig for gems.  I think we were both looking forward to that.  There was much to be done with getting camp ready for a smooth breakdown (way way smoother than last time which turned out to be horrid). 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Omaha to Shreveport and Back - Day 2

Branson, Mo - WE MADE IT (after a 3 year break)!

Saturday morning was just as bad as Friday night. It was cold and windy (at least it wasn't raining).  Last night we had to rearrange our sleeping arrangement due to the battery dropping out on us.  Instead of each our own cover we had to double up.  It's all about layers and body heat.  It worked.  We were plenty warm even without the stupid heater.  I really have to check up on why we can't have heat all night in cool weather.

Folding up the camper proved to be a new learning experience.  I've done it a few times before but this time was a little different.  Surely (yes I called you Shirley) you would think that leaving the bed made wouldn't make a difference but oh boy does it ever. 

After folding down the camper one time I learned that in no way in heck could I put the clips on to secure it down.  I tried for a good 5 minutes with no luck.  I had to set the thing back up again in the cold wind while my wife waited patiently in the warm truck.  In the interest in getting out of Rockport while it was still morning, we decided to put the bed rolls into the back seat of the truck and go. 

Do you think it ended there?  Heck no.  About this time I tried adjusting the front clamps to max out my length and out pops the little black nut that holds the clamp on.  On to the ground it goes.  Where it went who knows?  I couldn't find it after about 10 minutes on my knees rubbing the ground. 

Without this nut I would have to go with 3 clamps and that would work okay but I think I'd rather have all four.  I reluctantly pulled Laura out of the warm truck.  She stops over and it goes just like this..."What does it look like"?  "It's a little black nut".  "Here is this it"?  "Yes Thank-You".  We jumped into the warm truck and started defrosting the windshield.  Yes you read that right. 

If that wasn't bad enough I broke the bracket inside the camper above the door that holds the door up in place when you are folding or unfolding your camper.  All that was left to hold up the door was two snaps.  If these two snaps ever failed someone was going to get knocked in the head pretty good.  Even worse is snapping the door in while trying to hold it up and still at the same time was even more challenging.  It's almost a two person job.

It's by tradition that I stop at the McDonalds in Rockport on my way to Branson each time we go.  We stopped just like any other time and on my way out a Harley dude was eyeballing my trailer.  He wanted one too.  I told him about it and about a few I've seen for sale and he eventually wandered off to his vehicle empty trailered. 

Camp is all set up at the Compton Campground

I researched ahead of time campgrounds in Branson. I've never even looked into campground before because I've never had camping gear down there before. When I googled campgrounds this Compton Campground always came up towards the top.  After reviewing the reviews on the campground I learned that it is now under new management and the new guys aren't that friendly. 

I called them on the phone and they seemed friendly enough to me.  They also said that the day I was planning on coming in that there would be plenty of space.  I put in the address in my GPS and found that it was taking me to a different spot than what they showed on the map.  After much fighting with the GPS I learned that it isn't really in Branson, Mo.  GPS is set and off we go.

The GPS would pull another fast ball on me on the way down there.  While traveling down towards Springfield the GPS, for who knows what reason, diverted me off the nice four lane highway and on to a two lane road that looked like something from the 70's.  While taking the road, which cut straight South and then eventually straight West and back on to the four lane again, all I could think about is how nice of a ride that would of been if I was actually riding.  Looking back there I could see the wing giving me an evil eye.

Anyway, I found the staff at the campground very nice and gave them my hard earned cash for two nights.  We picked out a camp spot and set up camp.  There were not that many people camping.  There were two different campers in tents and about 3 trailers/5th wheels.  Our spot was way down at the end where nobody was around.  Pretty nifty I thought. 

A view out or window. Pretty neat huh?

The weather warmed up and Laura and I started making plans for spending all our money.  While we were doing that I took a photo out our camper window.  Normally, out this window would be a view of our rotting deck back home in the driveway.  What a change this was from that. 

Anyway it was during this time that I started thinking about buying a battery charger for the camper.  We would be staying here two days instead of just one so chances are the battery wouldn't make it that long.  Then again maybe it would.  It was starting to warm up and I could actually take my jacket off for the first time.  After checking the local Wal-Mart store in town and taking a tour downtown I was only able to find the cheap Wal-Mart battery charger that I had purchased once before.  It had lasted only about a year.  I'll think on it some more. 

As nightfall approached I got ready for night number two on our trip.  This night would go much smoother as long as I had my way.  At least it was warmer.  Right before bed a camp staff employee dropped by to make sure our electrical outlet was working properly.  Yea, these guys are really mean.  Can't you tell?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Omaha to Shreveport and Back - Day 1

I remember as a kid trying to stow away in my visiting grandparents car to get away. Could this be the same sort of thing?

Will our new camper hold up to expectations?  Find out in our 14 day venture through 6 states. 

Well after two years without a vacation, one finally caught up to me.  Laura and I brought home a new pop up toy hauler which Fleetwood calls a Scorpion.  With help from dad we modified it slightly and built a ramp so we could load the wing on to it.  The whole thing fully loaded weighs in at about 3,000 lbs which is just about the right size for our Tundra.  Laura can't deal with long road trips on the bike so we thought this would be a nice middle ground. 

On an impulse we decided that we would head out on Friday instead of Saturday morning.  Of course, I had to work Friday so when I got home we loaded everything up and set out to get the wing loaded (which we keep across the street in a much nicer garage). 

Laura and I had discussed a weekend campout in our new trailer to work out some of the bugs before this trip but due to a recent death in the family and how fast the date came up, there just wan't time.  I pulled the rig up around the corner where it would be flat.  I figured that would be easier in loading up the wing. 

Once in the garage the bike didn't want to start.  This is unusual but she would not start.  With Laura waiting up the hill for me to return it would not be good to return and tell her we couldn't go.  I let it sit a moment and tried again and she kicked right off.  For some reason or another I grabbed my battery tender and threw it into the trunk.  The bike was loaded, the GPS was set and we headed off to get gas.  Once the tank will filled we pulled out of Council Bluffs and headed South on I-29. 

Right before sunset we pulled off into the KOA in Rockport Missouri.  The office was closed but we were informed that there was one spot open in slot 45.  We pulled into our specified slot and set up camp.  Setting up camp didn't take long and it all started with the unloading of the bike process.  I parked the bike off to the side and cranked open the living quarters while Laura sat in the warm truck.

I'm not sure why but it was very cold and very windy.  Once camp was set up I invited Laura in and we turned on the heat.  I was impressed at how well the heater works in this camper.  In just a few short moments it was nice and toasty in there.  We checked out the bathrooms and called it a night.

About 1:30 AM we both woke up to what sounded like a very loud cricket in our camper.  I wasn't really sure what the noise was but it was soon after that we noticed that it was very quiet and very rapidly getting cooler in bed.  Eventually, I got up and turned on the light to see what the problem was.  I noticed that the light was very dim and eventually concluded that the furnance was running off the battery and not the electrical connection we paid for and also that the battery was done for the night.  Laura and I slept very snuggly Friday night as the temps dropped down to the upper 30's.  I would make a note to check on this tomorrow.  Luckily for us we would be leaving right away in the morning and the drive down should recharge the battery. 

TO BE CONTINUED...