IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

Kellogg IA (Low 46 Mostly Sunny High 76)

To all that have been to Disney and now have "It's a small world after all" ringing in their ears we do apologize :-)

Our mail forwarding usually works like clock work but this time the USPS did quite a number on it. Tracking online the envelope was delivered at 11:49a Saturday. We asked at the park office and no one had picked up the mail on Saturday but they would Monday. On Monday they said that there was nothing for us at the Post Office. Since it was right on our way to some sightseeing we headed there after lunch.

Here is where it gets real interesting; at the Post Office I was told that they closed at 9:30a on Saturday and that the 11:49a delivery must have been by the carrier. The clerk then called the carrier and he remembered a delivery to the same last name on Saturday. Let's be clear, the priority mail enveloped was addressed to:

Bob & Jo
c/o Kellogg RV Park
P.O. Box 310
Kellogg IA 50135

It was not addressed to someone with a different first name, albeit the same last name but a totally different address. As luck would have their address was on the way to our sightseeing, which is becoming less and less likely as this took a lot of time. Bob walks up to the door and says, "we may be related and you may have our mail". Well we were 1 for 2, we were related, Lester's grandfather and Bob's grandfather were brothers, but they did not have our mail. He has looked into genealogy a little bit and had lost track of us. We gave him our card so he could email us and then we can give him what we have for addresses. We sat around and caught up on old family stories and what we have been up to. They RV going to horse shows so we may see them on the road sometime. It was a great afternoon but by now our sightseeing window had closed.

We went to our home away from home, Wal-Mart, for some shopping and then back to the park for supper. After we had finished the story got very, very interesting. We got a call and it was Lester and our envelope was in the mail today. When Bob got back from picking up our mail here was the sunset.

We don't know about you but we feel very confident turning over our entire healthcare system to the government :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo
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ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO KELLOGG IOWA

Kellogg IA (Low 36 Mostly Cloudy and Warmer High 65)

Snow finally ended changing over to rain clearing off the roads and raising the temperatures to the mid 50s so we left Waukee and headed to Kellogg yesterday. It was a short trip even for us, only 70 miles, so we could wait until it warmed up. Here is the route we took.


View Larger Map


Although only 70 miles it was an eventful day. Rained off and on for the trip but had stopped when we arrived. One of the curl pins for our rotochoks got disconnected while in Waukee which we did not notice until we got to Kellogg. A screw is being used until we can get a replacement. To top that the Big Foot Automatic Levelers quit working. System worked fine as we were breaking camp and also when we got to Kellogg raising the Cameo so we could disconnect the truck. When we tried to level though the panel was dead even though the emergency retract button did work which meant the panel had power. Bob could not find a fuse in the panel for the Big Foot so we used the retract button enough to get the Cameo fairly level and then called for help all the while it had started to rain very hard. Quadra called back, even though it was the weekend, and told Bob where their fuse was. They told him to remove it and wait 30 minutes and it might reset. Thank goodness this did work and by now it had quit raining so Bob finished up the outdoor tasks. Always an adventure in this lifestyle that is for sure.

While in Kellogg we do plan to visit Pella and see what it looks like after the annual Tulip Festival is completed. They sure had some bad weather for a spring flower festival didn't they? We also plan to visit Bob's friend from college and his family. After Kellogg we head to Clear Lake continuing our trek to the Upper Peninsula for the summer.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

SALISBURY HOUSE (A CASTLE IN DES MOINES IOWA)

Waukee IA (Low 33 Breezy and Chilly with Snow Changing Over to Rain High 37)

With more snow yesterday and overnight (6" total) we decided to stay another day in Waukee. This gives us time to document our visit to Salisbury House.

Salisbury House was built by Carl and Edith Weeks in Des Moines from 1923-1928 at a cost of $3 Million (about $40 Million in today's dollars). Carl made his money as head of Armand Cosmetics inventing and manufacturing one of the first makeup foundations. 

Here is the house from the front.

It is 22,000 sq. ft. with 42 rooms and modeled after the "Kings House" in Salisbury England, hence the name Salisbury House. Carl Weeks was proud of his English ancestry and wanted to honor his heritage with their new family home. We took a self guided tour and learned a couple of neat stories about the house. There are guided tours and special tours that sound really neat that we may do the next time we are in the area.

The neat stories deal with getting authentic materials for the house. They wanted the house to look like it was a lot older than it was so they procured materials from Salisbury, England. There was an old mansion in Salisbury being used as a boy's home that needed a new heating system. In exchange for the heating system for the boy's home, paneling and other furnishings were removed and sent to Des Moines. As they were removing the paneling they found old tudor fireplaces, a mantle of one ended up in the Great Hall.

The most unbelievable thing though was an engraving they found behind the paneling in a corner of a fireplace with "C. Weekes" in chalkstone. Carl Weeks knew his ancestry led back to Salisbury England and we now know that Christopher Weekes was Mayor in the 1500s and we know at one time the spelling of Carl's family was Weekes instead of Weeks but no one is sure if they are related but the coincidence is amazing.

The last neat story deals with the ceiling in the Great Hall.

As Salisbury House was being finished the White Hart Inn in Salisbury was being demolished. As they pulled down the false ceiling they discovered the Tudor beamed ceiling which was built about the same time as the Kings House (the model for Salisbury House) and probably by the same architect. They asked Carl Weeks if he would like the ceiling and he said of course, if it fit. Since the same architect probably did both the dimensions were within an inch so that ceiling from the White Hart Inn is now in Salisbury House. It is believed that William Shakespeare watched his plays under this very ceiling at the White Hart Inn. Here is another view of the ceiling from the balcony overlooking the Great Hall.

A closeup view of the ceiling.

Here are some other photos that we took.

The photos and story do not do justice to this place. Self-guided tours don't visit the Library which houses an incredible art and book collection. We highly recommend this as a place to visit. Also, if you have a hankering to visit England you can tour this home and get a taste of England at a fraction of the cost.

While in Des Moines we found a new favorite place, the Perkup Cafe in Urbandale. On Friday-Sunday they serve some of the best, if not the best we have every had, homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. A great day is eating at the Perkup Cafe and touring the Salisbury House.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

MAN PLANS, MOTHER NATURE LAUGHS

Subtitled: Weather Gods Have Found Us 

Waukee IA (Low 34 Cloudy with snow tapering off High 43)

That right, you read it right, snow tapering off, and it is May 2nd for crying out loud. Here are the views from our windows we woke up to today.

We had "planned" to leave today, needless to say we are not going anywhere. It took awhile for the weather gods to find us but they sure did. After we left the Kansas City area the next couple of days there were in the 50s and rainy while in Waukee near Des Moines we were in the 70s and sunny. Both areas are now being hit with this storm we guess just to make sure we get our last taste of winter.

This is getting ridiculous,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WHY IS IT ALWAYS MONDAYS

Waukee IA (Low 47 Afternoon Thunderstorms Cooler High 50)

Why is it always Mondays when places are closed? Seems like there are a lot of places that we want to see and eat at that are closed on Mondays. We had great plans for last Monday, eat at Zombie Burgers in Des Moines and then tour Terrace Hill and maybe Salisbury House.

Since we knew about Mondays we did remember to check that Zombie Burgers was open, at least we have our priorities straight :-) The burgers were wonderful, Jo got the LA Horde; a burger concoction of goat cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and mayo. Bob got a burger special called the Dead Breakfast; a burger concoction of sausage patty, bacon, cheese, fried egg and gravy. We split a side of fries which was enough for both of us. Both burgers and the fries were excellent, we recommend this place if you are ever in Des Moines.

We then went to Terrace Hill, also known as Hubbell Mansion, Benjamin F. Allen House, and Iowa Governor's Mansion, is the official residence of the Governor of Iowa. Well guess what, it is closed on Monday. Here is what we saw :-)

We then checked to see if Salisbury House was open and guess what, it is also closed on Monday. By now we decided it was not meant to be so we went back to the park to sit outside and read, at least it was open on a Monday :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

FINALLY!!! ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO WAUKEE IOWA

Waukee IA (Low 32 Breezy with Clouds and Sun High 65)


Sure was different to be on the road again after 7 months in one place. We drive 220 miles yesterday to the Timberline Campground in Waukee Iowa just west of Des Moines. Here is the route we took.


View Larger Map

This is a nice campground and good place to explore Des Moines as we are only 15 miles from there. It is a little expensive for our tastes but choices are somewhat limited in the area. We plan to sightsee and eat in Des Moines and visit with Bob's sisters who live in central Iowa.

This gives a good idea of just how cold it has recently been, and throughout the winter.



Till next time,

Bob and Jo

DID OUTDOOR PREP TASKS YESTERDAY

Peculiar MO (Low 33 Mostly Sunny and Warmer High 65)

Just a quick note to say we did the outdoor prep tasks yesterday and it was quite a chore de-winterizing. If winterizing to live in your RV for the winter requires more than 3 rolls of duct tape - you might be a Redneck :-)

We are proud rednecks but it sure was a lot of duct tape as shown in this picture.

We were surprised that the water hose still looked good but the sewer hose looked pretty bad and we threw it away along with a big trash can full of foam and a lot of duct tape. We bought new sewer hose and a new water hose which we will use at Waukee when we get there later today.

Should be a good travel day and it will be sunny and the high 50s when we get there.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo




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A COUPLE OF VERY GOOD DIVES!!

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Sunny and Warmer High 52)

As we wind down our 7 month stay in the Kansas City area (yes we still plan on leaving tomorrow yeah!), we thought we would let you know of a couple of new places to eat that we found that are very good. Ever since the Main Street Inn in Grandview MO has closed we have been on a fairly unsuccessful hunt for good tenderloin sandwiches, that is until now. Diamond Rays in Harrisonville and Lucille's Diner in Peculiar are both very good.

Diamond Ray's is located in the Mill-Walk Mall in Harrisonville about 7 miles south of Peculiar on Interstate 49. Not only do they have great tenderloins but just about everything we have had there is really good. Open for lunch or supper we highly recommend this place. They have a Friday night special; sirloin steak, shrimp or chicken, potato, green beans, salad, garlic toast for $13.99 that is very good. The Thursday night chicken livers are also very good.

Lucille's Diner in Peculiar is another place we highly recommend for items beyond the great tenderloin. In fact we are going to have lunch there today taking advantage of the buy one get one free tenderloin special. The sandwiches are so big that we split them so the other tenderloin is the dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans and garlic toast that we will have for supper when we get to Waukee IA just west of Des Moines tomorrow. If you like biscuits and gravy go to Lucille's and give them a try, some of the best we have ever had. Everything we have had there has been good.

It is hard to believe we might actually be leaving tomorrow after so long. We "may" have waited long enough for winter to be over, but just barely. There were flurries in the area and some accumulation of snow just a few miles from here and it was 25 degrees overnight. But it should warm up quickly to the mid 50s today and mid 60s tomorrow so we should have good travel weather and no forecast of freezing temps in the immediate future. Hopefully it will also be good blogging weather too.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

In a Blogging Funk (and an update on our plans)

Peculiar MO (Low 30 Mostly Cloudy, Windy, Colder High 45)

We cannot believe we have not blogged in such a long time. We are in a blogging funk that is for sure, both reading (about a week behind) and writing.

Yes we are still in the Kansas City area which contributes to our funk, seems like every time we thought about leaving it would freeze again. We are winterized outdoors with heat tape on the water hose and sewer hose that we don't want to tear that down until we are reasonably sure we won't have another batch of freezing weather.

Also contributing to the funk has been all of our Canadian friends that we follow their blogs are either on the way home or already have made it. We were here when they left Canada for warmer climates and to think we are still here when they got back is discouraging. The weather has been an issue for them also as a number of them are dealing with a snowstorm or ice storm after they got back. It has been a crazy winter for all and we hope everybody has safe travels.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. We have a couple of doctor's appointments this week and are paid up at the park until April 25th so that is our new departure date to central Iowa, probably Plan ZZZ by this time :-)

We will spend some time in Iowa working our way up to Houghton Michigan where we will spend the summer, May 30 - August 31.

We hope to do more blogging as we prepare to leave and then be more regular once we hit the road again. In the mean time here is a photo of one of our 1 foot snow storms that we dealt with this winter.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Maybe Next Year We Get The Breaks

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Foot of Snow on Ground High 35)

We are hoping that maybe next year we will get the breaks, both from a basketball refereeing perspective and weather. Weather wise we have another foot of snow on the ground, that is three times in three weeks where it has snowed a foot. Here are a couple of views.

 

This one in late March makes us wonder if we will be able to leave in early April. Next winter we plan to be in Goodyear Arizona so maybe we catch a weather break

Now we just have to catch a refereeing break for Bob's Iowa State Cyclones which consistently have been on the wrong side of bad calls this season, the latest was the charging foul on Iowa State in the NCAA tourney today that should have been a blocking foul against Ohio State wiping out a made basket and a free throw to possibly go up 4 late in the game. Nothing against Ohio State which is a great team and not to say that it decided the game because there was time left on the clock, and we know that refereeing is a tough job, but why are the Cyclones always on the wrong side of these calls? One incident that did decide a game was the game against Kansas in Ames where a charging foul against KU should have been called in a game with Iowa State in the lead by two. Then a shoving call underneath by a player that already had fouled out but was still in the game was not called but a touch foul with two guys on the floor is called against Iowa State. It was so bad that the Big12 Office sent a letter acknowledging the many mistakes. Sad but true but that was the second letter, the first being after the Oklahoma State game and another set of bad calls costing another potential victory. Maybe next year we will be on the other side of the bad calls, even better maybe no bad calls. We should be talking about a great NCAA basketball game between the state schools from Iowa and Ohio instead of the refereeing.

Bob has been holed up watching all the March Madness games. The new Genie DVR has worked out real good. We didn't have to worry about programming the 2nd DVR beforehand, all of her programs were already available. With 12 hours a day Thursday-Sunday of basketballs games she did have to add more programs to watch.

We'll end with a cute photo, we bought the birdola, basically a corn cake on a bungee for the squirrel to keep it away from our feeders. It took awhile but they finally found it.

 

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

I Dream of "Genie"

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny High 40)

The first step in solving any problem is admitting you have a problem. Well, we have a problem; we are TV junkies, we watch way too much TV. That being said we recently upgraded to the new Genie DVR from DirecTV and we have to say we like it.

Some of the features we like:

- 5 programs at 1 time, already have a time when 7 programs are needed. Luckily some of these programs are not on network stations and they repeat during the week.
- Genie client in the bedroom that has the full functionality of a DVR and the ability to watch and program shows on the main Genie DVR in the living room
- 1 terabyte of storage. When we went from our cable DVR a few years ago to the regular DirecTV DVR we were amazed at how much program storage that DVR had, and this DVR has even more. The 1 terabyte number just amazes me. Now this has been a number of years ago but when our company got a robotic offline mass storage unit the initial buy was for 14 terabytes and it was very expensive. Now PCs and DVRs have 1 terabyte storage, simply amazing.
- ability to have 100 series programs. Our old DVR had a limit of 50 and we were constantly having to manage that. Deleting old programs after the finale so that another program can be added happened way too often. We still have a couple to add but right now we are sitting at 55 series programs.
- ability to program in the future past the 2 weeks of programming in the guide for some programs. For example 'America's Got Talent' starts June 4th but Bob was still able to program the series.
- Picture in a Picture (PIP) is provided by Genie.

Even though we know we watch way too much TV we probably won't be changing anytime soon, it sure came in handy during our winter storms that is for sure. We will say that although we do watch a lot we still have avoided watching 'Duck Dynasty'.

For those old television watchers like us, I Dream of "Genie" - get it :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Update and a tip

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny and Warmer High 67)

We will have a couple of nice days with a high in the 70s tomorrow but then colder. As the tentative date for our departure gets closer a frantic nature has emerged; there is so much to do and so many people to see before we leave that it seems a little overwhelming. This is probably due to the fact that we always had months before we were leaving and not it is just 3 weeks.

We are getting things done; yesterday we had the Cameo washed and detailed and the Ford washed and detailed. Today we get the roof mounted automatic Winegard satellite dish rewired to be single wired multi-switch (SWM) so that we can get the new Genie DVR from DirecTV. We are such TV junkies that having the ability to record 5 things at a time and watch the programs on the living room Genie in the bedroom is very appealing to us.

As promised here is the tip. We recently had a scare on our Norcold refrigerator which luckily turned out to be the cheapest option of a new thermistor. While researching the problem we came across the Acu-Rite Refrigerator Wireless Digital Thermometer (approx. $25 on Amazon), showing here.

With a sensor for both the freezer and refrigerator compartments with a wireless connection to the monitor it is a great idea. The monitor has magnets that are designed for use on the refrigerator but RV refrigerators, and most RVs in general, have hardly any metal for anything magnetic. Luckily in our Cameo there is the bottom part of the convection oven exposed where the monitor sets just fine. If no metal there is a stand that clicks open. What we also like about it is that you can set individual alarms for each area so you know when problems are occurring. We have used it so far to monitor the temperature so we can get the right temperature setting. A neat gadget for RVs and homes alike that is not that expensive.

As the departure date approaches we hope to do more blogging and we will definitely do more once we hit the road again.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Netflix Milestone reached

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny High 36)

We recently passed a significant Netflix milestone, we have rated over 1,000 entries of the Netflix library. Starting with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" in April 2004 we have rented and returned almost 500 movies and TV shows. There are currently 336 in our queue with another 8 in the saved area waiting to be released. A great way to spend the cold winter days is to watch something from the Netflix envelope.

Speaking of cold winter days the second snow storm dumped almost a foot of snow bringing the 5 day total to almost 2 feet. It has warmed up and the snow is starting to melt so all we have now is either snow or mud. We cannot wait to get out of here and for spring to be sprung.

One of the few bright spots has been our backyard bird cafe. We recently added a "Birdola", which is a big cake that hangs on a bungee cord and is supposed to keep the squirrels away from the cafe. The birds liked the first one and the squirrel couldn't be bothered since he likes the woodpecker cage showing here.

One thing that has worked is a bag of stuff to throw on the ground, the squirrel likes this.

Of course JJ likes to keep track of everything, here he is right up to the window with a Junco on the other side on the ladder.

We have been lax in our reading of blogs and blogging, hopefully when we get back into moving and sightseeing mode that will improve.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Storm Report

Peculiar MO (Low 20 Becoming Clear High 28)

We don't know the official totals yet but unofficial estimates are that the snowfall total yesterday for our area was 10-12".  There was some lightning flashes and thunder during the snowstorm which was kind of weird to experience. 

We cannot take credit for the following photo but since it involved a cat and snow we just had to use it.

"While having breakfast, Kansas City Star videographer Todd Feeback snapped a photo of his cat looking out the window. Then he did the same thing at lunch. Here they are, five hours apart."

 

 

 

We will probably just take it easy today although Bob will have to go outside for just a bit. We, meaning he, lost track of when to dump the black tank and of course the burping started last night. For the non-RVers when the black tank that contains sewage starts getting full the pressure in the tank causes a burping effect while flushing. This is good because at least you know when the tank is getting full but also bad because it always seems to happen about 10 in the evening. In addition to the black tank he will check the big propane tank level and fill the bird feeders.

 

Just another fun day living full-time in 359 sq. ft. in the winter. We cannot wait until we can spend more time outside because we are really starting to get that closed in feeling.

 

Till next time,

 

Bob and Jo

Big Storm on the Way?

Peculiar MO (Low 21 p.m. icy mix with snow later High 31)

There is a "Big Storm" on the way they have been talking about for awhile which makes us wonder if it will be as bad as they say. Seems like the "Big Storms" always seem to peter out but who knows about this one. Our forecast is for 3" to 6" before it is over Thursday night with parts of the metro getting over a foot. The nice thing about being retired is that we will just wait it out catching up on TV shows.

Mr. & Mrs. Downy - We caught this great photo today of the male and female downy woodpeckers at one of our bird feeders in our backyard bird cafe.

The male has the red cap. Downys look alot like the hairy woodpeckers but the hairy is bigger and has a longer beak.

We also remembered we forgot to mention that chickadees are among the many birds in our backyard.

We'll let you know how much snow we get from the "Big Storm".

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

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We Are Not Completely Sold on LED

Peculiar  MO (Low 27 Mostly Sunny High 52)

We have tried, we really have, but we are not completely sold on LED bulbs. Since we do not boondock, which in the RV world is living completely off the grid with no electrical, water or sewer hookups which utilizes a lot of battery power, we just don't need the main advantage of LED light bulbs which is the lower power consumption. The other advantages are that they are easier to change since you don't need to worry about oils from your fingers frying the halogen bulbs and that they give off a lot less heat because of the lower power consumption.

We first tried some very high priced bulbs (>$25/bulb) and we just didn't like the type of light that they provide, we don't feel they are as bright even though they may have had the rating we were looking for. A representative at Light Bulbs Etc., the retail outlet for Light Bulbs Direct, http://lightbulbsdirect.com/, told us that the LED light just does not carry as well as the halogen bulbs we were replacing. Now LED bulbs are also supposed to last a lot longer than halogen but ours failed a little after a year which incidentally was the warranty period.

Next we tried some cheaper versions we found on E-Bay and again we just did not like the light provided, although it was slightly different than the very expensive ones.

We did mention that we were not completely sold on LED but there is one area where LED is performing better than halogen and that is the three bulbs above the sink area in the kitchen. These were always failing but the LEDs have much longer life. It is a much shorter distance from the bulb to the first surface it touches so the fact that the light does not carry as well is not that big of a factor.

Since we are in the area where Light Bulbs Etc. is located we recently visited there and got ten of the 10w bulbs and 6 of the 20w bulbs. The total price for this was a little over $30 or a little more than 1 LED and we got 16 bulbs. Until the price of LED comes down and the light they provide is better we think we will remain as mostly halogen bulb users.

Before we go here is a picture of one of our cats, JJ, sleeping under a piece of fleece. He likes to tunnel under the fleece sometimes and catch some Zs.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Our Backyard Bird Cafe

Peculiar MO (Low 22 Mostly Sunny and Mild High 53)

Subtitled: Small House - Big Backyard

We have added bird feeders to our Backyard Bird Cafe. If we are going to be stuck in the Kansas City area this winter we might as well get a little enjoyment wherever we can find it. We saw another RV'er put out his bird feeders shortly after we started full-timing and that inspired us to get a bird feeder we could hang on the ladder, showing here with winter in full bloom.

We got the bird feeder for the cats but truth be told we think we enjoy it as much or more than the cats. We added a shepherds pole and another feeder and that did us for awhile. While here we decided to go all out and added a sock, small suet and large cage for woodpecker cakes. Here is all the feeders in our 'backyard'.

This winter has been a good birding adventure as we have seen 4 woodpecker varieties; the downy, common flicker, red bellied, and hairy. Along with the woodpeckers we have seen the tufted titmouse, cardinals, juncos, American goldfinch in winter plumage, also the starlings in winter plumage, sparrows, blue jays, and possibly others.

Here is the downy woodpecker.

 

Here is the red bellied woodpecker.

Here is the common flicker.

Here is the hairy woodpecker.

Don't get us wrong we wish we could see these birds in a warmer climate but it has been a bright spot in a winter with not too many bright spots.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Added California and Nevada

Peculiar (Low 23 High 31 Snow ending, getting much colder)

Did we say Bob has a severe case of hitch itch :-) 

He has been planning out our summer travels and also getting ahead of the game on the "Our Google Maps - Places to See and Eat" area of our blog. He has added California and Nevada, places that we will not see for at least another year.

Why go to all this work you say, well if all goes well he will convert the Google Maps into POI files for our Garmin. So not only will the info on all the sites he has collected over the years be available online for planning purposes we will be able to easily drive to these spots too. 

Expect a future blog posting on his progress on converting these maps.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We Are So DONE With Winter, Part 3

Winter has been a rollercoaster ride for us; from 60 degrees one day to freezing the next to an intermittent furnace problem fixed and then acting up again. The most annoying rollercoaster though has been the water hose that has frozen on a number of occasions. 

After the disaster with the heated hose we went for awhile and all was good. We had a rollercoaster day yesterday with running water first thing then nothing. We feared that it was something we had done, either the heat taped hose or heat taped water faucet. We had an appointment so we had to leave. When we got home we checked the water hose and it was flexible enough to know it was not frozen. We went inside and still no water. We turned on the faucet a little later and it started dribbling and then more and then we had running water. A few minutes later the park custodian knocked on the door and said it was a city water problem.

We cannot tell you the relief we felt, we immediately felt it was something we had done but it turned out to be not our problem. This was the good part of the rollercoaster ride; the bad part was a few minutes later when we no longer had running water. Thinking it was city water again we had no worries, then the knock on the door and we were told our hose had burst.

The hose was not frozen but maybe not thick walled enough to handle the heated tape wrapped around it. So it was off to get a new fresh water hose and more duct tape since the last fiasco or two has depleted our supply. All we need now is a warm day to do the switch.

Have we told you we are so DONE with winter yet?

Till next time,

Bob and Jo


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We Have a Bad Case of "Hitch Itch" - We Made Our First Camping Reservation!

Peculiar MO (Low 11 Partly Sunny High 32)

Even though this has been a cold winter for most everyone except those in Florida, and even though we would be freezing our butts off in Goodyear Arizona (our usual winter location) right now, we still have a bad case of "hitch itch".

Here is a photo of the most recent snowstorm on Saturday, January 12th that contributes to our condition.

It was a weird couple of days. We got about 3" of snow the day after it was almost 60 degrees. Just a few miles north of us and there was no snow at all.

Bob has been obsessively going over our plans after we leave here. Since we are so close to our summer destination on the Upper Peninsula we are going to stay until early April. We will spend April and early May hopscotching around Iowa visiting relatives and friends. We even made our first reservation of the year near Pella Iowa for Tulip Time since that is a well attended event. This early in the camping year that is probably the only reservation we may need except for Memorial Day. 

We plan to spend from just after Memorial Day to mid August in Houghton Michigan recuperating from our winter experience.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We are so DONE With Winter, Part 2

Peculiar MO (Low 22 Plenty of Sunshine High 40)

We are so DONE with winter.

Returning recently from a day of shopping we got a call from the park that our hose had broke and was spraying water everywhere. When we replaced the heated water hose with one of our 25' water hoses with heat tape wrapped around and then covered with pipe foam insulation we knew it should have been a little longer. It had to be pulled to make the connection at the rig and it was rubbing up against our generator exhaust pipe. By the time we were almost finished we were so cold that we decided to wait a couple of days until it was in the 40s to add a short piece of hose to get it away from the exhaust pipe in case we needed to run the generator. 

Turns out the hose had other ideas; with the weight of the water and the heat tape and all the duct tape around the pipe insulation the hose separated from the male connector. The good news is that meant all we needed was a hose mender and a 7 mile drive to Ace Hardware. The bad news is that Bob thought that both of the fresh water hoses that we had were 5/8" so we bought a 5/8" hose mender. Turns out the other hose was 1/2" so it was another 7 mile trip to the hardware store, two hardware stores this time since Ace did not have a hose mender for our sized hose.

After almost 30 miles and three hardware stores we mended the hose and added the short hose extender, wrapped it all it heat tape and then pipe insulation and duct tape.

Did we mention that we are so DONE with winter!!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We are so DONE With Winter

Peculiar MO (Low 16 Mostly Cloudy and Cold High 33)

Once we moved the sensor for the heated water hose outside of the heated compartment the hose did not freeze. But we made a huge mistake, both Jo and I commented to people how good it was working on the same day. Well you know what happened, of course it froze that very night. We took showers in the morning and it was fine. We ran some errands and got home and washed our hands, did dishes, etc., and it was fine. About 9:30 p.m. it was froze.

Luckily we still had enough water in the freshwater tank so Bob could take a shower early the next morning before his second surgery. Why do these things always happen at the most inopportune time? After Jo got Bob home our good friend Jimmy came over and helped Jo troubleshoot the problem, pull up our gigantic trash can over the water faucet and disconnect the frozen hose. They then put heat tape around one of our water hoses and then pipe insulation around that and then the trash can back over the faucet. It was 16 overnight so we dripped the faucet and we had running water this morning, it felt so good.

Bob called Camping World and they are sending us a return label and once we can unthaw the hose and get it in a box we will send it back and get our money back. They must have heard this before because there was no questioning the return. While they were working on the hose yesterday our neighbor stopped by and told us his hose of the same brand also froze so he did the same thing a couple days ago. This makes it the third or fourth hose of the same brand in this park alone that has had this problem. 

We are so DONE but we still have a long way to go!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Yet Another Lesson Learned

Peculiar MO (Sunny Low 33 High 55)

Another winterizing lesson learned - this time on a frozen sewer hose. In addition to the tall water faucet at this park the sewer location is just barely downhill from our drain. Another complicating factor is that we are a greater distance from drain to sewer that would serve us best in the winter. We had to use two 10' sections of sewer hose. By taking off the clear adapter and the twist on waste valve blade assembly we got the drain as high as we could. Then by propping up the sewer hose support system with cement blocks and wood we were able to get the best drainage we could for this setup.

Turns out it was not good enough, there was still more than usual water left in the sewer hose. With those cold nights around 20 it froze. Luckily we did not have to dump at that time and could wait for it to thaw out. Bob researched what to do in this situation and found a great article on rv-forum on winter camping. The solution was to buy heat tape and wrap the sewer hose and then wrap with a water heater blanket cut to fit. The water heater blanket was selected since it had a vinyl backing which should prevent moisture problems. We just got some rain and the job held up real well.

Here is the entire length of the finished assembly (click on the link above for a better description and an in-progress version):

Here is a smaller view to show the finished assembly with lots of duct tape.

Our new winter checklist:
- sensor for heated water hose out in the elements; CHECK
- water faucet wrapped with heat tape and covered with pipe insulation and then an inverted trash can sprayed with foam insulation; CHECK
- sewer hose wrapped with heat tape and then wrapped with insulation; CHECK

We are hoping to NEVER need this checklist again! We are also hoping that this concludes all of our winterizing lessons learned. If it gets this cold after this winter wherever we are we are heading SOUTH!!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

More Winterization - Overkill on a Big Trash Can

Peculiar MO (Mostly Cloudy Low 45 High 54)

After wrapping the water faucet with heat tape and then covering with pipe insulation and gorilla tape we took another step to make sure our water supply did not freeze. After consultation with the park owner and checking the internet we decided on an inverted trash can with the inside sprayed with foam insulation that would sit over the faucet.

This park has tall water faucets so we needed a big trash can. Wanting to go all the way to the ground we ended up with a huge trash can with wheels that took an awful lot of spray foam cans.

Here is what it looks like, it is almost as tall as the power box :-)

Told you it was overkill!!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

When All Else Fails

Peculiar  MO (Sunny with increasing clouds High 52 Low 33)

You have heard the old saying, "when all else fails - read the directions", well for the most part that is how Bob lives his life. Recently we got a heated water hose for our winter stay in the Kansas City area. He connected it to both ends and plugged it in. Seeing the black tape by the end that hooked up to the water supply he thought the temperature sensor was there. Once the outside temperature got to 45 the heating begins until the water is 50. Bob also wrapped the water faucet with heat tape and pipe insulation. Here is what it looks like.

It was not below freezing for awhile but when it got into the low 20s the water hose froze. With help from the Carriage Yahoo Group members Bob came to know that the sensor was right next to the end of the hose that connects to the Cameo. We have a four season unit with heat for our tanks and water lines. With the outside temperature at 20 the compartment where the hose connects was a balmy 50 degrees which means the hose heating was never turned on. 

The solution was to cut off a 4' section of a water hose and cover it with pipe insulation which put the temperature sensor out in the elements. Since then it has gotten down to 18 (the night the furnace died) and so far the heated hose is working.

Just another lesson learned on this incredible journey that we are on!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

What an Adventure

Peculiar MO (Sunshine High 48 Low 30)

What an adventure, or words to that effect :-), were spoken by Jo at 3:30 a.m. a couple of nights ago when it was 18 degrees outside and our furnace quit working in the middle of the night, it was 55 degrees inside which woke Bob up. We have had some intermittent problems with the furnace ever since we bought the Cameo in 2009. But it never failed while the service man was here, until now. We got out our electric heaters and survived the night.

Have to give props to A-Z Mobile RV Service, called them at 8a and by 11a they were knocking on our door. We have used them before while the Kansas City area and highly recommend them. Within a few minutes they diagnosed the problem as a bad control board and put on a new one. The control board was probably the cause of all our intermittent problems before but it would always start working once the service guy got here.

We are sure we will laugh about this sometime in the future, but for now :-(

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Low Sodium Diet

Peculiar MO (High 62 Mostly Clear Low 40)

Since we normally regale about food in our blog we thought we would share our experiences with a low sodium diet and eating out.

Bob was given instructions after his open heart surgery for his aortic valve replacement to go on a low sodium diet of less than 1500mg per day, with no more than 2000mg occasionally. Let's just say that has not been easy. The amount of sodium that is in prepared foods and served at restaurants is incredible, sometimes many times over your daily allotment. This is a brief summary of our low sodium diet adventures.

We first begin by recommending an android app that we have on Jo's Kindle Fire, Fast Food Nutrition, available on the Google Play Store here. We usually don't recommend apps that you have to pay for but for $2.99 you get detailed nutrition info for over 350 restaurants, not all of whom are fast food. It is easy to use and we could not have survived the low sodium diet without it.

As much as we like to eat out we at first had some trouble finding places that would accommodate a low sodium diet. With the help of the app we did find some surprising winners. First of all is the steakburger places like Freddy's, Steak and Shake and Winsteads, for those in the know you realize that a steakburger is much thinner than a regular hamburger. It is made from USDA Choice Steak a cut or two above your average hamburger. You can eat a double California steakburger with no cheese and sauce and split a small order of fries at Freddy's for just a little over 600mg of sodium. The key is to ask for no seasoning while the burger is made and no salt on the fries. This kind of advice is good at any restaurant to be honest.

Other winners include the lunch portion of the linguine marinara at Olive Garden, salmon or the small sirloin at Longhorns Steakhouse. You have to be careful with your side dishes as they can contain a lot of sodium too. Some winners at Longhorns include sweet potato at 0mg of sodium, loaded baked potato at 150mg. Bob had a meal with salmon and baked potato and sweet potato and it was 450mg of sodium. The mushroom and swiss single at Culvers and small fries was also surprising at just under 600mg of sodium. A build you own omelet at IHOP with egg substitute and just veggies and swiss cheese is also a good low sodium choice as is the Tri-Athlete egg white omelet at First Watch.

If you are wondering why the list includes only chain restaurants it is because it is easier to find sodium content than at your local mom and pop restaurant.

We also found a wide variety of sodium content on cheese, american cheese is one of the worst you can have for sodium content, cheddar is better but swiss is best, at least for the places we frequented.

Condiments are also high in sodium but we found a 0mg mustard (Westbrae Natural Stoneground No Salt Added) that is very good and a 0mg ketchup (Heinz No Salt Added) that is ok in sandwiches but leaves a little to be desired if by itself. We plan on using the mustard for a long time but will probably try to find a better ketchup alternative.

While cooking at home we have used a lot of Mrs. Dash, the table blend is a good variety, so good in fact that we carry one in Jo's purse to use in restaurants.

When we first started on the low sodium diet we were a little depressed. But once we had a lunch at Culvers and a breakfast at First Watch we really felt like we were eating a full meal and still watching Bob's sodium. We started eating more fish at home using Mrs. Dash and we found some Heart Healthy Pasta Sauce and Mixed Nuts.

Bob just got cleared by the Cardiologist to not go so crazy on sodium, but to still watch it, if that makes any sense. His blood pressure problems were not due to sodium. What that means is that KC barbeque is now an option, but not every day. We hope to take what we learned while cutting back on sodium to help us live a little healthier.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Leased a Propane Tank

Peculiar MO (Brilliant sunshine and milder, High 52 Low 24)

Due to Bob's surgery he will not be able to lift our 30 gallon propane tanks and with Jo's back she would not be able either so we leased a 100 gallon propane tank.

It is full now and hooked up, all we have to do is monitor the gauge and when it gets close to 20% full the propane company will come and fill it back up. We are glad we got it done before Bob's surgery which was on Wednesday, October 17th.

While recovering we have had some interesting visitors to our backyard bird feeders. We think this is a downey woodpecker (waiting on Judy to confirm :-)

On a side note somewhat medically related, we got our insurance rates for next year and we thought rates would be going down but instead it went up 39%.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Bob is Home From Surgery

After a successful aortic valve replacement Bob is now back living in the Carriage Cameo for his recuperation. He had a congenital heart defect of a two flap  (bi-cuspid) Aorta valve instead of three (tri-cuspid). Eventually people with this condition require heart valve replacement surgery. Bob chose a tissue valve instead of an artificial one. He describes the surgery and recovery as being hit by a Ford F-350 and then the Carriage Cameo its towing and then being backed over :-)

With all this going on we are way behind in our email and blogging, both reading and publishing. We especially want to live vicariously through the lives of the snowbirds and Winter Texans since we will be spending the winter in the Kansas City area.

With walking, rehab, napping, etc it may take us time to catch up.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Full-timing With 3 Cats - Laundry Day

Peculiar MO (Partly Sunny and Colder High 52 Low 32)

Time to time we like to blog on our full-timing with 3 cats in 359 sq. ft. Today we deal with laundry day.

Believe it or not we put our cats to work. Recently Sandra was helping us with the laundry.

Here she is inspecting the washer dryer and making sure it was ready.

Here she is telling us everything is OK.

Cats are so inquisitive that whenever we open a cabinet or closet or the washer dryer they act like they have never been in there before, which in the case of the washer dryer was probably true. At least this is the first time we have documented it :-)

Full-timing with 3 cats is always an adventure!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Not Going to be Snowbirds This Winter

Peculiar MO (Conditions HIGH 66 Thunderstorms late LOW 52)

We are going to be birds in the snow :-(

It is both a good thing and a bad thing to see Doctors. The bad thing is that they may find something wrong; the good thing is that this time it can be fixed. Bob saw a couple of Doctors while we are in the Kansas City area and will now have two surgeries. With the recovery times we will be spending the entire winter in the Kansas City area.

With the first surgery in mid-October we are now concentrating on getting our fresh water hose winterized, looking to rent a large propane tank since Bob will be unable to lift the 30 pound tanks into place, and other things so Jo will only have to worry about being Bob's caregiver.

So we probably will not be blogging much for a while although we do plan on trying to read the many blogs we follow. We will appreciate all your prayers while Bob is recuperating..

Till next time,

Bob and Jo