Busy March!

As we left Texas, we knew we had to get the axles aligned on Honalee. Tom had noticed one tire wearing on one side. We use "H" tires which are super great for RV use. So, we bought a new tire to replace the one that was worn on the side. After reading many articles related to tire care on RV's, I think every RV should be aligned after purchase because this is a very common problem. So, we drove to a town just south of Ft. Worth and dropped Honalee off at the Jellystone Campground.... yes, it's based on Yogi Bear and was super kid oriented. But, it's the closest campground to the place that was recommended for alignment. "How tall is Yogi Bear??? He's 12 pic-a-nic baskets high!!"

We are only staying one night so it was tolerable!! The whole place is like a huge amusement park but the camping area was dirty and not maintained. We won't ever go back.

We left Honalee and drove into south Ft. Worth to scope out our route for the next morning. We found a Discount Tire right off I-35 so we made arrangements to go there first thing in the morning. Then we went to Ray's Champion Springs further into Ft. Worth. We made arrangements to bring Honalee to them at 11:00 the next morning. We drove the route so we would know exactly how to get there.

The day from hell..... The day actually started off well. We drove Honalee to Discount Tire and they did a great job putting on our new tire. Great customer service.

Then we drove in terrible Ft. Worth traffic to get the rig aligned. We arrived and were told it would would be a bit of a wait. We waited for over 1.5 hours. The area was strewn with trash and garbage and the shop itself was horrible. Finally we were told to drive around to the other side of the building and someone would help us back into the the bay. For the next 45 minutes, Tom did a great job backing into the bay but the guy kept saying it wasn't good enough and had him pull forward and try again. They happened over and over. AND, they were having us back the trailer and the truck over a large curb and over grass in order to get into the this bay. Finally, I saw that he was driving the front of the truck over a manhole cover that was only a rubber covering. The rubber cover began to slip and the whole wheel was about to fall into this manhole! I was fed up and stopped the whole thing and said we were done and we were leaving. We drove away and pulled over to the side of the road and sat there until we could find another shop to get it aligned.

We found Cowser Tire and Service in North Ft. Worth. We were spent.... so tired and again the traffic was horrible with a lot of construction. But, we made it! This shop is so clean and has all the latest equipment. It services mostly big rigs (semi trucks) and although they had never aligned MorRyde Independent Suspension they were confident they could do it. They drove it into the bay and ran a diagnostic and printed out the measurements. Yes, the axle alignment was way off. We contacted MorRyde and had them "overnight" the shims to the shop. Instructions were emailed to the shop. However, due the shop hours, we knew we would have to wait till Monday to get it done. Cowser Tire was wonderful. They even offered to let us stay in their parking lot with electricity. Since it was going to be 3 days we decided to go to a campground nearby and return on Monday morning.

On Sunday we decided to drive to Granbury and see my mother again. She had called and said she knows she needs more help and is looking at Assisted Living places. I'm so thankful that she recognizes that she needs more help. We drove down and took she and John (her boyfriend) out for lunch. She also asked us to take some things with us. She plans got rid of her teapot collection so I picked out two for each our daughters. She hopes to take a lot of her stuff to her church when they have their garage sale.

Finally on Monday we got up early and drove into Ft. Worth, in the dark, in rush hour traffic, with a lot of construction! But we made it to Cowser Tire! They aligned our rig, and we were back on the road in 2 hours! We are so thankful to Cowser Tire and the professional job they did. Their customer service was stellar!

We drove north through Oklahoma City and found a great little city campground on Perry Lake. It overlooks the lake and we were the only ones there until an Airstream pulled in for the night.

Our evening view from inside. Beautiful Perry Lake in Oklahoma.

We drove to Newton Kansas and stayed only 4 days. We had various appointments set up: hair appointments, 2 doctor appointments and a meeting with our financial adviser. Being retired, I'm still in awe of the fact that I don't go to work and I still get a monthly paycheck. But, it works! Don Baxter, of Baxter and Associates in Wichita, is our Financial Adviser/Investment Broker. We meet with him every time we are in town and phone calls in between. I have total confidence in he and his firm and it's nice not to worry about it.

We had dinner with our good friends; Joe, Sheryle, Joe and Bobbie. We also had lunch with our good friends Larry and Donna.

Don't ever take a photo into the sun....
Here we are with Larry and Donna

Due to 50-60 mile an hour winds, we stayed in Newton and extra day! Didn't want to be pulling a trailer in that wind!!

Onward to Platte City Missouri! We ended up staying in the Kansas City area for 10 days! We had such a great time! It was pretty much all about Parker! Sasha was on Spring Break so we also had a lot of time with her. Ryan's Spring Break was the prior week so we only saw him on the weekends.

We went to the Museum at Prairie Fire and Science City. Parker had great fun at both of them. She is a real explorer! There were so many things for her to experience and investigate. Both had live animals such as iguanas, snakes, frogs, large spiders etc. Here are some pictures.

Wow! Beautiful building!!

Museum at Prairie Fire- Beautiful Building!!

Tornado Simulator!

Of course, Sasha and grandpa had to get in on the action!

And on to the playground!!

Here is Parker in her Toddler Bed! She was definitely ready to move from a crib to a bed!

We were so happy to spend some long periods of time with Haley and Drew! They are so much fun to be around! We especially liked watching NCAA games with them! We spent a lot of time doing puzzles with them too! Here we are doing various puzzles! Funny that these are the only photos I have, but in truth, Haley and I did 90% of the puzzling and there are no pictures of us doing puzzles!!

Here we are dying Easter Eggs!

Lots of miscellaneous photos!!:

Haley got braces!

Sasha and Parker cuddling!

My hair has gotten so long! 

Needlework I made for Haley. It's a small wall hanging for her door.

Parker visiting grandma and grandpa's 5th wheel!

The Kalis Family!

While we were visiting the Kalis family, my brother Herb was in Los Angles visiting our cousins Eric and wife Tomomi along with Ken and Ken's husband Mike. Herb also had dinner with our aunt and uncle who are both in their 90's. Here's a photo of Herb and Eric.

Eric and Herb in Los Angels.

And another beautiful courthouse! This one in northern Missouri.

Courthouse in Platte City Missouri

CAMPING INFORMATION:
And now for some camper related information. I know you are all wondering what it costs to live in an RV full time and travel. It costs less if you stay a week or a month in one place. The cost is always higher when you stay 1 to 6 nights. We have stayed a whole month somewhere only 3 times in the last 7 months. Most of our sites are in independently owned campgrounds but we try to find less expensive (and usually much nicer) State Parks when possible. When staying in a campground we usually have full hook-ups (water, 50amp electric, sewer). We have paid as low as $20.00 and as high as $58.00 per night.
IN THE LAST 7 MONTHS:
AVERAGE COST PER NIGHT - $26.80
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH - $808.00

In addition, we have to pay for propane for the furnace. We run the furnace only when it gets below 36 degrees (which has been a lot this winter). Propane usually costs around $32.00 per 40 pound tank. A tank usually lasts about 20 hours. I wrote in an earlier post that we purchased a very small Vornado heater/fan which cut our propane use in half! We also run the electric fireplace which helps tremendously. Our two heat-pumps run when the temperature is above 36 degrees.

The good news is that this rig was built for very cold weather so it performed perfectly. The human operators of the rig caused whatever problems there were! We plan to be in much warmer weather next winter.... Texas for a couple months and then on to Arizona and Utah.

We just joined the Boondockers Welcome group. Remember, Boondocking is when you camp without hookups, not in an RV park or campground. We finally got our generator exhaust repaired so we plan to do much more of this type of rustic but so peaceful, camping. Boondockers Welcome is a group of people who have land that they have opened up for 1 or 2 rigs to camp on for 1-3 nights. Some may have water hookups but most have none. From reading the reviews, this is a great way to meet wonderful people!

Eating out has been a huge expense, just like it was when we lived in a sticks-and-bricks (that means a regular house in RV language). We usually only eat out to experience some unique-to-the-area food. Our kitchen is very functional! I have even begun to make granola for snacking. When we travel, we pack a lunch and eat on the road. We almost always eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. We buy either Turkey Bacon or Canadian Bacon and sometimes Tom makes waffles, pancakes or french toast. We eat a lot of fish usually on the gas grill outside. Our weakness.... deserts! But we are trying to cut back! We are always on the lookout for a really good Pecan Pie.

We love to take in local attractions so we do pay to go to museums, theater performances, boat rides, and other adventures along the way etc.

We left northern Kansas City Missouri and are headed to northern Indiana to get some Warranty work completed on Honalee.