Memories - Fall 2017 Part 1

Just a few quick memories of our return to Indiana in August and September and the first part of October.

The brothers Joe and Bill spent the night with Grammy and Papa in the motorhome.  Don't know if they wanted to spend time with us or the Ipads :)  But it's always fun to have them around and they are all growing up so fast!

All the Grandkids.  Don't look too close at their faces, there might be traces of the black birthday cake frosting!

I discovered that even with the limited space in the motorhome, I can still make some pretty good cinnamon rolls!

Siblings!  Not often are they all together.  And now with one moving to NY, it's going to be less often. 

Yes, we watched the eclipse.  

Sadly, we lost another family member last August.  We all have fond memories of Dennis' Aunt Jane.  We made a quick drive back to Kansas for her services and time with her family.

This is a rare sight!  It's probably been a couple decades since he mowed a yard, but since we park on his Dad's driveway, the least he could do is help out when they were out of town.

I purchased a Sew-Ezi table.  I love it, and now I can actually set up my machine and get some projects done when the desire hits me.

This cutie turned TWO!   Shirt by Grammy.  I was even able to set up my embroidery machine on my new table.

Our personal parking space at Dennis' dad's driveway in Jeffersonville.  A great location when visiting back "home".  It was great to spend some time with family again but as September came to a close, it was time to move on.  We had plans to attend our first ever Newmar Kountry Klub RV Rally in Sedalia, MO.  We've driven through Missouri many times in various RV's and if we have to stay there, we usually stop at Cottonwood RV Park near Columbia, MO.  But after a bad experience with a park employee's careless guidance too close to a cottonwood tree that resulted in minor damage to our awning, we decided to search for alternatives.  

So this time we tried Lazy Day Campground near Danville, MO and were very happy with our site and our brief stay.  Near I-70 with easy access to pull-thru sites for overnighters, we would definitely recommend it to anyone passing through or even looking to stay a few days.  

On to Sedalia for the NKK Rally!  We didn't know what to expect for an experience here, camped with over 500 other Newmar rigs and their owners, but we had a great time!  The parking crew knew how to handle that many motorhomes and how to get them all set up.  We had a 50 amp, FHU site and though it was a little cramped and dusty (until the rains came)  but we met some really nice folks and learned a lot from the seminars and classes.  Dennis was signed up for the FreightLiner School and I think he felt it was worthwhile.  FreightLiner is the manufacturer of the chassis of our motorhome and where we go for any maintenance of the engine and any of the "truck" parts of Newmar.  While he was there I attended various seminars, some helpful, and some not.  Probably the best ones were put on by the Fulltimers chapter and were all related to the full time RV lifestyle.  

 You can see that we were all packed into the 50 amp sites pretty well.  At least we had FHU's and had some nice neighbors.  In fact, we've kept in contact with some of them and found kindred spirits!  We had such a good time, we are already signed up for the next International Rally in Gillette, WY next June. 

From Missouri we ventured on to the Southwest.  I'll update the rest of fall travels soon!

It’s Time to Catch Up!

It seems as though I might as well skip over Fall of 2017 and Winter 2017/2018, but that just doesn’t seem right that I would have no record of some pretty awesome events during that time.

We spent several weeks parked in the front yard of the cabin at TinCup, Colorado.  Dennis and his sister Jody spent just about every summer here when they were growing up back in the “old”days! 

With only power and water hook ups, we were able to maintain our tanks with only two 4 mile trips to the Forest Service Sanitary Station.  Having access to the cabin and the “privy” helped too!  Jody is always ready for company, so we didn't have to worry about what we would eat during our stay! She is famous for her "stockpiling" talents and there is never a shortage of snacks or any grocery item we might need! 

We spent many evenings out "hunting" for moose in the valleys just up the road.  But the views coming back into town weren't bad either.  We did manage to find several to photograph over the few weeks were there.  

We had several guests during this time too!  Daughter Brooke was excited to show her husband and boys the Colorado that she remembers from childhood vacations.  I think they really enjoyed their visit!  We all had a blast riding jeeps and ATV's on the trails.  It was great that our nephew and his bride were able to be there too!

Grandson Drake was able to celebrate his birthday with us before their long drive home. It was great to see them!