Prepping to paint, bagging the lights, etc.

The trees are changing colors...the Aspen, especially.....it is soooo pretty! We are trying to get the remodeling and painting done, before it gets incredibly cold!

Where was I?.......After the drags, we packed up and headed West to Ruidoso, again. The leaves were changing color and we had some heavy duty remodeling and painting to do. We started with the little storage room, by moving the wall out 4 more feet.

Well....the Fall Nationals of NHRA drag racing were in Ennis, Tx. last weekend and we had a motorhome parking place at the finish line! My brother from El Paso called on Thursday and asked if we were still planning to go...I said "yes" and he said...."I want to come!"
So, on Friday, he loaded up and drove all the way from El Paso. On our arrival to the Motorhome Corral.....A big Newell Motorhome was stuck in the mud....in the entrance! So, Jimmy unhooked the Hummer and we pulled it out. We got parked and Jimmy got a call from the "Colorfast" racing team...that their satellite dish internet was not working right, so off he went to work, on the other side of the track! On Friday, they called and asked Jimmy to pull a Suburban out of the mud, then another Newell Motorhome, on the other side of the track. Then, my girlfriend from high school, and her husband, came out and spent the day...later my brother showed up. It was really fun....the rumble of the top fuel and funny cars was really something! Unfortunately, Saturday and Sunday were really hot, so we didn't stay in the stands very long....but it was fun to see Ashley Force Hood beat her daddy's time (John Force)!

We came home for the rest of the week, my brother headed home on Monday morning, then we plan to go spend another week or two in Ruidoso, N.M. Jimmy broke a tooth at lunch, today, so we will be back in time for his crown to come in! Besides, I want to be here to pass out Halloween candy....then the Texas Nascar race, the first weekend in November.

After being home for about 4 days...Jimmy decided that he wanted to go to Ruidoso, N.M. to watch our friend's son play high school football??!! So off we went....arriving Friday afternoon, just in time for the Friday Night Football game. We stayed at our friend's John's house, (he has a lot of room for parking the bus). The weather was wonderful...cool...60s in the day and low 50s at night. after a few days, we were driving around and found a nice RV resort, in Alto...just North of town. As we were driving through, we saw antother Marathon Bus that we recognized. So we left a note, for them to call us and we'd have lunch.
When Rex and Peggy called us, we drove back up to see them and they showed us that 2 lots away...some other friends from the Marathon club, Bob and Harriet, had a place, too! Anyway, Bob showed up too and said.."why don't you be my neightbor?" It seems that Hollis (the guy that owned the 2 lots in between) had built a house up here and decided that he wanted to sell his RV lots.
Jimmy took one look at it and said "done deal"!
It has covered parking for the coach, with a full outdoor kitchen, stove,sink fridge, microwave, etc. a huge deck with drop down window enclosures, a nice sized little "casita" with a full bath and laundry room, another room that had been made into a tool workroom, and another little building that was a storage room/tool shed.
since we had the tool shed, I decided to cut a doorway between the laundry room and the workroom....cleaned it out and made it a little room with an Aerobed, for a "guestroom". My brother and his wife came up and spent the weekend....now all I am planning, is to put the fake grass (better than astroturf) in the little yard, up front...and paint! Jimmy is planning to get the season ski pass, so we can come up in the winter and he can Ski Apache! I'll sit in the lodge in my cute ski bunny wear, and drink hot chocolate!
Right now, we have the bus pulled halfway out, so we can have the internet Satellite dish up, but by Tuesday of next week, we will have the permanent one mounted on the roof, and be able to pull all the way in.
In the middle of all this, we went to the All American Futurity...the world's richest quarter horse race, at Ruidoso Downs.

Click on the picture to blow it up.
After arriving at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, we got settled and Jimmy promptly got on the roof of the bus to mess with the satellite dish because the tracking was off a little bit, then headed over to the suite to watch the truck race and the modifieds (type of race car) run, for the first time at the track, on pavement, instead of dirt. The clouds looked rather ominous, but the rain held off until later in the night. Thursday was a "chill" day and we just ran around visiting with friends, went into town for groceries and to eat. Friday was spent taking it easy (I had hurt my back on Monday and was living on Advil and the heating pad) until time for the 1st night race.....the Nationwide series. (kinda the bush league).

Went to the suite on our trusty "whitey" the Roadhog because it is waaaaayyyy too far to walk and we can get around like a golf cart, but it qualifies as a handicapped vehicle, since I have a bum right ankle.

Saturday morning, Ken and Chris ( our friends that own a bunch of "Sonic"s had breakfast for everyone......omelettes! I have never done it this way....but it was PERFECT. Take a baggie, put 3 eggs, cheese, mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, ham or anything you please in it, seal it, moosh it all up really good, then put it in a pot of hot water for 5-10 minutes, depending on how much stuff you have in it. When it is done, just slide it out on a plate....and viola! perfectly shaped omelette! Really cool! and simple!

Then, by about 5:30, everyone headed over to the suite for the Cup Race. It was pretty exciting, several wrecks, it was Mark Martin's 1000th career start in a race and he had the pole position. He almost won, but that brat Kyle Busch won, instead. But the food, drink and company was good, anyway. Sunday morning, we all pulled out, it was a ghost town by noon...Got home Monday evening, good to sleep in a big bed and take a "real" shower! ha!ha!

We left town, Friday evening and met our friends from Oregon, as they were traveling west, on Saturday. We both decided to pull in and stay at Tom Sawyer's Rv park on the Mississippi, in West Memphis, Arkansas. It's great, very relaxing, watching the barges go by, while you sit and drink your morning coffee.....

It was their 40th anniversary, so we went and had dinner at Texas de Brazil, then took a carriage ride all around Memphis. Saw the cannons in the park, from the war in 1826...mud island, (where Tom cruise was being chased in "The Firm") and the downtown buildings, courthouse, etc. Where "The Firm" was filmed. Very enjoyable!

Going to hang here for a couple of days, then head on to Bristol, Tn. for the NASCAR race and meet with friends from Texas, Tenn. and Miss. for a weekend of fun.

Well, on further investigation.....Kalitta Motor Sports was not a race shop, like the ones in Carolina....so we decided to take off and drive towards home. Shadow was acting a little sick, like when he had Pancreatitus, so we decided to get home ASAP, in case he got sicker. The good news is, he got better the next day, maybe something he got into in all our travels, Jimmy drove all day Sunday. (about 13 hours!) So we made it to Arkansas for the night. Monday was just a matter of about 5 or so hours to drive home, so we made it in time for dinner and slept in our regular King Sized Bed.ahhhhhh! We are going to the lake, tomorrow, for the day, then plan to spend the weekend home, in the pool, before we leave for Bristol, Tn. for the NASCAR race!

Click on the picture!

Today, we slept a little late, but then got up and took the coach with all the animals, and the Roadhog (our runaround vehicle of choice) to The Henry Ford. The day was spent in Greenfield Village and then the tour of the Rouge Factory. (the plant that makes Ford F-150 pick-up trucks)
The Village is 900 acres of beautiful scenery, old model Ts and lots of quaint, antique and historical buildings. Even the theater where Linclon was shot! Did you know that Henry Ford started working for Thomas Edison in his Illumination Shop? The Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop is here, too.
We rode our Roadhog around the whole Village, a real blessing, I don't think I could have done all that walking!
Then we took a bus to the tour of the Factory, the production line was not running...they are on M-Thurs. 2, 10 hr. shifts. They produce 1,100 vehicles in a 24 hour period. That's a lot of vehicles. We saw a movie, showing the way it all started, the assembly line, etc. Henry was against the Union, but they eventually won out. The plant is entirely self-contained...he made his own steel, windshields, etc.
No wonder he did okay during the war.
Tomorrow, we plan to go to the Museum, The IMAX and the automotive Hall of Fame. Then, if we have time, we're going by Kalitta Motor Sports. Years ago, Jimmy used to have an air freight company and we did a lot of the maintenance on his airplanes. Connie Kalitta's airplane hanger used to be 1/2 airplanes and 1/2 dragsters......I'm sure it's a little different, now.

We found another Silverton 453 in Connecticut, so we started driving that way and spent the night in RiverDale Camp, another really quaint campground in the middle of the forest, but close to the water. Decided to stay another day, it was so nice, plan to head out tomorrow, south, I think.

We spent the night in the Wawaloam Campground. This was the view from our window....neat, huh? It reminded us of the Resort in "Dirty Dancing"....however, the 50 amp power didn't hold up, so we were stuck using the 30 amp, meaning one air conditioner and having to start the generator, just to run the blowdryer! ha! Needless to say, we pulled out the next morning. Went to see the boat in Warwick, a Silverton 453...

Driving through Washinton and then New York City, even on a Sunday, was an absolute nightmare...especially in a 45 foot bus! The highways are marked poorly, sometimes make no sense in their direction and the TRAFFIC!!!
Anyway, we finally made it to West Kingston, R.I......really pretty, lots of tall trees and many little, narrow, roads....like the "road less traveled" picture, above.

On our drive up the east coast, we stopped in Little River, South Carolina to visit our friends from Australia who recently bought a really cool Trawler that they plan to live on and travel in for awhile.(when they're not having to go home). What is wrong with the immigration system?
Anyway, we enjoyed a couple of days visiting with them, then continued driving north.

We drove most of the day , Monday, to Summerfield.....pulled in the RV park just in time to go to sleep. Tuesday we did some running around, met Gerry (Kaye's assistant) and got our tickets for the show at 7:00 pm.

About 6:15 we left for The Villages, which is an entire community of about 70,000 people who drive golf carts everywhere! Amazing place, every kind of store you could think of, dr's offices, theaters, restaurants and Kaye was doing her show at the Church on the Square. A sellout crowd of 800 people, it was quite an event!

Kaye came out, sang, told stories and showed some great video of some of the USO shows in Vietnam where she went with Bob Hope, Joey Heatherton, Anita Bryant, Jill St. John, Janis Page, Anna Maria Albergetti.....etc. the list goes on...but Kaye was one of the main ones. ( my apologies to anyone under 40...I'm sure you don't remember these names).

After the show, we met out back for a meet and greet and some birthday cake. Spent most of the day, today with Kaye, plan to have breakfast, then hit the road, North.

We are going to Little River, South Carolina.

We stopped in Destin, to see my aunt Lorene. her daughter, Shirley and her new husband Ed. (Ed's mom Yvonne, is also living there). They live in a nice house on the water, with a boat dock. We had a nice visit, they fixed dinner, and then we went back to the bus for the night.

Well....off we go on the next big adventure! We left on Friday, to go to Summerfield, Florida for our friend Kaye Stevens' birthday bash and her show "Bob Hope and Me", where she was going to sing and tell stories of her days in the USO with Bob Hope in Vietnam.

Along the way, we stopped at the rest area on the border of Mississippi and saw the Lunar Landing vehicle...there's a NASA building and museum there. We drove on to Pensacola and spent the night. Then, while I was on Facebook, chatting with my nephew...he reminded me that our cousin and aunt had just moved to Destin, Florida and "wasn't I going to visit them?".....ha!ha!

that wasn't the plan then...but it was now!

We have been home all week, getting a lot of paperwork done and still dealing with the insurance company about the lightening strike (on May 2nd). All said and done (that we have found) the damage comes out to some $13000.00! Let's see if they cut us a check.....don't ever use SAFECO...Liberty Mutual bought them and they have been a bear to deal with! As soon as this is over, we're changing!

We plan to leave on Friday to go to our friend Kaye Stevens' birthday and a show that she is performing in, in Summerfield, Florida.

Then, Jimmy wants to look at another boat, we have a friend that would like to buy ours. I'll write more on that, later. Not sure of our schedule....kind of depends on the trucks and drivers.....I think we've just about gone through all the vacations, this year, so we should have a full crew, now....allowing us to be gone for awhile. We have to be in Bristol, Tn. for the NASCAR race by August 19th....so don't know if we will come home, between, or just stay gone.

Today was spent in the pool, since the heat is sooooo unbearable....102 degrees!!

Click on this for a great fireworks show at Possum Kingdom Lake!

Well... 4th of July weekend got here! We had some friends, Janet and Robert Spracklen, come out on the 3rd and we had a nice day to hang out, before the madness of the 4th took over. The doggies enjiyed floating on Jimmy's Island too!

My brother and his wife came out to visit, from El Paso, for a couple of weeks. It was a nice visit, we did all the usual things, rented some movies to watch, went to Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop and then he had go to bike shops, etc. We went to the lake for 3 days...they slept on the couches in the front of the bus...they fold into beds. And we had all the animals with us....along with their little lhasa apso....and had no bad happenings! (she and Nikki don't get along). Then they went home on the 3rd.

AHHHHHH.....boats! Or should I say AUGHHH! June 13th weekend, we headed out to the lake,and our friend Alan came out in his motorhome. Once we were set up at the campground, we headed to dinner, then the next day, out to the lake on the big boat.

One of the two engines had some kind of coil or module problem, but we could still go out on the one engine. We went to the popular hang out, called Hell's Gate, and dropped anchor. We jumped into the water, and in a few minutes, noticed that the boat was leaving........Possum Kingdom is a rock bottomed lake and pretty impossible to get an anchor hooked, as opposed to mud. So.....load back up and move to another spot to drop anchor. Well....after 3 times!!!!!! we finally got it to catch. We swam most of the afternoon, and while Alan was looking around at the engines (as guys do) he asked Jimmy where the prop shaft was. Jimmy said " It's right.....there...." Yep, you guessed it....missing. It had slid backwards due to the water pushing on the "non-moving" prop when we only used one engine! Now, we decide that we need to ease back home and pray we don't lose that prop shaft.

Easier said than done...NOW the anchor won't pull up! We tried driving forward, backward, sideways....slowly, faster, Jimmy pulling on the rope and wrapping it around the cleats on the boat each time. After about 45 minutes and going around in circles (and half the people in the lake watching) Jimmy was on the nose of the boat, Alan was driving and I was sitting in the back.

POW! the nose of the boat went up about 3 feet in the air....the rope broke and the anchor is in the bottom of the lake!

So....here we are, one engine, prop shaft almost fallen out and no anchor....so we headed home. The wind was pretty bad, so when we got to our boat slip. it was quite interesting, backing in. We went back out and dropped a small anchor with a float tied to it, so that the scuba divers that we asked....could possibly retrieve our big anchor.......when they went to get it....someone stole the float!!! People!!

After the satellite dish, new trac lighting was called for. Once the work was done, we headed out to swim. The doggies have a new ladder, called "Paws Aboard" and they can swim to it and literally walk up onto the boat. Pretty cool!
Then on Sunday... I stepped on the boat from the dock, lost my balance and fell backwards. Hit my head on the concrete dock behind me and fell down the steps, twisting my back.....MAN! did it hurt! needless to say, I spent most of the day inside, lying down.
Saturday afternoon, I noticed that Shadow (my poodle) seemed to be feeling bad. He started vomiting and had diarreah. then on Sunday, he wouldn't eat. So, on Monday, when we got back to town, we went straight to the vet.
After several hundred dollars worth of tests, they figured out he had Pancreatitus!! They immediately checked him in and put him on plasma and a bag of fluids. Three days of antibiotics, injections and fluids....poor baby! I finally got to bring him home on the third afternoon...a little scary.

The first weekend of May, we were at the lake (of course) and it rained and stormed a lot.
We decided to come home on Tuesday (have to work, sometime) only to find that the garage door wouldn't open. No problem, probably a dead battery from a power outage. Then, when we got in.....I turned on the TV in the bedroom and it wouldn't turn on. So, I tried the living room TV, also wouldn't turn on. I walked into the master bathroom and saw several gold colored scorch marks on the mirrors, then I noticed that Jimmy's mirror was broken at the edge and there was a scorch mark on the wall! The house had been hit by lightening!!!I heard a faint whirring sound on the other side of the wall. Jimmy yelled for me from the back bedroom of the house. The treadmill was on and running full blast! I guess it had been on for days because the belt had begun disintgrating and there was a black rubbery powder all over the carpet.
As the days have gone by, we have found that the intercom system, sprinkler system,telephone system, doorbell, oven light stays on,
HDMI ports on another of our TVs, one of the small tvs in the guest room is fried, but the good news is that all the computers in the other end of the house (the home office) are fine. The unusual thing is that all of the electronics were plugged into Monster surge protectors and it still fried everything! Lightening is a bizarre thing.

After the Marathon Rally in Kerrville, we came home for a rather uneventful week, then we took off for the lake for Jimmy's birthday and the Memorial Day weekend.

Jimmy's present was a new "in-motion" satellite dish, that he wants to install on the boat (so we can watch the NASCAR races while we float in the lake!!) So we decided that this would be a "work on the boat" weekend. Jimmy ran the cables through the radar arch, then we took out the old musty smelling carpet and the boards that let you access the motor, etc. (Also added to the smell after they got wet when the boat was sinking, before we rescued it and bought it). He cut new wood panels and we cut fresh carpet that I kept when we re-carpeted my house a couple of years ago.