trip #13

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, as usual....
As I said yesterday, we've returned from our 13th, and last trip of the season. :-(
We went a short, just over an hour away, to Yankee Springs State Recreation area.
The campground sits on the edge of Gun lake.




We had a nice pull-through site, over-looking the lake, since the campground was fairly empty.
There were maybe 20 campers there in just under 200 sites. There were even 3 tenters, even though the nights got down around freezing. Now there's some dedicated campers! :-)
They had even closed the bath houses for the season, although they did bring in a couple of porta-potties. I'm assuming the tenters didn't bath then? ewww!
I'm wondering why they left the campground open without bath houses. Indiana Dunes State park is open all year, and they keep one bathhouse open all winter. hmm.
Anyway, we got there safe, and back home safe, so it was a good trip. :-) And we made it through the year, with only very minor issues. :-)
We arrived late Friday afternoon. We worked later than usual, since it was such a short drive. We arrived to find the water fill station closed for the season. They said water was available at the pump house behind site 34. We got to site 34 , and fortunately, it was empty so I backed the mo-ho into the site, as our 2 hoses weren't long enough from the road. Filled our tank, and drove around looking for the 'perfect' site. Settled into a nice pull-through with a view of the lake. Cooked kielbasas on the grill for dinner, and watched TV. Saturday morning, we drove just 6 miles to the Gun Lake casino. a fairly small one. Spent a few hours there and left about 20 up. :-) Then headed up the highway to Grand Rapids for lunch. Stopped at Tommy Brauns and had tasty burgers and watched our Sparty's get whipped. :-(
Then it was over to Midway Motor Homes. The dealer we bought our motor home from, had a new 2012 Thor Challenger with an interesting floor plan I wanted to check out. And no, we're not buying a new mo-ho. Unless one of my readers wants to get us an early Christmas present. ;-)
So, here's a link if you want to check it out. 2012 Thor Challenger.
It's a gas, 37ft. 3 slides. It actually was quite nice, other than the too busy graphics on the outside. It is different from most motor homes in that it has actual 'rooms'. Not a big open space. I liked it. It felt like a cozy cottage. And with a king bed too!
Then it was back to the campground, and a roaring campfire, watching the sun set.
Sunday, we awoke to rain, so no hiking/biking that day. So since we were ahead, we went back to the casino. Spent a good part of the day there, breaking for a tasty lunch , at one of their restaurants. Left down about 25. Not bad for the time we spent. :-)
Got back to the campground to find only 4 of us left there. 1 tenter, 1 travel trailer, 1 fifth-wheel, and us. The rain had stopped, so we took a walk around and took these pics. Fixed chicken on the grill, and pared that with potato salad we'd bought earlier.
Monday morning, packed up and made the short drive back to Lansing. Did a good final dump, with repeated rinsing, filled the propane tank, and filled the gas tank and added treatment for winter storage. We went through 14 gallons of propane for the season. Not bad for as much as we ran the furnace in the spring and fall. :-)
Back home, I spent the afternoon taking stuff out of the mo-ho. Food, water, toiletries, anything that might freeze. I also removed batteries from everything. Will put new ones in , in the spring.
And now, time to wake up Craig. We have a lot of running around to do today......

mo-ho's new look

Good morning.
Here's the results of the grill project....
Above, you can see the grill with the left side missing, but the right side still in.
Surprisingly, the right side came our real easy. I was expecting the screws to be all rusted tight, but they came right out! :-)
We settled on using a screen door guard we found at Menard's. They had a bronze color that blended very nicely with the mo-ho.
I decided to attach the cutout screen material to the mo-ho by drilling small holes around the edge of the fiberglass opening, and securing it with wire.

Here's the finished left side...
And the right side before, and after.


It doesn't show up real good in this pic, but the screen looks great! Just click on the pic for a larger, better view. And I never liked the looks of the other grill sections anyway. :-)
Now we'll look to see if we can find a flexible bronze trim to give it a more finished look. And that may not be so easy. We'll see.
And would you believe it all took less than 2 hours for this project. :-)
And with that, another weekend over, and looks to be another busy week in the Salon.

morning chatter

Good morning.
It's been a busy weekend so far.
My sister in Havelock NC made it through Irene. Lost power for several hours, but no damage.
Sunday of course, I cleaned the salon.
Back home, I woke up Craig, made us coffee, and read the paper. Then we hit the area big box home improvement stores, looking for something that might work for the grill. We did find some decorative punched metal sheets that may work. We've decided to hit the local auto salvage yards this morning. We've seen some plastic truck grills that we think would look better. I'll let you know.
Also I washed and waxed Craig's Honda Accord. Everything's waxed now except one more section of the mo-ho. Will try to get that done today.
We also vacuumed and cleaned the inside of all 3 cars.
After the busy day, we relaxed on the deck while I cooked a turkey breast on the grill with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.
And while I let Craig sleep a little longer this morning, I'm off to clean all the car windows......

A new chicken dish

Good morning.
Sunday was a complete wash-out. It was a constant drizzly rainy day. I got nothing done. I sat the entire day on my puter. Reading blogs, playing games, surfing the net.
Craig cooked a pork roast with onions, carrots, and potatoes, so the house smelled good. :-)
Monday was much better. Sunny and mild. I accomplished a lot! Washed the mo-ho, Kia and Pt, polished the mo-ho wheels, cleaned the mo-ho windows and polished the bike tire rims and added air to the tires.
Didn't do a thing in the yard. I'm over it. Now that the wedding pics are done, it can coast until fall when it'll be cutting back time.
Here's a late summer pic of the main garden....
The Zinnia's add a nice touch of color, since most late summer flowers are yellow.
For dinner, we tried something new........

Wanchai spicy garlic chicken. We've cooked chicken just about every which way you can, so we're always looking for something new. This was an easy and very tasty meal! It came with everything but the chicken. We cut up 2 boneless chicken breasts, and added some steamed broccoli. I highly recommend it!
And now, it's just about daylight, so I'm off to do some mo-ho waxing.....

it was a busy day.

Good morning.
Sorry for no post yesterday, but I had a very busy day.
As soon as I got up, I went into the Salon. I got the Salon cleaned, and then my mission was to paint the sign outside above the door. I didn't take a pic, but our sign has a metal grid that surrounds it. Kind of mimicking the ceiling grid inside the Salon. Anyway, it's a tedious job. Took just over 2 hours. I knew the paint was peeling, but didn't realize how much the paint had faded. Looks real good now.
Back home, I cleaned and filled the bird baths, and watered the pots. It was now nearly 10am and Craig was finally up. :-)
I fixed us coffee and we read the paper.
While Craig then did paperwork and laundry, I re caulked the mo-ho windshield. Then, after a light brunch of egg and Canadian bacon sandwich, we got to work on replacing the fence sections that were damaged from the accident I wrote about here.
That took the better part of the afternoon as it was a lot of work digging out the old half rotted posts. But it's all done and looks good.
I finally decided I'd done enough for one day, so it was time to relax on the deck, enjoying the perfect weather, partly sunny, and a high near 80.
For dinner, I grilled a pork roast, baked potatoes, and skewers of carrots, mushrooms, onions and sweet peppers.
And after I finish this post, I need to place an on-line order for the Salon, and clean the interior of the mo-ho so it's ready for our next trip. And I need to make sure I get Craig up early (8am) for a doctors appointment. Just a routine visit.
So that's it for now...

too many leaks!

Good afternoon.
Well, our fricken cold spring continues. It's only 54 out today. Yesterday got all the way up to 53. It should be around 70. :-(
Of course, the weather is suppose to start warming up tomorrow, Just in time for me to go back to work. :-(
Anyway, I got on the roof of the mo-ho, and discovered some serious cracks in the caulking around the bathroom skylight. Scraped, cleaned and re-caulked it. I can't believe I didn't notice that when I cleaned/sealed the roof. So while I was up there, I checked the rest of the caulking and fixed what looked like it needed.
I also did more weeding, I'm about 7/8 done.
I also discovered we have some sort of leak in the mo-ho. I discovered some dried up water stains on the floor in the kitchen. After we bring in the kitchen/couch slide, we seem to get some water coming out from under the cabinets. I know we don't have a plumbing leak as the pump doesn't run, so I figure it must be a drain leak. Well, after we got home, I got out the flashlight and tried to find the problem. Sure enough, we had a leak in the drain pipe from the kitchen sink.
Apparently where the flexible hose meets the PVC pipe, a seal has started to leak, so, I got some plumbing tape, and wrapped the joint. It did the trick, no more leaking. :-)

I put some paper towels under it to keep an eye on it should it start again.

The flexible pipe allows the slide to move in and out. That's why kitchen slides don't go out as far as dinette slides. All that plumbing. :-
I also took the peroxide to the shower ceiling around the skylight that got stained from the water leak. It took some time, but it all came out. That peroxide is amazing! I wish I would have thought to take a before and after pic.

And that was the rest of our weekend. Now tomorrow, it's another busy week in the Salon. And busy is good! :-)

it was a good day

Good morning.
We are in for a short stretch of summer like weather, with temps in the mid 70's all week, before falling back to the normal 60's this weekend.
I've just been lovin this weather! It took so long to get here, but It's here and the yard is quickly coming alive!
Yesterday morning, while Craig slept, I did some maintenance on the mo-ho. We have a small leak around the windshield. Apparently with all the road vibrations, the seal around the windshield has cracked in a few spots. Even though I now caulk the windshield every year, it eventually starts leaking again. And right now Craig doesn't want to spend money on a replacement, since the leak only causes water to drip on the dash. Well, we have managed to get some water stains on the accordion shade that pulls around the window. So I went out yesterday, and spot cleaned it with peroxide. It takes out the stain real good!
I then did some more weeding before I woke up Craig.
We did our running around, and back at home, I worked in the yard and he did more paper work.
I'm getting a real good handle on the weeds. :-)
For dinner, we tried a new chicken recipe, Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes. It was sooo tender, moist and tasty!

Of course, if your interested, the recipe is here.
So it was a very productive weekend, and now, another work week lies ahead.

The mo-ho is ready!

Good morning.

It's currently 38 out, going for a high of 55 which is slightly below the normal high of 60. Yesterday morning, we still had a bit of the warm front left as it was 67 when I got up and the rain had quit. I decided to take advantage of it and when it was light enough, I went out and drained the water/bleach mixture from the mo-ho, and filled the holding take with fresh water. Flushed all the lines and filled the water heater. I then polished the remaining 2 wheels.

After my shower, I woke up Craig, and fixed us coffee. We went out and did our usual Monday routine, P.O. bank, and shopping which was a challenge. They have closed a large section Of Saginaw Street, reducing it to 2 lanes in one direction. Saginaw is the main thoroughfare through the west side. Nearly everything is on this main road. The street is undergoing a complete redo that will last all summer. Fortunately, Our Salon is on a main side street, so our customers shouldn't have too much trouble getting to us.

Returning home, I fired up the mo-ho water heater. After confirming the propane burner worked, I turned that off and turned on the electric heater. Since it would take an hour to heat, we worked on the car caddy. One of the mud flaps had ripped off, and needed to be replaced. We had searched all over, and no one carries them, soooo we stumbled on what were called rubber belts at TSC. They had them in widths of 5, 7, and 12, sold by the foot. Our old ones were 6 1/2 by 10 1/2 so we bought 2 ft of the 7 inch. Of course, I could only get 1 of the 2 nuts off that held each of the old ones on. But I did manage to cut the old ones off and we mounted the new ones just underneath where the old ones were.

After that project, Craig went in to do the estimated taxes that are due on the 15th as any self employed person knows, and I went in the mo-ho. Checked the water, it ran hot. Good. Then ran a quick cycle on the washer/dryer/ and then a cycle on the dishwasher.

I'm happy to say, at least right now, everything has been checked and is functioning properly with the mo-ho and it's ready for it's first trip! :-)

With us having such a cold spring, I haven't been able to clean up the flower beds much since very little has come up yet. But that has given me more time to work on the mo-ho, so all in all, it's okay. We only have 2 trips scheduled for all of April and May, so I'll have plenty of time in the yard, once it finally decides to warm up and stay warm. But I do have a few things in bloom..... I'm not sure what the top pic is. They're cute little flowers only about 3 inches tall. The bottom pic is a large Hellebore. So spring is slowly coming along. :-)

A fine day

Good morning.

Yesterday got all the way up to 83! It was wonderful! It felt soo good to be outside without a coat! Today, it's raining with slowly falling temps back to seasonal highs of near 60, but we took full advantage of the day we had.

And to answer a couple of questions from my last post about my 'dump battery'. We use a macerator pump to empty the grey and black holding tanks instead of those nasty accordion hoses. It is permanently attached to the dump outlet. It needs power to run. We didn't want to pay someone to hard wire it, so we use a 12 volt battery. After sitting all winter, I fully charge it up to use for the season. Hope this explains it for you. :-)

Now back to our day.....

After cleaning the Salon, I came home and drained the antifreeze from the mo-ho's water lines. Then I mixed a bleach solution, sucked it into the fresh water tank, and filled it with water. Ran all the water lines to fill them with the solution, and let it sit for 24 hours to sanitize the water system. I also put in a new whole house water filter for the new season.

I then went out back and removed all the 2x2 wood slats that ran across the top of the arbor by the pond. They weren't wolmanized wood, just regular wood, stained, and after many years, they are starting to rot and disintegrate. And this pic is just for visual. It's an archive pic. We don't have those flowers blooming yet. :-)

I then washed the front and back and one side of the mo-ho.

By then, it was time for a shower, and wake up lazy bones.

I fixed us coffee and we read the paper.

Then, while Craig did his usual paperwork and laundry, I washed the other side of the mo-ho, and trimmed up a few more bushes.

Then it was time for a late lunch. Leftover pizza. I think it's as good as fresh. :-)

Then Craig went to burn the 2x2's and a large pile of branches, while I cleaned and sealed the rubber roof of the mo-ho and polished 2 of the tire rims.

Finally, I turned over the 5 birdbaths we have and filled them with water.

It was now time to call it a day, and we relaxed on the deck with cocktails and soaked up the first warm day of the season.

For dinner, Craig made his tasty Turkey Rice Casserole, with a side of asparagus.

It was a perfect day.......

Almost RVing time!

Good morning.

With Friday and Saturday being fairly short days at the Salon, I was able to get out side and do a few things. It's been near 60, so not too bad.

We appear to be done with the night time below freezing temps, so I restocked the mo-ho with the rest of it's liquid stuff. Shampoo, shaving cream, toothpaste, cleaning supplies, etc. I also managed to trim back a few bushes, and I also got the bikes off the garage ceiling hooks and filled the tires. While I was at that, I also filled the tires on the riding mower. And if I find the time, I need to pull the deck from the mower and sharpen the blades.

I also put the portable gas grill back in a mo-ho bay and charged the dump battery and put that back in.

And with one day of summer like temps, (it's suppose to hit near 80 today!) I plan on un-winterizing the mo-ho and sanitizing the system, and hopefully give it a good washing. Then, just a couple of more things to buy, and we'll be ready to hit the road! :-)

And now I'm off to clean the Salon....

still cold out :-(

Good morning. Yesterday was very productive. It was sunny and reached a high of 41. Not warm, but bundled up made it warm enough to get out. :-) With the mo-ho in the driveway, I spread Spectracide on the gravel parking area. Craig then watered it in good. Then we moved the mo-ho back on the gravel. We're hoping that will prevent the sweet ant problem we had last spring. I also cut down more of last years perennials, and trimmed back the clematis vines and several bushes. We have daffodils getting close to blooming and hyacinths and tulips starting to come up. Then Craig helped me wash and chamois the Kia and Honda. For dinner, Craig made a pan full of fried potatoes with onions, sausage, and mushrooms, with cauliflower on the side. It was very good. And from the long range forecast, we look like we'll be below normal temps until the middle of next week. :-( But even low 40's is better than 20's. :-) And today, it's back to work. Looks to be a steady week depending on how many phone calls we get.

It's finally gone

Good morning.

We appear to be headed back toward normal temps by the end of the week, and the long term forecast looks like spring will arrive here in Mid Michigan soon. :-)

I forgot to mention in my last post, that we finally got rid of our old satellite dish.

As you can see in this older pic, it sat in the back yard in the back of a large flower bed that runs next to the pond. We had it installed way back in 1989. Back then, there was no cable available, and the small dishes weren't around yet. That sucker was 10ft across. But we loved it! What was especially nice, was the ability to subscribe to just the individual channels we wanted. If we wanted just espn, we could order just that. And we'd get the subscription for just 6 months for football and basketball, so we didn't have to pay for the entire year.

But with the proliferation of cable and the small dish, the big dish market quickly shrank. Soon, providers started pulling programing off the big dish and we lost most of the channels we liked. About 5 years ago, we discontinued service, and the dish has sat there, unused, since then.

Anyway, I've got a customer whose husband collects scrap metal, usually from construction sites, and takes it to a place that recycles metal for extra cash. I told him he could have the dish, if he wanted to take it apart. It was gone by the time I got home from work Saturday.

Sunday, we managed to get the mo-ho out of it's winter parking place and out into the driveway. I'm happy to report that the furnace is working properly, and the hydraulic jacks are functioning good, and the slides and automatic steps are working. As soon as it gets a bit warmer, I'll un-winterize it and make sure the water pump and water heater are working. Our first weekend trip is coming up in a few weeks. :-)

On Monday, with the weather still bitter cold, we decided to use a couple of gift cards we received for Christmas. We used one for lunch at a place called Dusty's Tap Room. I had a ham and green olive pizza, (very tasty!) and Craig had a Chicago hot dog. The we used another gift card for the NCG Cinema and saw Battle: Los Angeles

The storyline was just okay, but the special effects and Aaron Eckhart made it very enjoyable. :-)

And after lunch and movie food, we didn't feel like a big dinner, so with the evenings programing, it was snack time, and we had wings! The first ones in months! They were very good! :-)

Oh, and Sunday, blogger wouldn't let me do paragraphs, and today, I get huge gaps between them. :-\

no early spring here

Good morning.
It's currently 33 out with light rain. It's rained all night. We're at the day's forecast high, with the temps expected to slowly drop during the day to a low tonight in the teens. So I may find some interesting traveling conditions when I go to work this morning, as the rain turns to freezing rain, then sleet and snow.
Yesterday, even though is was a cloudy dreary day outside, I managed to be productive, with a bunch of cleaning. The bathroom, the kitchen, and I finally got a can of air and cleaned the inside of Craig's puter.
And of course, I played on the puter. Craig and I even played a couple of games of Family Feud, where his 'family' beat mine badly. He's always been much better at fast thinking than me. :-) And I don't know where they get the people they 'poll' for the answers. Some of the answers are a real stretch. :-\
We also talked about getting the mo-ho out of 'storage'next weekend, and making sure everything is still in working order, like the jacks, slides, furnace, etc. That's helping us get through this late winter crap. Thinking of our upcoming first trip. :-)
And the Salon looks pretty busy so far this week. We'll see if we get any cancellations due to the weather.
And Craig wasn't in the mood for fixing any fancy dinner, so it was a souped up hamburger helper. Which tasted just fine. :-)

It's Tuesday

Good morning.
Well, we didn't vacuum shop yesterday.
I let Craig sleep in, (until 9am) while I played on the puter.
We then went to the bank, post office, and stopped by the Salon to drop off checks. The newer stylists that joined our staff last March, gushed over the Christmas decorations. It feels good to think all my work behind the scenes is appreciated. :-)
We then went to Meijers for groceries and then back home.
Read the paper, had a light lunch, and while Craig did more bookwork and laundry, I did a little more work outside. I rearranged the side of the garage where he'll park Kia when the snow starts now that all the mowing and blowing are done.
I then spread mothballs around the tires of the mo-ho. Craig seems to think that well help keep the mice out, I'm not so sure, but it's easier to spread than argue. :-)
I think what has helped, is I put bait in the shed back in August, that's near the mo-ho. Mice always seem to make nests in there in the winter. I've gone through 5 trays of bait since then. And there's been no activity for nearly a month now. I'm thinking I've eliminated all the mice from the area. That's my thinking and I'm sticking to it. :-)
I also checked the water level in the mo-ho house batteries. We leave the mo-ho plugged in all winter because we have those sonic rodent repelers plugged in. Craig seems to think that well help keep the mice out also. I don't think they work, but again, it's easier than arguing. :-)
After 34 years, I know when to pick my battles. :-)
Anyway, I caught up on all my blogs while Craig made a tasty dinner of beef stir fry. It was yummy! And we ended the evening with cocktails and our Monday sitcoms.
And it look like our mild few days will end later today as a cold front is coming, bringing rain that well over night turn to that icky white stuff. But I can't complain. We haven't had any snow yet, and it's nearly Dec.
That's all I got for now.

Sunday update

Good morning.
First of all a great big congrats to the Michigan State Spartans for wining a share of the Big Ten Title! Yaaaa!
It was a great season for them even though they'll have to settle for a lesser bowl game. Even though the ended up #8 in the BCS, they won't play in one of the 5 major bowls. Their stupid rules say they can only take 2 teams from a conference and we have 3 teams from the Big Ten in the top 8. And Michigan State is behind Wisconsin and Ohio State. Oh well, maybe they'll win a bowl game for a change. :-)
Sunday turned out to be a decent day,
Sunny and 40. After I cleaned the Salon, got Craig up, Had our coffee and paper, we bundled up,
and finished the yard. I blew the rest of the leaves out of the mo-ho parking area and the garden paths, and Craig did a final mowing of the lawn.
We are now pretty much set
for the long winter to come.
Here's a couple of views of the back yard.
After that was all done, we maneuvered the mo-ho into it's spot between the garage and the fence.
As you can see in the pics, it's a snug fit.
It's nice to have him out of the driveway.
So it was a productive day.
And for dinner, we had Spicy, Sweet Pork Cutlets. I did this new recipe a few weeks ago. It was sooo good. And very easy! If you didn't get the recipe earlier, it over here. Though this time we pared them with Scalloped potatoes and Asparagus.

Today, we need to look for a new vacuum for the Salon. The new mats we have seem to be a softer rubber than the previous, and the beater brush on the vacuum has such hard bristles, it's putting marks on the mats. So we need to find a vacuum with softer ones.
And that's it for today!

another weekend gone

Good morning.
Progress on the time change. I actually slept until 5am.
And it was another beautiful day yesterday. Mid 60's and sunny.
I didn't do as much as planned, but I did manage to change the oil in the push mower, riding mower, and the snow thrower. I thought I had done the snow thrower in the spring, but Craig said I didn't. When I drained the oil, it look good to me, but oh well, better to be safe than sorry.
:-)
I then cleaned out the garage where the Kia will park this winter. With 3 cars and only a 2 car garage, it looks like cruiser is out and I'll drive him this winter, since I'm usually the first one to leave in the morning. His 1998 Honda Accord has never seen snow, so it gets one side, and the Kia is new, so it gets the other side. Poor crusier. :-(
I then stored all the stuff I took out of the mo-ho. It was all over the living room. Once Craig finished washing all the bedding, I packed that away in a closet. Since we have no basement, (our house is on a slab) I stored the rest of the stuff in big plastic bins, and set them by the front door in the living room. We never use that door, and actually seldom use the living room since we got that 32 inch LCD TV for the sitting room.
And that was all I did. We spent a good deal of the afternoon, enjoying cocktails on the sunny warm deck. We may not see any more weather like that until next year, and wanted to take it in as much as possible.
I cooked chicken on the grill, and Craig made his tasty Acorn squash with honey and bacon bits, and fixed some long grain wild rice on the side.
And of course, another episode of Glee. That show is really good! Love the songs! I even went online after, to watch a couple of older episodes on Hulu.
Another good day, and a very good weekend.
And now, another work week. It's looking slow this week, so maybe I can get a haircut and some highlights. I'm looking pretty dark and dull. :-)

I hate the time change

Good morning.
I'm still not adjusting to the time change well. I got up at 4:30 this morning.
But it was another beautiful day yesterday. High about 60, sunny and no wind.
Took the mo-ho in for an oil change first thing in the morning. Then it was off to Kroger for gas. We don't shop at Kroger a lot, but occasionally. For every dollar you spend, you collect points. When you have 100 points, you can get 10 cents off a gallon of gas. And with gas now over $3 a gallon, it adds up. Then we stopped at Target for Craig to drop off a prescription refill, then the bank to deposit last weeks checks.
Then to OfficeMax to use a coupon for $10 off $50 purchase. Craig needed 2, 12 column account books for next years bookkeeping. I needed another packet of business cards, and they had a 100 pack of blank DVD+R on sale for $17.99. It all added up to $53.47. And so we got $10 off that.
Than back over to Target to pick up his prescription, and over to Meijers for groceries. As we got to Meijer, the dealer called. On inspection, they discovered a radiator leak that required replacing a bad clamp. Of course they had to drain the antifreeze to do that so more costs than expected. I knew we wouldn't get out of there with just an oil change. :-(
After we got home from Meijer, the dealer called and the mo-ho was ready to be picked up. It was now 11:45, so back to the dealer to pick it up we went. Of course, it's on the other side of town so it's a 30 mile round trip.
Returning home, I made us sausage muffins with egg. We tried Morning Star Farms veggie sausage. It was pretty good.
I went online and ordered the new chair mats for the salon. And then went out to work in the yard, while Craig finished washing the mo-ho bedding and doing more paper work.
He then joined me in taking up the decking we put down over the cement patio in the spring.
And with such a nice afternoon, we relaxed on the deck with cocktails until the sun started to go behind the trees and quickly became cooler.
Then with the decking back in the garage, I hung the bikes on the ceiling, put away the gas grill and the deck umbrella. We're systematically getting everything ready for winter, one thing at a time.
Dinner was pork steaks on the portable grill with baked potatoes and ginger honey carrots, while enjoying our Monday sitcoms.
Another good day.

happy Monday

Good morning.
As expected, the weather yesterday was nice. Sunny, in the mid 50's, and not a cloud in the sky.
After Craig got up, I fixed us coffee and we read the Sunday paper.
We then ran out to get a few things for dinner.
Back home, Craig did his usual laundry and book work, while I gave the mo-ho a good thorough inside cleaning. While I did that, I ran the generator to get the stabil in the gas line, and I charged and stored the dump battery. Then, I washed the Kia and Cruiser. Then, I cut down more stuff in the back yard. Whew!
I also found time to vacuum. I was just like the little energizer bunny. :-)
I also added another year to my Tracfone. I tell ya, it's just the best bet for the money if you want a phone, but don't use it a lot. I get one year of service, no contract, no monthly bills for $99. Because of the phone I bought, I get double minutes for life, and they always are running specials for bonus minutes, so I ended up getting 1000 minutes. And since I never use them all up, they keep rolling over. I now have 2978 minutes. Wanna talk? :-)
For dinner, I cooked a turkey breast on the grill, and Craig made Julienne potatoes and asparagus.
Today is suppose to be 62, so I hope to get more yard work done.
So that's it for today....

blah, blah, blah

Good morning.
Yesterday turned out so much better than forecast. How unusual that the weather person would be wrong. :-)
Instead of a 60% chance of rain, it was sunny and warm. Got all the way up to 70. Sooo with the nice day, I was productive.
First, I replaced all the levers in all the bay doors on the mo-ho.
Here's a pic of the new one and the old one.
See where the old one is very thin at the arrow? That's where 3 of them broke so far. They obviously don't have very good quality control where ever these were made. So with 13 bay doors, that left me with 10 to replace. Not a hard job. as there was a plate with 4 screws to remove, and the lever is right there with 1 screw. After that, I worked in the yard. Cut back all the pickerel rush and dwarf cattails in the pond, and cut down more perennials. I also raked the paved paths of all the pine needles and put then on the mulched paths.
I also looked on-line for replacement chairs and mats for the Salon. Our mats are starting to ripple along the edges, and the coating is starting to peel. The chairs for the most part still look good, but one has a couple of cracks in the vinyl and of course, after 13 years, that style is no longer available. And we can't have one chair looking different from the rest. I printed out a few styles and will get the staff's input as to which one we should get.
Then, for dinner, it was home made pizza. It was very good!
And with not much on regular TV, we pulled out a DVD, Starship Troopers. A real good movie!
Today, was to be a work in the yard day, as the forecast was only a 30% chance of rain, but it rained all night, and is currently raining right now, so not sure what the day will bring. Odd that the weather person would be wrong 2 days in a row. :-)
And while Craig sleeps in a bit, I'll go to the Salon with some flowers that I had still blooming in the yard.

Pokagon State Park

Good morning.
Trip 12 details.
Like I said, this trip took us to Pokagon State Park. We haven't been to this park before. It's a beautiful park in the rolling hills of northern Indiana on lake James.
Here's a pick of what looked to be a low bridge in the park on the way to the campground.
But it was plenty high enough. :-)

And here's our mo-ho at an end site lined up with others from our group.

We arrived Friday afternoon around 3pm. They have just one water fill station for the entire campground, so it was a while before we got to our site. It was a nice pull-thru, with 50 amp service. Just gravel, but level. Actually, the half dozen pull-thru sites looked to be the only level sites in the entire campground. It was that rolling. But made for a scenic setting.

Our camping club ended up with about 16 sites with nearly 30 people, all near each other. We set up camp and stopped now and then to chat with new arrivals. We then fixed beverages and walked around and visited with other group members. For dinner, I cooked sirloin steaks on the grill with baked potatoes and marinated grilled zucchini. Craig loves this zucchini on the grill!

Then we joined other campers for the group campfire. It was a nice cool evening. We retired to our mo-ho later and watched a DVD, Hangover. If you haven't seen it yet, do. It's hilarious! Saturday morning, we went for a coffee walk. It was quite cool, 46 degrees. But the coffee kept us warm. Then as the sun helped to warm us, I fixed bacon and eggs on the grill. Then it was out of the campground to get a newspaper, and a ladle for the chili we were to make. I thought we had a ladle in the mo-ho, but we didn't. They have an outlet mall just a few miles north of the campground just off highway 80-90. We found one there.Then back to the campground where we read the paper, and started the chili.

Our chili's special ingredient is Mr Hogg's chili seasoning. We discovered it up in Sutton's Bay, in northern lower Michigan, one trip. We thought it was the best chili ever!

Anyway, Craig added 3 lbs ground sirloin, diced onions, diced green peppers, diced tomatoes, beef broth, tomato sauce, brown sugar, and pinto beans. So following directions, it takes about 2 hours to get it ready to go into the crock pot, and simmer for another 5 hours.

After it was in the crock pot, we went for a bike ride. It was exhausting! We biked through 3 of the campgrounds and all the hills about did us in. I guess we're not in as good a shape as I thought! :-)
We then tried to get a station on TV to see how our Spartans were doing against Illinois. Couldn't find anything, so we tried the mo-ho radio, just local games. Then we tried the car. The one station we normally get was very static, so we decided to drive out of the campground to higher ground. That worked! The score, with 6 minutes left in the game was our Spartans 19, Illinois 6. So we parked in a lot to listen to the rest of the game. It was good! The Spartans won, 26-6. They are now 7-0. The first time they've started that good since 1965!

Soooo anyway.....

Back at the campground, we fixed beverages, and wandered the campsites chatting with other campers in the group. Then it was time to help set up the large tent we'd use for the group dinner. It was breezy, and cool, and the tent would help keep us warm. Then back to our mo-ho, for final chili preparations.

At 6pm sharp, the chili cook-off began. There were 7 entries. Each was assigned a number for voting purposes. Others brought cornbread, homemade croutons, cheese and such to complement the chili, and others brought deserts. It was a large spread. We spent a good deal of time trying all the different chili's. I thought ours was the tastiest and voted as such.

When the voting was over, the group hosts, counted the ballots and #2 won!

But I was number 4.......

#2 was pretty good, but it had large pieces of stewed tomatoes, ick. What were these people thinking? Don't they have any freaking taste buds? I was gonna demand a recount! LoL

And to make matters worst! Craig informed me he voted for #1. I said WHAT! You freakin traitor! He said he didn't want to win, then he'd get the Chili Bowl Trophy and be committed to bringing it back for next years Chili cook-off. Sometimes, he is such a dufus!

Oh well, there was lot's of good chili and food, and it was all in good fun. I was curious as to where we did come in with the voting, but decided it was better not knowing. That's why there are so many chili recipes out there. Every one has different tastes. I was just camping with a bunch of people with no taste, and one dufus. ;-)

So then it was time for a large group campfire, where we chatted and enjoyed the warmth. Tired from the long busy day, we retired to out mo-ho around 10pm for a very restful sleep.

Sunday, another cold morning. While Craig slept in, I went for a walk around the campground, and then back to the site of the chili cook-off, to get our table cloth we brought over for one of the tables where we ate. Met up with a few other early risers and visited until it was time to take my shower and wake up Craig. I made us our walking coffee, and we walked and visited with other campers. Some one decided to take the eating tent down after the dew dried and we agreed to meet back there at 11:30 to help. So that gave us time to head out and get a paper to read about the Spartans victory the day before. We returned to the campground at 10:45 and read the paper. At 11:20 I looked out and saw the tent gone. Apparently some of them went ahead and took it down early. Saved us some work! :-)

Since we didn't have breakfast, we decided to go into the near-by town of Angola. It's a neat old town. They have a large circle right in the middle of their downtown with a monument in the middle. The few restaurants there weren't open due to it being Sunday I guess, so we went out on the strip where Meijer and Walmart were. We settled on Buffalo Wild Wings. This place definitely caters to a young male crowd. There must have been 50 TVs, and they were everywhere you looked showing numerous different sporting events. And all the waitresses were cute young girls. The place was actually quite busy for a Sunday at 12:30. We split the fried dill pickles and chicken quesadillas. Very tasty. Back at the campground, we said our goodbyes to the members leaving. We found that there were to be 7 of us there for Sunday night. Our site, somehow, ended up being the gathering place for the afternoon as people came and went. We spent most of that time between chatting, breaking down our site for an easy morning departure. Loaded the car on the kaddy, took down the awning lights, rolled up the awning, and put away the carpet. We started a fire around 6 as it was getting quite cool after a sunny day near 65. We had pork steaks on the grill with a baked potato and grilled asparagus. It was good. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and enjoying the warmth of the fire. We all said our good nights around 10, and we enjoyed another restful sleep in our warm cozy mo-ho.

Monday morning, I woke up Craig around 8:15. Made us coffee, and we made our rounds to say our goodbyes. We finished putting away the rest of the things, and prepared for our departure. We left around 9:30, and with our stop at Flying J near home to gas up and do a second flush of the holding tanks, arrived home around noon.

This was the only trip this year with this camping group. When we put together our camping schedule last February, this was the only date that matched. Next year, we'll try to do more. These are a great bunch of people. So, another great trip, especially with no incidences!

And with the days getting colder, we realize the camping season is nearly over. But we do have one more.......