kingskids

Well 2 months and 2 days on this last trip included DFW area of Texas, passed thru MS on the way to Guntersville, AL, then on to the rally in TN, Paris, TN (too windy to fish), then family in SW Missouri, then to Madison, SD for residency, on to Gettysburg, SD for one day of great fishing - but got blown off the lake for the rest of the week. So now we're "home" for the summer in Buena Vista, CO - home of the most 14,000 foot mountains in one small county. It's cool and dry in the summer, and the rafting and sightseeing are fabulous. If you wander over this way, holler at us - we'll be happy to point out some special things and places if you want. Love to meet more of the "dark side gang"! If you like to trout fish - this is your place to be (unfortunately that's the ONE kind of fish we don't like wouldn't you know since that's almost all that's here!)... Y'all c'mon on over!

Hope all you ladies had a good Mother's Day. We drove all day (tandem of course), so my treat was getting to a nice park in SD where we almost have the whole park to ourselves, and some lovely weather. Fishing and "residency" things are on the calendar for the first of this next week. Cards and visiting with everyone at ECR was indeed really great! Travel safe everyone - Aggie, hope you guys get some good weather soon! I sent you an email about Scruffy a couple of days ago.

Made it to SD for some last R&R before going back home to finish liquidating everything for the new lifestyle. Tuesday we'll do Driver's Licenses, take care of insurance, and get in some overdue fishing! Later before we head home to CO on the 26th or so, we'll visit the Black Hills area and check out Mt. Rushmore... We're in a lovely park and have almost the whole park to ourselves - really nice after last nights ultra crowded park where the lots were way too close together.

Aha - another one of those couples who have two usernames to confuse those of us who have small brains and get confused easily!

Great Dick - now that song will be stuck in my head for the next couple of days! I'm gathering you're not getting a matching paint job on the truck and trailer Imagine a purple rv!! That would truly be a one of a kind rig wouldn't it!? Now Dick - it's not that we don't welcome your comments, but tell Suzzie that this part of the forum is for the gals - so get her to warm up her fingers! Sharon

Rick, you'll probably run into Alicia and Rick in Yellowstone - they're headed there somewhere around the same time frame (she posted on RDBE with that). I'm jealous - we do hope to go but it might not happen this summer... Have FUN and get loads of great wildlife pics!

UGH! Shudder!! I would rather take a beating than go thru Chicago's traffic!! Makes me a nervous wreck - there are too many lanes, too many vehicles, they're going fast, and half the time I'm having trouble keeping up with where I need to be - and they dart in front of us and cut us off, etc... Makes me CA-Razey! Ok, now you know what's wrong with me - Chicago driving once or twice a year!! Drive careful - they're at least HALF crazy out there...

Oh well, now someone else can pick up the name "miss daisy" if you guys don't want it. It will come in time, one day it will just hit you and you'll pop your forehead and say "wow, I like that name"! Alicia - your's probably isn't coming because you guys aren't in it enough!

We named our truck Maverick because in the rv world, us HDT's are "mavericks", plus we always seem to be doing things "differently" than others, so we are also Mavericks. Never named the trailer. Do most name the 5er also? We just call it "the house" most of the time... You'll find the perfect name one day. We almost called our truck ET (Elite Toter), but liked Maverick better. One day the name will just fall in your lap - hang in there. Glad Trish is doing well with the driving and getting comfortable with it. My experience with driving so far is the hook up/unhook part, 2 hours on the highway one trip when the boat didn't go, and some of the more tricky maneuvering around in a campground because I follow instructions way better than I give them when it comes to the truck. Otherwise, I'm stuck driving the suv and the boat following Richard, maverick, and the house around. I just thought about "driving Miss Daisy" - maybe that would work for your truck??

Brian - how could we know if they ripped you off? You never told us what they did or didn't do... Sorry you're still having problems though.

So sorry to hear about the "visit" Brian - hope BTTB doesn't require too much work and $$ to get back on the road. Naughty truck

Bruce & Sharon - We'll either be in Madison or Ft. Pierre - holler at us if you're in the area. We're trying to get some fishing in. Richard said we've done too much dragging the boat around and not nearly enough time in the water! But do let us know if you'll be in the area, we're not in the water every day or all day long most days, so there's always some time to sit and shoot the breeze with one of our fellow "dark side" travelers! Oh man - just read about the "accident" that your trailer incurred - so glad it wasn't worse, but sorry that some dumb butt couldn't drive! Hope the repairs go well! Meantime, try to stay away from idiots who can't even maneuver a LGT (little girly truck)!

Slightly jealous Jack and Danielle - we got to the northern part of TN yesterday with 95 degrees and about 195% humidity I think! I am longing for the return to CO the first of June. Heading to southern MO for a couple of days to visit an uncle, then off to explore and fish our new "state of residency" South Dakota. Looking forward to some cooler temps there - just way too hot and muggy here for this wimpy desert gal. Need dryer air at the very least. Have to say that it's pretty here though, just wish the temps were lower! Camps - you were really lucky to get a nice TAIL wind instead of Jack's head wind! Helps the "bottom line" on the fuel budget doesn't it!?

Alicia - I don't get to drive the tractor BECAUSE of the suv/boat - but then that's the price we pay for having great fun fishing wherever we are. I can, but haven't driven it except from my driving lessons, and a little around a campground here and there. Richard has about figured out that when we have some really tough maneuvering to do with the rig, that he's MUCH better at giving the directions than I am, and I can creep at a snail's pace backwards or forwards and follow his directions good. I do not GIVE really good directions though. We haven't had a chance to try out this new tactic yet though - next tight place and we'll try it out. We named him Scruffy because his coat was just nasty looking when we adopted him (campground food does not a nice coat make!). Plus his personal hygiene is NOT the best - he doesn't seem to know how to be a cat very good. If it weren't for the fact that he's absolutely terrified of water, I'd bathe him - but he totally goes ballistic. Sweet, sweet kitty though, and everyone who comes over and sits down will see - because he'll be in your lap in a few seconds (after all, if you come over, you MUST have come to see HIM!!). You may never go full time Alicia, but if you tried it for a good 3-4 months at a time, bet you'd decide that all the property, land, taxes, etc.... is something you could actually do without. It's a good life! Yellowstone is definitely on my MUST do list - but this summer is already full and not allowing for more trips... You'll have to tell us more about it when you can?? Gottago - time for an RDBE gathering - and we're working on a recipe book too... Later gals...

Susan, canning and smoking on the road is as easy as it would be at home with the right stuff... We have the small "Smoke It" smoker (about 15" square and around 25" tall), which is great for things like pork butts, fish, round steak (not the best cut of meat for tenderness normally, but pressure canned - oooh la la!). For the canning, we have a gasket-less All American Pressure Canner (15 qt size), and a stand alone "hot plate" (forget the name - something special - cast iron, not coils) that we just put on the counter top. Obviously it can be done outside if it's hot inside and you don't want to heat up the house too much. We generally just can one batch at a time - which is 7 quarts or 7 pints, or 7 pints and 7 half pints (this one we've not done yet, but plan on doing so next time). You can even make things like ham and bean soup, potato soup, and such without precooking the dry beans - put them in dry, pressure can them, and voila - dinner in a jar for those nights when you played or drove too long and don't want to eat out or there's nothing good in the fridge! We will likely start doing more canning than we have in the past now that we've discovered recipes for "no cook" soups and such. These will be great for when we fish till dark, then have to clean the fish and get showers, and there's just no time left to make dinner from scratch. If you're coming to the ECR, please feel free to look over our "supplies" to see if it interests you as something you might want to do. Believe it or not, the whole canning thing was Richard's idea from the get go - I never canned in my life till he got us started... Fun and oh so economical for great home cooked goodies. Only problem is storing all the things one wants to can!!! Poor Heidi and Robert! Between their truck issues and ours, we've got the repair facilities thanking us! Glad you're back to normal again guys!

Way to go Heidi - at least you're getting to get comfortable with the rig. My only "experience" is sometimes (rarely) around the campground. Kinda the pits having the two vehicles and spending our driving time in separate vehicles, but that's the price tag of wanting a boat to fish from... It's not so bad with books on cd - time passes quickly, and we get so engrossed in the plot that we don't want to spend time on the walkie talkies just gabbing. We have evenings, pit stops, and meals to gab anyway... Wish you guys were here - this is a lovely campground with HUGE spaces and a beautiful 25 acre lake that we can fish (without the boat). Travel safe and tell the kiddos and Robert hi from us.

Trey & Susan - you guys are coming to the rally aren't you? Hope so.

Still in AL, but headed to TN for the HDT rally in a couple of days. Looking forward to meeting some new "dark sider's" at the rally, and seeing friends we met at the KS rally again. Travel safe everyone! Sharon

Susan, got the campground submitted. Will try to take some pictures tomorrow. Weather right now is kinda cruddy (shades of last fall's fishing trip now that you mention it). But the last couple of days were decent fishing. Met a guy who had us go collect the big catfish from his jug lines, and keep the fish. Smoked and canned it - tasty stuff. Got 10 crappie the next day. Hoping that tomorrow and Wed are good weather, but it's not supposed to be. Fishing license expires on Wed, and since we'll leave on Friday morning to head over to the rally, there's no point in another license. This silly state (my birth state I might add) only does SEVEN day licenses - no single or triple day ones available. So no desire to renew this trip... But it's been fun even if we don't get any more fishing in. Looking forward to the rally though. We had a bad sensor in the truck coming from MS to AL and blew black soot all the way. Wouldn't have believe how nasty it was inside the house! Even inside the cabinets, the plastic ware was dirty in the cabinets! The floors, carpet, etc... YUCK! I'm still cleaning (when not fishing that is)...

Heidi - EEEK - how scary for the kids and Robert! I heard the other day from someone somewhere (can't remember), that many rattlesnakes no longer rattle to warn you. According to this guy, they've learned that it warns their prey and scares them off, so keep in mind that you MAY NOT hear the rattle snake! We haven't ventured much into the west to explore as we would like because of our twice a year trips to MO to see step mom. That really messes up a nice long trip out west. Still working on how best to go the places we want and still be able to visit with "mom"... We're thinking strongly about what to do to be proactive and hopefully avoid the need for climbing on the ladder - which would be super challenging with the suv/boat to park and get out of the way just to be able to hang off the ladder on the rig... Knowing you two, and your great dispositions, you both probably got a good laugh over it all later (not at the moment of course)! Aggie - it doesn't surprise me that you made a work of art out of your baskets - I'm looking forward to seeing them. Trey & Susan - got a nice park to add to your list - do I add it or do you? It's this place in Guntersville, AL (http://rvcampresort.com/littlemountain.aspx). Just let me know if you want me to add it or if you do - or if you don't want it added for some reason. We're camped one space away from the lake, near the boat slips... Probably will be one of the best views we have from most future campsites for sure. Nice fishing here too...

Heidi - I just can't make myself hug a tree out here in snake country! I personally like the desert - no trees to block the satellite signal, no trees to scrape off the silk screen windows, no trees to have to scrape by as you get into or out of a site. I like trees if it's hot and I'm sitting under one, but otherwise, from an RV standpoint, they're a bloody pain in the patushky! So how were you communicating with Robert when you were hanging off the ladder on the back of the rig? That MUST have been rather scary! I don't even want to do our ladder when the rig is standing still. I'm not afraid of heights, just ladders (go figure!!)! Aggie, you know I haven't even read many of the escapees magazines at all, just never seem to find the time, but that was one of the few I've read, and SO glad I did. I've found that the places that I'm happiest to have the little "baskets" is the medicine chest area (weird shapes there), and in the fridge to keep things from sliding and tipping so bad. Not to say that there aren't more in the "house" than that, but those are the "most appreciated" ones. Travel safely all - happy trails, Sharon

You're a "full timer" when you LIVE in the rig full time. You don't have to go anywhere, but if you don't live in a S&B, but in the rig, you're a genuine FT'er. There's a "new and improved" copilot truck program coming soon. Hubby is researching it as I type... I had heard that the eastern part of the US was more of a challenge than the west, and so far, we'll agree. Roads are narrower, rv spots seem to be tighter together, and of course more people and traffic. Oh, and the bloody trees!! We're getting to the point of disliking trees - we've had a few too many close calls with trees and the rig - and the darn things keep us from getting satellite signal. Our west, we just don't have as many trees and such... Oh well, we'll get to go back west for the summer, but back out east again for the fall and winter... Watch out for those tight curves ladies - and I don't mean the curves we're supposed to have!

We're looking for a program for the Ipad for a truckers gps as we're not really wanting to get a separate stand alone unit if possible. Still researching, but definitely MORE interested in finding it now! And yes, it had been one of our nightmares too, and not that it's "out of the way" - it would be nice if we didn't have to repeat it, but the odds aren't in our favor... Drive safe ladies! Sharon

Well we had a NOT so lovely time of trying to getting 70' of truck and trailer around a way too tight corner, and blocking traffic both directions for about an hour while Richard had to BACK up the hill and around the curve. There was a VERY small sign where we turned off the main hwy that said "no 18 wheelers" - well heck - first, neither of us saw it, and secondly, we are not an 18 wheeler. Alabama needs to take a page out of the Colorado book and say something like "no vehicles over 35 feet" - now that's an instruction that any moron can understand. Even if we had seen it, we wouldn't have thought it meant us - we only have 12 wheels, and we think that means the 80,000 pound guys, not us 24,000 ones! NOT a pleasant day. Note to self - call the rv park in the future to see if there's a "preferred" way to get there - the gps is notorious for sending us the wrong way. Time to look into a truckers gps I think! Drive safe everyone - happy trails, Sharon

Yep, that's what I had in mind - stuff "other than truck stuff" - anything and everything - from recipes to organizational tips, to craft ideas, to... Whatever. Us gals never have any problem finding things to talk about do we?? The guys sure don't! Well, off to tidy up for tomorrow's departure for another 7 hours or so on the road. Alabama's crappie are jumping with excitement at us trying to catch them and throw them in a hot pan... At least I HOPE so! Later gals... Have a great evening. Sharon