steved44

No snow here in Laughlin, Nevada, so don't send any here!! We don't want to set a new standard...........Just resting after a fun week at the Porters Party, Project, Pool, and Play Palace! We were so worn out that everyone left (even the Porters) Now all we have to do is get ready for Q! The Riverside RV park always seems to have a few spaces so we managed to slide into one of them. Pat and Gary Hinz, who joined us in Q a couple of years ago were already here from California for a few days so we had dinner with them and caught up on their life. We hoped they could come to Q, but his mother just died and he's still dealing with that situation, so they probably will not make it. They are the ones that had the border collie named Kelly. We are going to plan another "Italian night" with Chateaugay spaghetti while there, so I'd better stock up on sweet Italian sausage and the rest of the fixings. zoyd s ;oyy;r est,rt jrtr yjsm zjsbodi niy mpy ,ivj@ Hmm looks like I was one key off, but I said It was a little warmer here than Havasu, but not much. Too tired must sleep ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ok, lets see now; Wake up Dave, drive the UTV to the store, get metal, wrestle the drawer away from Carol, line the drawer with metal, weld same!! It's all too much. Scrap project, make another cup of coffee and chill out. Sorry Jerry it won't work

Jeff, glad you have the old Jeep going again. Those electronic parts can sure be a pain. We have our drawer back together and working now. Of course it's the main one we use all the time and it fell apart right in the middle of the Christmas cooking frenzy!! After Paul worked on it it will probably outlast the bus now! Nothing like an air stapler, wood glue and some gussets to rehab this thing! Steve

Jeff, sorry you're having Jeep troubles. I hate those intermittent problems the most! You'll have to tow it over here to Havasu and let us work on it a while. We're working on 5th wheels, ATV's and Tiffin cabinets, so a Jeep would probably round out the mix just fine !

Come on Jeri, surely you can persuade Santa Terry to make the rounds!!

We made it out of the carpet shop and they did a fine job. Daniel Humphreys, in Golden, Mississippi owns RV solutions and used to work for Tiffin (the assembly plant) and now has his own business. He does carpets, residential fridges, windows and much more. He did our carpet in one day and it looks great. Now we are finished with the work we needed at the factory and are ready to head out of here next week. We have to rest up a couple of days to make up for the 5:30 AM mornings we had to endure during the repair process. Seems all of these Red Bay people start work at 6 or 7 am and this place is a ghost town by 3:00pm. We did spend two nights living in the paint booth too which was not all bad. We had a small hail storm come through and this is probably the first time I had the bus inside during a storm. It's nice to be able to come to a town that has all of the RV businesses that this place does. They have Bay Diesel too, so you can get your chassis and engine repairs or service done here too. They do have quite a few RV parks, so getting a place to stay was no problem. They do specialize in tiffin motor homes, but I've seen a number of others in here too. It was a little nippy here this morning, 28 degrees, so I was glad I turned the engine aux heat on last night. Sure makes that diesel fire right off on a crispy morning. Our good friends from Oklahoma are here too and they will be getting carpet from the same place on Monday. Now it's time for a little cranberry juice and relax for a while. Steve

Freddy, hope the new hip is doing well. Yep, no cutting horse training for a while!! Mine has been doing fine, but then I haven't done any horse training at all. Hmmm Toni, that sounds like a great Walmart location. Maybe that is going to be a trend (I hope). Last Walmart we stayed at cost about $110. but I needed that new battery charger.............or did I? Now we have a new front end on our bus. We are just waiting for the Diamond Shield to be installed tomorrow morning and we'll be through with the "Branson Incident". We did get a different front end as the 2010 front looked better and would still be able to be blended into the side stripes. Now it looks like a 2010 with 2007 headlights. One of a kind bus and it does look pretty good. Finally the battle damage is gone and we can get BessyBus going again. Took from 9/1 to 12/1, but hey, life gets in the way too. We had a funny thing happen last evening. There were a few storms coming through the area and a tornado watch was put in place. Then the sirens in Red Bay went off and a loud voice came over the speakers and told us to seek shelter now! Well, being from Oklahoma we were watching radar and the storm had already passed about 10 minutes before the warning came out, so that was a good one. Later we were watching local TV and the weather guy was showing some mish mash on the screen and said it was from his "weather app" Whaaaaat! we are trusting our lives to a "weather app"!!!! If I want to get wiped out by a tornado we'll go back to Oklahoma and "do it right"!!

Well, it's getting cold around here at night. Last night it was 29 and it's supposed to be 26 in the morning with rain. Bad part is we can't sleep in tomorrow because we have to be at the body shop at 0600 so I guess I'll put the engine heater on before we go to bed. All of the body work is done now, but the 4 colors of paint have to be put on and then the Diamond Shield coating over that. Don't know how long that will take, but hey, progress is progress! We just drove through the main Tiffin parking area a while ago and it's full up. There are even three or four just arriving that will be in the boon-docking spaces. Sure don't want to be in that lot in the morning when everyone is lining up at bay doors half asleep. Now speaking of sleep I'll have to go to it earlier tonight ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yeah, Linda, I heard that they eat popcorn from under the drivers seat too. Hmmmm

Jeff, it must have been the troll under the bed that snatched that remote! They don't usually watch much tv so this one must have been desperate. Maybe you haven't been feeding him enough.......

Dang, I'm jealous of all the sawhorse parties going on! We are going to have a small one here at the factory! Our friends from Oklahoma are parked next to us and another couple from Pennsylvania will be joining too. We will be cooking the turkey, and they the trimmings. At least a 12lb will fit in the RV oven so that should do the trick. Cold here last night (31) so we probably will not be eating out by the picnic table. Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving! Steve

We've been to Hemet, but Carol had a cousin that lived there and we were able to park next to his house in an orange grove. Nice to reach out the window to get your morning juice! We're still in Red Bay at the factory waiting to get something done. Our carpet came in yesterday so now we can get the installer working. Of course next week is thanksgiving so they have to eat and deer hunt, so ........... The body work from the incident with the 5th wheel comes to about 8,500, so the body shop is getting set to start that job. Hurry up and wait!! They are backed up because the owners mother died, so on we don't know how that is going to go. Then Carols phone went bad, so we had to get a new one and, of course, that process never goes as smoothly as they say it's supposed to. Those phones are too dang smart for their own good. It's a good thing we are retired that's all I can say. We saw the rocket ship (Jeri & Terry), go by a couple of times so I guess at least someone is on schedule! Happy travels. Steve

Well we blasted through Knoxville today and there was a puff of smoke. They said it was forest fires, but I know better.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Huh?? Dessert?? who said dessert! I guess it's time to drag out the "old ice cream machine" and get with the program. We're still in Pigeon forge for a few more days. The weather here has been great but the trees are losing their bloom pretty quickly now. This park has cleared out during the week and just the weekend warriors are showing up now. Time to head out for Red Bay Alabama and get the scrapes fixed. Pulling the pin in the morning...Till then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Weather here in North Carolina went away yesterday. We were in Winston-Salem yesterday and on the way back to Ashville it went from 75 degrees to 54. Now this morning it's 42. Quite a change. Blustery and spitting rain so of course it's moving day. Who plans this stuff?? Heading for Chattanooga for a week to see what's going on around there. Hmmmm click on engine pre heat for the first time this year.

He was a prolific reader and read many types of books. He never went to college, but became fluent in French, German and Italian. His main interests were in architecture and art but poetry also tweaked his interest. He also seemed to be interested in the promotion of cranberry juice around campfires, but that's just conjecture at this point.

You mean other than rich?

Hey, Jeff, California will pay you to stay there and keep the rain going!! Could that be called "work camping"?

Finally made it back to civilization! We were parked at Lake Powhatan COE on the South side of Ashville, NC and didn't have phone, internet, current bush or TV for a while. It was the only one we could find on line that had any openings so we took it for a week. It was a nice change from all the activity in Wisconsin, Carol's HS reunion, her sibling reunion, and many more including the tour of Lambeau field, but it was toooo much quiet for us. Now we found a park on the East side of town called Taps RV park and it's quite nice. 30A full hook ups, internet, phone, a small river and even a train. Can't beat that. We came here for the fall foliage color in the Blue Ridge mountains, but so far it's not at it's peak yet. High 40's last night, but he days are in the 70's so the weather is just right, just waiting on the color. I used to pass through here (in my former life) when we bought busses near here at the Thomas Bus plant in High Point, NC, but were always "passing through". We toured the Biltmore mansion the other day and it's quite the place. The largest privately owned home in the United States which was finished in 1895 and had 178,926 square feet of floor space. Nice, but the thought of keeping 43 bathrooms clean is not on my bucket list. Even had a two lane bowling alley in the basement. This is a beautiful area, but all hills woods and curves, so you can't get a feeling that you're in a city. From here we will head to Red Bay Alabama to get the front of our bus repaired from that accident in Branson, MO where the guy in the 5th wheel backed into me. Now to get a cup of Joe and wait for the leaves to turn. Happy travels Steve

This is the only thing I could find on an obituary for lee. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/espy-horning-obituary?pid=1000000181416370

So sorry to hear that Jeri. We knew it was just a matter of time, but still couldn't force ourselves to believe it. He's sure going to be missed. I don't know how many nights he and I were the last two around the campfire and told war stories until we were both mostly asleep. He would always be the one to post something on the forum just to get the rest of us to wake up and start posting again. He was an inspiration to all of us to keep going, keep camping and keep living. Now he's got a whole new campground to set up in. They'd better have full hook ups in heaven, or they're going to be sorry. Rest in peace IYQ!

So sorry to hear that Jeri. We knew it was just a matter of time, but still couldn't force ourselves to believe it. He's sure going to be missed. I don't know how many nights he and I were the last two around the campfire and told war stories until we were both mostly asleep. He would always be the one to post something on the forum just to get the rest of us to wake up and start posting again. He was an inspiration to all of us to keep going, keep camping and keep living. Now he's got a whole new campground to set up in. They'd better have full hook ups in heaven, or they're going to be sorry. Rest in peace IYQ!

Jeri, we stayed at the Elks at Page. Nothing special, but FHU's. Antelope canyon is great, I almost had to leave Carol there!!

Yep, every time I screw up she's there! Worked out pretty good though, the Elks had a pig roast today so I was about 50 yards from good food!!

Ha Ha, me too!