Trying pictures again

5/30/14 - Hopefully it will work.

                                             At a rest stop in Illinois

                                              My picnic lunch, pan, drink and book

                                                     Sandwiched

                                                  Settled in Northern Indiana

                                               Second view

Trying pictures again

5/28/14 - not happening yet!!  Today, when I got up it was quite foggy so I waited it out for an hour before I headed on the road.  I was in the parking lot of WalMart at Kankakee, Illinois.  I had about three hours to get to Bristol, Indiana but still did not feel the best so stopped off and rested a while.  Off again and got to Bristol at 1:15pm.  My friend Sue came by and between the two of us, we unhooked the car, stored the towing pieces, backed in the RV, hooked up electricity, water, sewer, leveled RV and got the TV to work within about 2 hours.  It was wonderful to have her here to help and now I feel all at home with all the amenities.  I am trying to figure which soup to eat since my stomach is still having some issues.  I have now changed the bed sheets and took a shower and finally feel clean.  I need to clean up the RV since it has been all around the farmland in Missouri and had many relatives take a tour.

It was quite humid when I arrived but has cooled down for the evening and less humidity so am quite comfortable.  I will keep trying to post some pictures as soon as I figure out how.

Illinois

05/27/14 - This is my third time to blog because I was trying to send some pictures but am having a hard time and then I would lose the story so now I will finish the story and publish and then try for the pictures later.  I am about 40 miles south of the 80 Turnpike so don't have a lot of driving tomorrow to reach my destination of Bristol, Indiana where I plan to park for about 10 days.  Plans are to visit an elderly aunt and some cousins.  I have my aunt from Cleveland planning to come out for a few days as well.  Sure will be good to see her again.

Traveling went much better today.  I did not have rain although had some wind.  There was some construction that left some lanes very narrow but decided if the semi in front of me can make it so can I.  I am at WalMart for the evening and have opened all the windows and have a great cross breeze.  Hopefully, will be able to sleep tonight since I have quite a few semi trucks around me and they are running engines which I am assuming is for air conditioning.  I will try later to get the pictures attached.  I took two of the rest stop I had my lunch.  I am feeling a lot better which is wonderful.  I actually got soup down and the stomach is OK!!

5/26/14 - Since my last communication, we got to my niece place in Auburn, Nebraska at about 4:30pm.  There we finally were able to set up with some water and electricity so that was great.  We got all our electronics charged up for the next day.  We had a cook out.  On 5/24/14, we left Katie's house at 9:15am and got to the Kansas City Airport at 12:00pm.  The first flight out was a 1:29pm so both couples had plenty of time.  I then drove back to Liberty, Missouri to my first cousin's house for the afternoon and plans were to leave today and drive to St. Louis.  Well, early Sunday morning, I started vomiting and diarrhea.  I am not sure what it was because I did not eat anything different then anyone else and I was the only one sick.  It last until noon on Sunday but I was in bed until around 4:00pm before I got up took a shower and sat outside for some fresh air.  I did drink a little Sprite but just did not feel well.  I went back to bed at 9:00pm and then slept off and on until after 9:00am.  Finally got up, took a shower, packed my things and had a cup of hot tea.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to even travel.  I was still experiencing some diarrhea but no vomiting.   I decided even if I did not get very far, I would start out.  I left Liberty about 12:30pm.

Within a hour I started to get a little rain but nothing too bad.  I stopped for gas and since I could not get the nozzle to stay, it took a look time to fill up.  Then my hands were so dirty, I went to the bathroom to wash up before paying.  Paid the bill and got to the RV before I realized I had left the key in the bathroom!!  Back to fetch it and then finally off again.  I had two bites of banana and some ice tea but is not settling well so plan to have a piece of toast tonight for dinner.  After while, the wind kicked up and then it started to rain.  I got into a thunderstorm and pouring rain so pulled off in a truck stop and waited it out.  It was about 45 minutes.  It traveling was not going to fast and the traffic was picking up because of Memorial Day, I decided to stop before St. Louis.  I only got to Warrenton but it was already a little after 6:00pm. It is not warm here but rather humid so I have all the windows open for right now but plan to close them soon.  I plan to go to bed rather early again tonight and maybe will get an earlier start tomorrow.  Time will tell

05/23/14 - We have been traveling around visiting relatives and friends.  We left Windsor around 2:30pm on 5/20 and headed for Jamesport, Missouri  to visit another aunt and uncle.  We had a great visit.  On 5/21 we took off for Bloomfield, Iowa.  We had lunch with one aunt and then dinner with a another aunt and uncle.  We spent the night.  On 5/22 we took off for La Plata, Missouri for our last visit in Missouri.  We stopped and did some shopping, had lunch with friends in Lancaster, Missouri and then arrived in La Plata around 4:00pm.  We had dinner, visited and off to bed.  This morning we are planning breakfast, a visit and then head for Nebraska for the night since we have a niece located there.

05/17/14 - I had a good night of rest, got up and was very cold so got dressed and started out since I could turn the heater on in the front.  Had a good trip until I got into Kansas City and instead of driving on the 635 freeway, I found myself on the 435 freeway.  I got off, turned around and then found the 635 freeway.  My exist was the 29 North to learn the exist was closed and they forced us to go 29 South.  I then decided it was time to find a business with a big parking lot to turn around so existed off and ended up on the 169.  I found a business, pulled in and called my first cousin Bob to get better directions.  Got the directions and headed out for his house.  When I got here there was a lot of cars since the neighborhood had a huge garage sale so I parked around the corner.  Alex (son) helped me unhook the car, put all the towing stuff away and then later, we moved the RV to the front of the house which will stay until I leave on Monday.  We had to level the RV since it is on a slight incline but all is well. 

On Monday afternoon, I will pick up my siblings and we will visit elderly aunts and uncles for a week.

5/16/14 - I had a great day.  When I was checking my maps last night, I noticed that I was not very far from Abilene, Kansas and I had a good friend living there but had no way to contact her but did have her sister's e-mail address.  So I took my changes and sent a e-mail and sure enough the sister saw it and soon I got Alice's cell phone number.  I called and arrangements were made to meet for lunch. Alice told me the exit to take off the freeway and where to park and she would meet me.  We met about 11:30 and she had an hour.  I have so many left overs that need to be eaten so I warmed up some chicken and noodles, had tea and cookies and we had lunch and talked really fast.  It was so good to see her.  It has been many years.

I left Chapman, Kansas for Topeka, Kansas where I was meeting up with one of my Aunt Esther's college roommates, Diane.  I had met Diane many many years ago.  We decided to meet in the parking lot of Sam's Club but when I got here the parking lot was really full so I parked in the WalMart parking lot next door but I was really in the way of traffic and did not feel comfortable staying there.  I then walked around the whole parking lot when I saw an RV parked way out in front of a Barnes and Noble and that parking lot was not near as full so decided to move from WalMart to Barnes and Noble next to this RV.  I have not seen any active so am not sure if it is even occupied.
Diane came over, picked me up and took me to her house. We had quite the conversation and then went for dinner at a family restaurant that was very good.  I could not believe that I could have a main course including cottage cheese and vegetable and lemon pie with tip for a total of $19.00!!

I ran the generator for awhile tonight since it is raining a lot and for is COLD.  In the RV it states 64 degrees so I got my electric heater out, closed the bedroom door and ran it for about a 1/2 but it will be cold by tomorrow morning.  Off to Liberty, Missouri tomorrow which is about 80 miles so will be a light traveling day

5/15/14 - I got this morning at 6:20am to put together all of my stuff from Annie and Boj's house and put in the RV before my friends Bob and Steve came over to help me pull out from the side of their house and help hook up the car.  To make sure that everything was in place, Bob followed me to the gas station but was having some difficulty using my gift card, so went out and told him good bye since he needed to go to bed.  (he works nights).  Later got the card taken care of, put in gas and left Denver about 9:05am.  Before, long I was in slow traffic because of a stalled car and then later slow traffic because of a stalled ambulance but soon we got moving.  Out on the plains of Colorado, I had a lot of wind again and my first rest stop, I waited a little bit but did not seem to slow down so decided that I would just drive slower and continue.  It was windy most of the way.

I almost stopped off in Colby, Kansas but it was only 3:00pm so felt that was a little too early but then Hays was a 104 miles more.  I decided to keep going and got to Hays and the WalMart parking lot at 5:55pm.  Heated up some dinner, made tea, decided to run the generator for a while since it was a little stubborn to keep going, write the blog and then read until it is dark and go to bed early.

My goal is to have short visit tomorrow with a friend who lives in Abilene and then stay in Topeka for the night.

5/11/14 - Had a nice Mother's Day with my friends, Annie and Boj.  We went to church in the snow and cold, home for some waffles and then met other friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant. - Annie and Boj are packing to leave for Las Vegas tomorrow to visit with their daughter and son-in-law.  I will be house/cat sitting for three days since I won't pull out until Thursday for Kansas City.  I am going to attach a few pictures since I thought (Winnie-RVand Hilda -Honda) would NEVER see snow but that is not true any more.  Hilda has never seen any snow so I my sure she is in shock.
Here are the pictures from their house - the white stuff on car is snow!

Parked on the side of the house

Parked in front of the house

05/10/14 - Yesterday, I had a great day shopping with Annie and Boj since it was Annie's birthday and Mother's Day.  We did some shopping at Kohl's and I found some slacks that actual fit.  I was so pleased.  Today, Boj repaired the bedroom window and I am so grateful since it would have cost a lot of money and the RV repair shop had stated it could take up to 3 hours for repair. We used Annie's vacuum cleaner and gave the RV a good cleaning.  Annie invited a friend over for hamburgers and we decided to eat in the RV which was great.  Later another friend joined us for dessert.  I am freaking out because the weather forecast has gotten really cold and tomorrow and part of Monday they are expecting snow!!  I just can't believe it.  By the time, I pull out on Thursday, the temperature will be back in the 50's.  Thank goodness it will only last for 2 days.

Arriving in Denver

5/5/14- It has been quite a busy day so this will be short since I am tired and need to get to bed.  This morning I had breakfast with Deb Carleo, back to the house and then I pulled out for Denver.  I actually drove all the way to Denver without stopping which was really good for me.  When I got to my friend's house (Boj and Annie Nelson) we unhooked the car, backed the RV in on the side of their house, plugged in electricity, leveled the RV and then decided to make sure the TV and speakers work but that took a while since we had to change the Arizona stations to the Denver stations and it took Dish a while to get that accomplished.  We finally got it done, off to get a salad for dinner.

5/2/14 - Got up this morning at 6:30am because we were parked very close to a railroad and I heard trains off and on all night but did get some sleep.  I woke up this morning and it was 48 degrees so put my summer clothes away and dug out my winter clothes.  The high today while traveling was only 75 degrees so I have everything all closed up to try and keep the heat since I don't want to run the generator and furnace all night.

Traveling went much better today and I drove almost 400 miles.  As of this writing, I am sitting in a Walmart parking lot with at least 4 others right now but it is a little early so could be more.  I left Gallup, New Mexico at around 7:30am but had a beeping noise I could not get rid of so drove 4 miles back to where I knew there was a mechanic but he poked around and basically knew nothing so the beeping quit when I had it in drive so left a message for my nephew and started out.  When I stopped at a truck stop, Jeremy and I chatted and I learned that I did not have it all the way in neutral but enough that it would start because it does not start in a gear.  I was so relieved.  I am now in Trinidad, Colorado and have only 87 miles to stop off for three days to visit with friends in Pueblo and then off to Denver for 8-9 days.

5/1/14 - Another update since the last one turned out to be inaccurate.  Because of a lot of wind in the Phoenix area for the past several days, I decided that I would not leave Phoenix on 4/30.  Things died down a little bit so I got up early, settled the bills at the office, pulled all the hoses and plugs, put my car on the tow bar and left Phoenix around 9:00ish.  I did make several stops just to give myself a break since I had to fight a lot of wind so was only traveling at 55 miles per hour.  My goal had been to stay in Grants, New Mexico but I ended up in Gallup, New Mexico instead because of being drained but the first day of travel.  So my day was cut short by 60 miles and not sure if I will re-route myself or to drive a little further tomorrow.  Time will let as I get on the road.  I am parked in a Walmart parking lot with 7other RV'ers so feel safe.  My am parked right next to one and the gentleman already helped the old gal.  Sometime or other the wind must have caught my window in the bedroom because all of a sudden I heard strange noises so stopped and here the little window is flopping all over the place.  The little plastic thing to hold it in place is broken so I tried to tape it shut with some mailing tape I have when the gentleman noticed since I could not reach very well and came over and put some black electric tape on it instead!!  What a nice guy.  We chatted for a while.  They came in from Texas on their way to Las Vegas.

So now I am getting myself to bed early to see if I can start a little earlier and maybe make up the 60 miles. Who knows.