Chambers on the Road

We have now graduated to a 2 night event, spending Saturday (10/20) and Sunday (10/21) at Wakonda State Park.  We had a beautiful lakeside campsite on Boulder Lake; however,  the water was much higher than normal.  The water's edge was maybe 7 feet from our camper door.  Good thing rain was not in the forecast! On the way to the park, we realized Dan thought I packed his milk, and I thought he did.  So, we stopped at a gas station and bought a half-gallon for $3.  We also forgot salad dressing; who wants to eat dry salad?  However, our wonderful campground hosts had naively told us, "Let us know if you need anything."  So, we did.   Thanks to Sherry and her husband,  we enjoyed our salads with Ranch and Italian dressing. Many campers had decorated their sites for Halloween, and some of the kids dressed up for trick or treating.  Lots of campfires going on Saturday night, but it was far too cold for us to walk around and...

So, it's off to Middleton RV on Monday morning, October 15th for a 10 am appointment.  We spend about 2 1/2 hours for our "orientation" and purchasing the rest of the peripherals needed.  Ouch, that hurt.  :)  But, all of the Middleton RV folk have been just great - from Timmy in the store to Billy, our tech teacher - to our original sales people Bill and Mike, they've been really nice and answered our many newbie questions. Our first stop is to show off to Dan's twin, Don and wife Barb, who drove down to the gas station on MM to appropriately oo and ah at our new purchase.  We were so happy to see them.  We then head for our camp - at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters, not more than 10 minutes from our home.  Dan practices backing up in the day parking lot, and we get set up in site 202.  At this point, it's 5:20, and we enjoy a cool, fall walk around the lake.  The sunset is pink and calming, and the park is quiet and peaceful with few...

Thursday - 9/13/2018 and Friday - 9/28/2018 Time to purchase a tow vehicle.  We started with an article found on Clark Howard's website (thanks, Clark!) on the SUVs and trucks mostly likely to get to 200,000 miles or more.  Then, I researched the tow capacity and came up with a list which would fit our towing needs. We did some research on the Car Max website and then off to the store.  While there, we found a 2010 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer with 62,000 at 19,998.  One owner who bought the car with cash.  No accidents.  It was rated to tow 9200 lbs which was about 2/3 of our max weight.  It had a sunroof and leather interior, and we were smitten again.  The car was in Irving, Texas, and we paid to have it brought to the St. Peters store. We picked up the car on Friday, 9/28/2018.  As per Clark, we had it thoroughly checked out by an independent mechanic of our choosing, and we are good. The whole experience with Car Max was very plea...

Sunday - 9/9/2018 So we go to the RV show, just for fun.  We've been talking for almost a year about purchasing an Aliner Expedition.  We loved the simplicity and the easy set up.  There was; however, a thought which plagued us as we thought about future travels and expeditions.  The restroom.  We thought we'd be content with not having to deal with a restroom and all that goes with an RV restroom.   I certainly did not want a toilet 2 feet from the "kitchen." But once we walked into the Flagstaff Micro Lite 23FBKS, our expedition plans were but a distant memory.  We loved everything about it, and the restroom separated into its own private room felt like a more comfortable plan to deal with middle of the night restroom breaks on our travels.  We were smitten, and it was easy to see as we lingered at and inside the unit.  The salesperson lowered the price, and we bit, rationalizing in various, creative ways, why we needed to buy now....