July trip update -- eeks. bad tranny. bad!

Hi, hope all is well with everyone.

No pics today. I was able to get a millisecond of airtime on my sprint card! So sending this post out asap.

I've not had any internet for a few days now. Actually, not since I left Tenneseeeee. I'm now in Arkansaseeee.

Recap: (hmmm, not sure what's up with the eeee's, I'm not in Louisianaeee)

Left titusville, Pennsylvanieee on Tuesday, July 17^th.

Drove through Ohioeeee, till I could no longer drive. Well, that is, between walks & walking dogs. And getting gas. Ellie has a serious drinking problem! I plan on recapping all the gas expenses & mileage once I get back to Texas & settled back in.

Wednesday, July 18^th. I get up, walk dogs at rest area, freshen up & head out.

Dang it though. One of the things that help break the monotony for me is the CB set. Just hearing different noise helps, but nope. I hook up the antenneeee & plug in the Cbeee. OK, we're in business! Then nothing. El Deado. ARGH. There's a short in the wireeeee's. Oh well. So no CB, but at least the radio decided to workee! Yay~

I digressee.

Wednesday, drive, drive, drive. Drop down through Kentuckyeeee.

Keep driving because I'm routing down on 65 south now, so it's not that long to drive through. SUCH beautiful country though! Kentuckyeeee is gorgeous!

Then I get to Tenneseeeee & I'm looking for a state park at this point. I stop at the welcome center & get a state map & maps of state parks & campgrounds. Welcome centers are GREAT! I'm always grateful to get those items. So I finally pass where I can pull off the highwayee & drive, drive, drive to a state park. Hmmmm, not all state parks are close to the highway. So I'm always a little hesitant of what I'll be driving into. But then, there's nothing like American back roads. Not that I have any other country to compare to on my travels. Cept Mexico & that is only border towns.

So I go to the state park that I previously posted about, it's a nice park. I had a nice stay there, but could only stay one night. I'm prettty much a little further west in central Tn at this point.

Thursday, July 19^th, I leave the state park in Tn. I drive, drive, drive. Walk dogs, drive more. I get to Arkansaseeee!! Yayeee!! Now to head for the welcome center for Ark maps. I get them, then decide where to go. But I realize I've not written them down, so I decide, oh well, you get signs along the way anyhow. Can't read maps & drive at the same time. So I'm getting tired of driving, foot hurting major bad. Thank goodness for cruise control when I can use it! I pass one state park because the sign doesn't show the camper icon. Image. Whatever you'd call it on a sign.

I finally get to another one, yes, it shows a camper! So I pull off. And this state park is 13 miles off the freeway. 13 miles of beautiful back country roads but yet, I wonder if I'll ever get there! Finally, find it.

Village Creek State park in Wynne, Ark. Nice place. More of a family oriented type of park that has tennis courts, bike trails, equestrian things, golf, etc. And a lake, but I didn't see the sign to the lake till I was leaving the park the next day. But to park there, it's somewhere around $30 a night according to the check in station. I'll do a post about the parks I've stayed in later.

I get up, walk dogs, etc. Take a walk myself, then leave. Pay on the way out as I got in too late the day before to check in & pay then. I head for one of my favorite state parks to spend two more nights. After several hours of driving (ouch, this hurts the el footo. Use cruise control as much as possible, but don't like using it when the RV has to climb hills.) Oh and a few gas stops too. Again.

Friday, July 20^th. I finally make it to one of my favorite campgrounds! A COE park. The Iron Mountain Park at DeGray Lake in Caddo, Arkansaseeee. It's just outside of Arkadelphia. I pull up. Arlene, the campground host (work camper at that :-) ) recognizes me as I stayed here in May! That's always fun! She told me to drive around, find a spot, then come back to let her know which I want. I'm up with that. I knew where I wanted to stay, but didn't know the site numbers, so went do choose mine....uh oh...my black cloud returned!!! NOOOOO, not again!!! Noooo, no black clouds!! ARGH!!! Yep, I catch a rock between my duallies. Fortunately, that pops back out. But then I hear another strange noise! And all of a sudden, Ellie does not want to go up hills!! OH NO!! This is NOT good! I make it back to the office, which is Up hill!! Then Ellie makes a horrendous noise! I cut the engine. Arlene comes out & wants to know what's wrong. I told her I didn't know, but I think it may be transmission. She calls one of the rangers. A young ranger guy comes to my aid. He takes a look. There is NO transmission fluid left in my tranny!! So he takes me to a store, we get 5 bottles of it. He puts it in, but after the 3^rd bottle, he comments that it's really weird that the stick isn't reading the levels. I then comment, maybe it's pouring back out on the ground!! OH NO! IT IS!!! A huge puddle of the stuff, all over the ground. He crawls under the rig & can't see anything because of the dust cover. So I go in the office & pay for my time that I'll be here. He quickly pours the other two bottles in just so I can make it to my site. I make it just in time, quickly drop leveling blocks, level & park. Sooo, now it's Saturday, July 21^st & I'm extremely grateful that I'm here & not somewhere on the highway with this problem!!! At least I'm parked, plugged in & have groceries. Arlene was looking up mechanics for me. I hope we can get one to come out on Monday to take a look. I can get the RV towed to them if needed. I have a doc appointment on Tuesday, but now that's looking like I'll have to cancel. I'm about 8-9 hours from home still. If I have to cancel, I might come back here for a few days before heading back then.

OH & I fixed the flat tire on my bike! Little old me. Yep, I did. A back tire at that. I watched youtube when I was in Pa on how to do it. I bought a new tube in Pa, but didn't put it on then. Out of desperation today, I did. I need to go to the office, which is quite a way away to pay for tomorrow night too. BUT no. One of the brake pads on my bike is worn out & I have no brakes on the front tires!! Why-o-why does this stuff have to happen to meeeeeeeeeeee!! Geezeee.

I would have walked up there today, but the foot hurt way too much for any walking. Which is why I wanted two days of down time anyhow. So today, the dogs got walks instead. I cleaned kitty litter boxes & cleaned the RV. Turned my passenger seat around for seating for myself. AND I have tv reception here, so it's all good. And a/c, so that's good too. This global warming is too much! It's an oven out there. Even with today's breezes, it was hot out there. But at least the park isn't too terribly busy. There's a few other folks here. And a girl that has a TT across from me that has worse luck than I do!!! Can you belive that???

I'll post this when I finally get internet again. One day. Sometime when I get back to town. One day. Can only stay here 2 weeks, so one day....byeeeee

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Tenn-ah-see

Welcome to Gypsy Jane! I'm thrilled to have you along – I've been following your blog for some time now. :-)

Today's post is about my trip to Pa. And of the interesting trip back so far.

So, I went to visit with family around 5 weeks ago. Although there were some hot days, it was still way better than our Texas heat. Plus even with the humid days, it was still better than the bayou cities I've been living in! Most nights & mornings were cool. I love sleeping with windows open, breezes & cool air filtering through. Sure beats the noise of the a/c, but now that I'm back in the south, the a/c is back & running strong. Thank goodness though, the alternative would suck.

I had a good visit. We had a family reunion, which my Mom referred to as “the gathering”. Heehee

My brother Sonny, showed me one of his gorgeous custom made cigar box guitars. He makes them & sells them to muscians.

My brother David came by a few times, we did some work to Mom's computer, so it's mucho better now. Wifi, wireless mouse & old files cleaned out. All updated too.

My brother Tom came by a few times, we went out to eat with him. He took us riding around one evening, it was fun revisiting & seeing the sights again. Pa sure is beautiful country!

My sister Deb & Linda came by when they could as well. Linda took me to a soccer game that her 5 year old grandson was playing in. It was their last event for the season. Soooo cute. Tiny little kids. Some put their all in, but most had trouble following & comprehending the game. Which doesn't surprise me for such a young age. It's mostly about fun & exercise for them.

Had a good time running around Pa. Left my Mom's on Monday & headed for Sunny's place. No, not my brother Sonny, but to Sunny of Changing Lanes. She got a new-to-her motorhome! A 29'4” ClassC Winnie. Nice, big & roomy! I didn't even bring out my camera! Time was so short with Sunny that visiting was more valuable. But she did have fun taking pics of my goofy dogs.

OH & she will be selling her other little C. It's adorable!! A vintage little Winnie. Soooo cute & garage kept. In really, really good condition. If it wasn't already nearly dark, I would have wanted to take pics of it. But that's the breaks.

I spent the night at Sunny's in my RV in her driveway. Sunny is fun to meet & is a very talented artist. I had fun looking at her paintings on her walls. Even some have humor in them, such as her chickens painted in their chicken nests! Her place is marvelous! And she has great power there too! I was impressed. It's not often that I turn on my lights & see the skies of heaven open. Yep, that's how bright they were. If you don't believe me, then be that way! Humpf. Usually they are dull with most places as I've found really inferior power at sooo many places.

I digress.

Then on Tuesday morn, I left Sunny's & went onto my sister Deb's house as she lives in the same town. I visited with her & her husband Steve for awhile, then headed out. We sat down with a map to study my route out. Somehow, I missed 8 & kept going on through on 27! ARGH! Hate it when I do that!!! So I pulled over, looked at the map & rerouted. Actually, it was kind of fun because I got to explore the small historic towns of Northwestern Pa. High north west that is! So then I decided to stay on the back roads through towns & such. Yes, that does take more time & gas, but isn't this partly what Rving is about? Exploring? Driving? Even if you ARE supposed to be heading west & you have a brain bubble & head EAST!!! Grrrr. Yes, I did. But I caught myself & back tracked. Then looked at the map again, yet for another alternative route. Found one. I'll go 58 till I connect with 5 on through Ohio.

Uh oh. Problem. Um...there's a narrow 10'8” tunnel! Hmmm, I drive past, I study the map. Do I want to try it or go around several miles around till I can reconnect with 5 again? Oh heck, I'll drive up to it to see. It's only a 1 car tunnel at that. I get chicken. I start to back out, but approaching me is a guy on a motorcycle. He said I could do this! He got off his bike & convinced me I could. He walked slowly backwards directing me & I got through. But looking back, it was dumb of me to try that. I'm really grateful that I didn't damage Ellie! So I'm scedoodling down 5, enjoying the scenes.

Oh speaking of scenes. Pa is Amish country, I'm sure most of ya'll know that already. I passed several amish families & their buggies. Their horses have such looooooooong legs! Beautiful animals in fact.

I passed a car show, an antique car show. I thought about stopping to take pics but was already late, so didn't. But I saw two young Amish men with their horse & cart. They were eating ice cream cones & the horse was really fretting over the car activities. He rared up in the air, repeatdely bucking. They finally steered him away from there to gain control back over him. He looked like a very young horse.

OK, back to 5. I lost it. I have no clue where I lost it, but found myself on 7. So I once again, pull over, study the map & find a cross route that will reconnect me with 5. Good!! Gooder! Goodie beans!!

Um....I go about 15 miles, ONLY to find out that there is construction on that road & it is CLOSED!! Now why could they NOT post a sign at the beginning of that route! Grrrr. Again. I pull over & reroute. I find another alternative route that gets me back on 5. I swear, I probably could have been half way back to Texas at that point! So I finally got myself on the road. Slept at a rest area last night with the genny running for the a/c. Somewhere in Ohio. I'm now in Tennessee. I wanted to pull over soooo badly as my foot & back were really hurting. But I could not find a good place to pull over, so kept taking breaks at rest areas & pull overs. Finally, I had enough & finally found a state park in Tn, which is where I am now. Whew! I was kind of grumpy when I got here & hooked up, but I'm better now.

a/c running, nice & cool inside. Storming outside, so I'm glad I got here when I did. Dogs are settled. No tv, so am going to leave the computer on for a tv for awhile if I can get my connection back on the air card. I think the storm interferred with the signals.

So I'm hoping for a good nights sleep & will venture back out tomorrow. I want to get to Arkansas & spend a couple more nights at a state park there too.

I don't have to be back till Sunday, so I still have a little time to blow around & have fun with.

I got lazy & haven't been taking any pics. Sorry. So I'll just post this & ya'll can imagine some crazy woman squeezing her motorhome under short bridges & getting lost on country roads...maybe it's a good thing I didn't get a cargo trailer to haul along. I'm pretty sure there would be some stories about that as well!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Pennsylvania

Welcome to Sandy F.   Sandy, if you have a blog, please share the url & I'll be happy to post it. I don't see anything on you, but am glad to have you along!

So I'm really behind -- again. But I AM in Pa & am getting some down time that I much needed here. My family has been slowly dropping in. I've seen my sisters Deb & Linda so far. I have two other sisters, but one (Barb) lives in Fla, the other (Bev) in Tx. I've seen my 3 brothers too, Sonny, Tom & David. Saw one of my nieces (Elizabeth) today. So it's nice seeing them. My sister, Linda has organized a family reunion, so we'll all be seeing other relatives very soon!

The dogs have been getting many walks by me & I always have those baggies in my pockets!! So my right pocket is always lumped up with empty baggies. Once full, they do NOT go back into my pocket! Ha! So get that thought right out of your head...right now. Really. Yuck.

I'll post more about the campgrounds I'm in later. Just thought I'd drop a quick post today as I've really been lacking on posting lately. I'm at Wolf's Campground in Knox, Pa.
http://wolfscampingresort.com/

I arrived here on June 12, 2012. But I've been too tired to get on the internet, I'm getting better now though. Have been doing a tiny bit of hiking here as well. I have good hiking boots that really help with my bad foot, they really stablilze it. In fact, I sometimes walk the dogs in them too. And I got a hiking pole to that aids me a little bit. But the trails I've walked on are small & easy trails. They are in the woods behind the campgrounds. Not all that big & no dangerous wildlife exists in the tiny wooded area where I am. Thank goodness! ;-)

Entering the Pa state line from Ohio

Pa skies are getting darker...and it's not night time.

Rain...rain...rain...then a torrential downpour. Of course, the downpour happened when I pulled over for gas! I like to keep a full tank when camping. I did not do that in Ark, didn't want to make that mistake again. Plus after passing station after station that was selling gas for $3.75per gallon, it was nice to finally see it at $3.49 per gallon. Then when I get to my destination, it was offered at $3.44 per gallon & the price is coming down now. Go figure. But hey, I'm here now!

Ellie in my Mom's driveway. Pssst, don't tell her about this picture. The yard has since been weedeated. heehee

The best thing about this place is the 30amp plug in -- YAY!! Which is a good thing as it's in the 90's again today.

OK, I now have to go climb up on my roof  ::sigh::   The etrnabond is lifting away on the front of my overhead cab roof line! ARGH!!! So I have silver duct tape that is weather proof to put over it for now. It's a better than nothing fix for now. But I am not happy about this because it's a reflection of the work previously done on it by um...professionals...uh huh. And the overhead window that they resealed with the rubber gasket. Well, they caulked the daylights out of it, so it's lifting! I can do a better job. I'm 1400 miles away from them now, so I'll have to fix it myself. Grrrr & grrrrumble.

But I'm taking pictures for proof!

I hope ya'll are having great days! Thanks for stopping by :-)

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Trip - part 1

Thank you to all who commented on my unfortunate news of my last post. I am getting better, but it's a really difficult thing to come to terms with. I never forget to treasure & value life...

So I decided to do kind of a trip journal, will start this page with the beginning  5-22-12:

This I call Darth Vader. DV wakes me up sometimes. A neighbor I believe does this & it sounds very much like DV when it wakes you in the weeee hours of the morning!

So I move on:

I get up, get dressed, take my last items to storage. This is what my van that I just had worked on did to me! I took it by Aamco & they did a reading. It's electrical, it's still drivable though. Soooo...

Awe, screw it. This is what I did for myself later that day! That is, after I had a doc appointment.

I only had one, but it was quite good!

5-23-12

Ellie goes to the mechanic for a tune up & oil change.

Ellie is shameless. She spills her guts for all the world to see. But she's ready for the big trip now!

5-25-12

YAY, we're finally on the road!!!

We drive, & drive, & drive, & drive....I'm on I-59 heading north out of Texas. I want to get out of Texas on that day, but I left late (8:30pm). It wasn't possible to make it that far for myself & my foot. In fact, I had to drive a lot before I could simply find a place to pull over for the night! But I found a place to pull over in a small town outside of Marshall, TX for the night, so we're relieved. Although it's 2:30am! I walk the dogs & we all go to bed.

More to follow on my next post.

I hope everyone here is doing well. I'll try to catch up as soon as I can. I've been pretty fatigued since I arrived here. I'm in Pa now. Weather has been great! Although folks here are complaining about the heat?!? HA!!! They'd die in our heat at the bayou city of Houston, TX! They'd simply die! It's been around 84 here, but low humidity. Ahhh, to me, that's a real vacation alone!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Wasted but some good news!

I am wasted.

Got up this morning after about 4 hours of sleep.

I's tired. I's real tired.

But I have some fun news! I am going on a road trip. FINALLY, a real road trip! Yipeeeeeeeeeee Yay Yo!! Me. All by myselfs with my doggies & kitties. Yay!

Talked to the docs office yesterday. I'm still pending. I'm like a file in the government file cabinet. They put me there. To forget about for 30 days at a time. The docs office staff pokes them. Wakes them up. They yawn & go back to sleep. Leaving me pending in that file. Oh fun. So, I told my doctors office I've not been anywhere in ages. I'm going nuts here. Sitting in the same old driveway day after day. Taking care of other people & their animals. Along with mine of course, but for awhile, I just want life to be for me & my little 4 legged kiddos.

I feel like this right now....

So? What did I do?

I entered the Saluki Nationals! That's a big fat specialty specifically for Salukis. I've even won it before!
That was fun. So it's in Missouri. I'm giving myself a week to get there. Normally, I'd be there in 2.5 days, but with the foot, I'm taking it easy along the way. Plan to enjoy some state parks & mentally detoxing. Will do the same on the return trip as well. Pooey on everything else for now! I'll get to Pa eventually, but can't go that far till all this medical mess is over.

I plan on leaving on the 25th, which will be here before I know it. I have a lot to do. Still have to find a place to do a tune up on Ellie & do something about her starter too. She likes to tease me now, by not starting, not starting, not starting, then she starts! But I have fears that she won't want to wake up while I'm traveling. That would not be a good thing.
Today, I was cleaning out my van, then decided to run over the the optomitrist to get new eyeballs. I'm glad I got that over. What's with procrastination anyhow? I'm really bad good at that. I still need to find a place with climate controlled storage too so I can get all my stuff out of my van & into there instead. I'll feel better about that.

Soooo soon, I will be like this again!

This is a typical dog show set up. At the nationals though, we are there for a week, so we prepare with more stuff to keep the dogs comfortable. This photo was just for a 2 day show.

 I can't wait!

Too bad I'll have to turn around & return back here though. But I have to still follow protocol. Geez, I'm so tired, I fell asleep while posting this. I think I need a little nap. Later ya'll! Hope your day is going well.

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~