Lake Fort Smith

We absolutely loved Lake Fort Smith!  Talk about an "it" factor, "it" has it!  Our site was spacious and private.  We were able to set up our satellite tv, but our verizon card was marginal, although the external antenna did help.  Take a gander at the photos below and YES we will come back here.

How bout a walk in the woods

We are currently in Strafford Mo (just a few miles east of Springfield) in very tight little rv park.  It is called Paradise in the Woods and it is ANYTHING BUT!  Unfortunately not much else to choose from in the area.  We will be heading out in the morning (Saturday) to Edwardsville Il to hopefully what looks to be a much nicer rv park! 

Tomorrow (Monday) we will be making our way to Fort Smith Arkansas.  I found what I hope is a nice little state park for us to spend a few days.  They have full hook ups and can accommodate bigger rigs.  I made an online reservation.  Not something we normally like to do, but felt like with this being "vacation" season it might be prudent. 

The heat has certainly been oppressive of late.  Every day we jump quickly into the 90's.  Today is no different, 96 outside and 80 inside and it is barely 11am.  We only have one AC unit, a decision we are both starting to regret.  We keep all the window blinds down and I even put up some foam pieces in the windows for some extra insulation.  Starting to look like ma and pa kettles' place down on the farm.  It is also like living in a cave.  I do miss being able to let the sunshine in, but I just don't dare do it now.  The good news is we were smart enough to have the bedroom wired and ready for AC, so it will be a simple process to "drop" one in.  Something I think we will be doing in the "not so distant" future.  The bad news, we plan on spending most of the summer at a park in Lafayette Indiana with only 30amp.  Even if we have two AC units, we will only be able to run one at a time.  I grew up in Lafayette and spent most of my adult life there as well.  It definitely gets hot and humid, but not usually for prolonged periods.  It seemed Canada always managed to send us a blast of cool air every few days which lowered the temps and the humidity.  So, come on Canada and let the cool breezes blow!

We have been enjoying our stay here in Longview, Tx.  Our visits with Billy's Mama have all been very good.  For whatever reason, she seems to be having a bit of a "come back".  She has been more responsive as she sometimes smiles and we even managed to get a giggle or two out of her.  I know she probably does not know us, but every once in awhile I see that twinkle in her eye.  It has been a real blessing. 

Now, I promised a photo of our little "sign" incident.  Here ya go

The "pothole" is circled for your viewing pleasure.  LOL!

This is our site at Fernbrook.....we do like it here.  Nice spacing between sites, quiet and not to far from shopping and restaurants. 

OOPS...there it is.....

We arrived in Longview yesterday and we are staying at a very nice (and new) rv park known as Fernbrook.  We only had one little mishap.  Upon entering the park, Billy pulled as far over to the side of the road as he could so that other traffic could easily get around us.  This park did not have a designated "check in" area.  They need one!  Once we were all checked in I motioned for Billy to come my way....making a left turn.  For one brief moment, I remembered thinking he was very close to the fence along the side yard....if only!  Yes, in a matter of seconds the rear end of our rig swung out and caught the edge of.......not the fence......but a sign post.  A sign post that was inches away from the edge of the road.  The sign post was a little scratched, but our poor rig has not only scratches, but a nice "pothole" in the fiberglass.  All fixable, but costly.  The park manager came running over, told us not to worry about the sign.  "Why, just last week a motohome had done the same exact thing!"  Well, Duh!  Ever think to move the ding, dang sign!
We will be here in Longview for about 10 days, visiting family.  I sure hope we can make it back to Lafayette without any more "Oops, there it is" issues.  I will get some photos of the park and our "pothole" for the next post. 

Tulsa OK

It has just been a whirlwind of activity!  We did arrive safely in Garnett, KS and had a fabulous time.  The wedding reception was a blast as was the "after party" over at the Garnett Inn and rv park.  My Auntie Di and I finished off a bottle of Patron and then started on something called Fireballs.....a cinnamon shot of silliness!  The party was on Saturday and come Sunday the place was like a ghost town as everyone headed back to their respective homes.  We opted to stay until Tuesday and then continued our journey south.
We are currently in Tulsa OK in a tired little mobile home park that has a few rv sites.  It's called Cherry Hill and if you are an escapee member you do receive a discount.  Our two nights with full hookups, on a fairly large grassy lot, was $42.00.  It is certainly fine for an overnight or two.
Since we will be here for two nights I thought about doing some sight seeing tomorrow, but it is so dang HOT!  We certainly have done things backwards this year......South Dakota in April and now headed to Texas in June!  Just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

And the wheels on the bus go.....oh no!

The wheels on the bus stopped going round and round!  We left Lafayette on the 3rd, planned on stopping in Springfield for a couple nights on our way to Kansas.  We did finally make it to Springfield....about 2 days later.  Just past Danville on I74 Billy noticed smoke coming from the fifth wheel.  Needless to say, we both got a little excited.  He pulled onto the shoulder and I jumped out to have a look.....NOT GOOD....one of our wheels was about to fall off.  That smoke was metal against metal....red hot!  Billy said it was the bearings.  So, now what.  Billy put the hazard markers out and we called Progressive.  It is hard to make folks understand what it means when your wheel falls off....they wanted to treat it like a flat.  Billy explained that was not the problem...you can't just put the spare tire on.  We either need a repair or someone who can transport a 40 foot fifth wheel.  Well, it was Sunday morning and everyone seemed to be closed.  Progressive finally found us a "tow", who claimed he could put us up on his trailer.  Progressive could not find a repair shop and wanted to "tow" us to a Walmart.  That wasn't going to fly with us...we wanted a repair shop.  So, we got online and located one....tow truck was on its way. 
Tow truck arrives....no flat bed trailer....just a big old truck.  The guy comes back shaking his head...he can't "tow" us anywhere.  It seems Progressive told him he was coming after a 36 foot motorhome.  Why is it that everyone assumes an RV is a motorhome.  Billy had not only explained it was a fifth wheel, but also gave them height, weight, and width....and still it got screwed up.  Good news, the tow truck driver knew of a repair shop that was closer and where we could sit for the night and hopefully be taken care of first thing Monday Morning.  The shop was about 15 miles away.  So, we tied up the wheel hub so it wouldn't drag on the ground, said a prayer that the remaining tire could take the load, and limped on down the road.  The tow truck driver followed us with his lights flashing and WE MADE IT. 
We got set up in the parking lot....thank goodness for our Big Foot Leveling System.  We were able to take all the pressure off our tires.
First thing Monday morning the guys at Travel Trailers Sales and Service Inc jumped right on our job.  They were great, very professional and fair.  We really got lucky on this one.  They put us at the head of the service line, knowing we wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible.  Great group of guys!  About 5 hours later we were repaired and on our way to Springfield.  You can see the damage in the photos below.....

Long post...I know....even l-o-n-g-e-r day!