Joan on the Road...of Life

What a joy to spend time with dear friends! (Peggy, we missed you) You might wonder what it's like to be with 6 women in a condo for extended time....it's like one long slumber party, and men wouldn't get it!

What did we do?...eat, talk, sleep, talk, eat, shop, eat, walk, eat, talk. Didn't watch TV, except for the Calendar Girls movie. We contemplated doing a calendar, then came to our senses. We contributed our fair share to the economy of Door County by attending several plays and dinner events. As usual the Peninsula Players provided lots of laughs, we froze our buns at the outdoor Shakespeare Theater and roundly critiqued the "My Way" musical (a reprise of Frank Sinatra songs).

The ongoing decoration of the condo project provided lots of reasons to tackle the many shops in the area to find curly willow and wheat shafts to fill the crock. When we weren't decorating the condo, we were decorating Lynn's hand. And when we needed a shopping break we stopped at "Not Licked Yet" for a decandent frozen custard treat.

The girls have been visiting Door County since 1992 and have documented these trips in beautiful scrapbooks that are the focus of the winter trip. I feel so lucky to be part of this wonderful group of women. Here's to you, friends!

The girls relax a bit on the Cana Island walk.

Posted by Joan at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's the summer home of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Ten Chimneys, restored with all the original furnishings, down to the books on the shelves. It is a wonderful tour through another era.

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The "girls" check out the gift shop at Ten Chimneys and get lots of laughs from these masks. Of course we had to have them but never had the nerve to wear them out to a play or dinner. This was a great start to our trip.

Posted by Joan at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow I leave for a 5 day trip with "the goils"...7 girlfriends from my grade school days. Maryann has a condo in Egg Harbor, WI which is in Door County. We've been doing this trip for several years and I'm especially excited this year because I've missed the last 3 trips. Now they can't talk about me!

Our hostess has lots of fun stuff planned for us, but we're always free to just sit by the pool and relax and gossip. So no postings for a few days while I take a vacation from this hard life!! :)

Posted by Joan at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we toured the Winnebago Motor Home Factory in Forest City, Iowa. We scheduled our trip so we'd be close to the factory. It was a two hour tour and pretty interesting. They turn out 260 coaches a week...the coaches are moving along the assembly line at 15 inches per minute! The workers don't look too hard pressed to get their part of the job done in the time allotted. They have an 8 week stock of chassis sitting out in the yard!

We had the chance to look at a few new coaches...drooled a little...then came home and said.."you know, what we have really suits our needs." So we're not suffering new coach anxiety.

This is such a lovely farm area. Looks very prosperous. We're on the Minnesota/Iowa border with acres of corn and soy. So many of the farms are being refurbed, lovely old farm houses that are in top condition or being added on to. The people on the tour were joking about the depressed economy...none of us travelers are seeing this. All we see is building of houses and businesses as we travel the highways and byways.

Life is good, the sky is blue, the corn is almost as high as an elephant's eye...and it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky......!!!!

Posted by Joan at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last time we came through here we didn't take time to stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. This year we agreed to stop at any of these tourist traps that either one of us wanted to. This was my request.

The first Corn Palace was built in 1892 to put Mitchell on the map and show the world that South Dakota was a farming area, contrary to the opinions of Lewis and Clark!

Almost all the surfaces are covered with grains and grasses of the area and many colors of corn. The most amazing thing is that the whole outside is recovered every year!

The palace is actually used as a community center for sporting events, concerts, plays and conventions.

We bypassed Wall Drug in South Dakota...been there, done that...but this was worth a stop because it's uniquely American.

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Posted by Joan at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do things really come in 3's? In June the toilet started leaking again so we decided to get rid of the junker and get a top of the line, one pedal potty. Jim, the wonder guy, installed it in about an hour.

A couple of weeks later we're driving out of a gas station and the airbag suspension popped on the right side. After a couple of tries that got fixed. So on the road again.

Last week when leaving Buffalo, WY, we completed our check of lights and hook ups...oops the Brakemaster wasn't working. Well we could drive without it but we didn't have the helper brakes on the car...so easy does it.

We thought this would be a major repair as the compressor was not working. Called all kinds of people...no joy. Then we tried the RV Doctor listed in last years flyer for Hart Ranch. He stopped over yesterday afternoon and had us up and running in an hour.

So OK...that's 3!!!! Enough already!

Posted by Joan at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is Boulder River, running through our campgroud right in front of us. Rafters floated by this afternoon on a pretty rapid current. We'll probably be able to hear the rushing water when we go to bed! We're in Big Timber, MT at the Spring Creek Campground which is quite pretty but I doubt we'll return. This is the first place in a year that has objected to our doggie pen....so they lose a customer!

Posted by Joan at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just north of I 90 on US 93 is Jim and Mary's RV Park...one of the nicest we've stayed at. This is our second time here because it is close to RV service, so that we have work done then stay here overnight, just north of Missoula. The great thing about the park is that the sites are huge and grassy. Scattered throughout the park are small flower gardens with old farm implements. The park is thriving and the owners are landscaping 25 new big rig sites. It is so pleasant and homey...the kind of place where you could stay awhile and be real happy. Maybe next time around we'll do that!

Posted by Joan at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had time to walk the streets of Dillon, MT and came on several lovely old houses, very well restored. Dillon is an old railroad town that looks sort of static...not much happening here. Guess the folks must go to Butte to shop.

Posted by Joan at 07:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's the setting sun shining through rain in Fillmore, Utah. We've been in the dry southwest for so long we almost forgot the feel and smell of a storm. Didn't get much rain but it's a reminder to watch the weather.

Posted by Joan at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 4th of July is a special day to remember the birth of our country and the freedom we cherish and seek. For me it is a day of remembering my father who died on July 4th in 1954. He was 39 years old and died of complications from lifelong diabetes.

I wish I could remember more about my dad. I have only fleeting pictures in my mind of special things about him, but daily life with him evades me. I know he was a curious, inventive, funny guy. He loved the new gadgets of the time like being able to make records of me and my girlfriends singing. He must have been an "early adopter" of new technology...I got that from him. The funniest thing I remember is how he hooked up the vacuum cleaner to power the player piano. It was great except the vacuum sort of overpowered the piano!

My mom and dad based a lot of their lives on "5 Acres and Independence". They bought 5 acres in Gurnee, Illinois and built their own house. We had goats, cows, geese, chickens, rabbits, sheep and provided a lot of our own food from these animals and our garden. I think they exemplified the American spirit of independence and freedom.

Posted by Joan at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was a beautiful kodachrome day in Utah and we're tooling up the I 15 to Fillmore. A truck pulling a two horse trailer passes us. Horses are rear end to us with tails a-flyin when suddenly...splat!!!! ....horse@#$% splashes the front end of the motorhome!!! This goes on for several seconds!!...THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW!

Posted by Joan at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After a year on the road we had our first major breakdown as a result of a bad gas station driveway. On the way to Pomona from Pismo Beach we got gas and when pulling out had to go down a fairly steep incline and make a sharp left turn. Pop, rip....first thing was that an alarm in the coach started screaming and we had to pull over on the freeway and figure out what happened.

This is when I'm glad Jim is an engineer. The electric connection between the coach and the towed van was slashed and very fortunately we had a spare. So after 30 minutes we were on the road. Little did we know what else had happened.

When we were ready to leave on Thursday morning..to hit the road for Montana...we were all ready to pull out and Jim checked the pressure in the air bags (suspension system). NO PRESSURE! Bummer...couldn't go. So we got on the phone with our Good Sam insurace and they helped us locate a mobile mechanic....but he couldn't get there until 4 pm. So OK..we managed to get a site for another night (approaching the July 4 weekend!) and also went over to the KOA and reserved the whole weekend just in case.

Finally, at 5 pm the repair truck rolls up and two Mexican guys who could not speak English started working on the coach. Communicating about what we and they needed to do was a lot of hand gestures. They fixed it in about an hour and seemingly it was fine. The bag actually had a hole in it (the POP).

Friday morning we're all packed up and ready to roll; check the air pressure...zero. So we call our mechanic and he says "you better come to my shop". So we crept down the freeway at 50 mph and amazingly it was all fixed by 10:30 (faulty connection on top of the airbag was leaking).

So now it's Friday, 4th of July weekend and we're wondering if we should tackle the traffic on I 15 to Las Vegas. What the heck..we took the plunge and wound up south of Las Vegas at about 3:30...traffic was no problem and we made really good time.

It's a real hassle to take your house and 2 dogs to the RV repair! Lucky for us this is our first unplanned visit...but it goes with the territory. I think it's somewhat like having a baby...once the pain is gone we pretty much forget about it and enjoy the life!

Posted by Joan at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our last few days at Pismo were kind of chilly so we didn't do the beach routine, but the boys still enjoyed the dunes...so did the dogs. It was really funny to see them running on the sand, ears flapping.

So after a great send-off dinner at Renee and Tom's tonight ...with Jim and all the grandkids there...we head for Montana to visit with Laura and Steve for a couple of days. It was hard saying good-bye this time as we don't plan to be back until Hilly's graduation next June. By then everyone but Zacky will probably be driving!

We made our reservations already here at East Shore RV Park in San Dimas because it is tough to get in.

I should be like my friend Bette in Mesa who never says good-bye...just see ya.
So thanks to our very special and precious family here in CA for making our visits wonderful and we'll "see ya" in a few months!

Posted by Joan at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)