Close to Home

As we left off in our last posting, Harvey was in for some relatively serious surgery. He had leaking arteries (hydraulic hoses) and we decided to have the major ones replaced. We didn't know he'd be in surgery for over 30 hours and over 4 days.

When you're having those kind of issues it's always heartwarming to get a small gift to make you feel better. We thought a little updating would make Harvey feel better and get Grannies backside off the chair slats. Sort of killing 2 birds with one stone.

The manufacturer of one of the best RV swivel recliners, invented and built by an Amish family, is near here so we went and got a couple. You can see how it perked Harvey up! You can see out the front window we're still ensconced in the repair shop.

It gets boring real quick sitting in the waiting room so we left our phone number in case and went for a repeat tour of the RV Museum here in Elkhart. You may recall we went a few years ago and blogged about it so we're not boring you with all the details again. On a Good Friday there weren't too many people out but we did meet this shy couple.

Finally, after a few anxious moments, Harvey was declared fit to travel. We're all glad to be moving on.

After being cooped up in the service bay for days, it feels good to be able get out and go for a walk and breath fresh air. Paint fumes start to get to you after awhile.

Harvey seems back to his old self. The slide works great and the jacks are all down. I guess all the time and money was worth it.

Well, this kinda looks like the previous photo but we're actually near Flint Michigan, our next stop. So we're on our last stop before home. Darn cold and raining but not as bad as Mannheim; ice rain and windy. Great to be heading home, NOT!

We're near Frankenmuth so instead of sitting inside Harvey in the rain, we decided to go see the worlds largest Christmas store and then go for their famous chicken. It was fun to walk through all the Xmas decorations and listen to the music.

They did acknowledge other holidays, for example this giant easter egg. It was too cold to be outside enjoying the decorations so off to lunch. Chicken and a hot coffee. An exciting last day of traveling before we settle down back at home.

The last days drive was a bit cold, wet and windy and oh yeah, don't forget the fog. No problem though, I've driven in a lot worse and Canadian traffic just seems friendlier for some reason.

We managed to arrive safely in Mannheim and get somewhat set up before company started to show up. Boy, you go away for 6 months and the grandkids have grown. Who'da thought?

Kyles first job was to get us connected to their internet and then he had to get ready for his job at Boston Pizza. Another change, he had no job prospects or any desire for a job when we left. The grandkids are growing up. Well, we're back and settling in. This will be the last blog for awhile.

More Northerly Now

Our next stop is Amarillo Texas. Still a desert region but definitely a bit colder than our previous stops. We've stayed here before; it's a nice park and convenient.

I showed you some bad units back in Hemet but none as bad as this. I think it's some Okies trying to get to California. Jed Clampett and his family I believe. Poor buggers.

The other thing we like about this park is a nearby steak house will come pick you up in a limo and take you there. Makes us feel positively important. After I saw the picture I realized that I totally missed the bulls horns on the front of the limo. Rats!

Anyway, I took a selfy at our table. Great steak and authentic western decor.

I mean, how could a giant rocking chair not be authentic. They advertise they are the home of the free 72 oz steak. You have to eat it, a baked potato, a pile of beans, a salad and biscuits within a hour otherwise it's $75.00. They have a sample as you come in the door. I've seen smaller turkeys. Not for us, we struggled to work our way through a 12 oz ribeye. Delicious and doable.

At Amarillo we found that one of the hydraulic lines for the slide had sprung a leak so we couldn't use the slide anymore. I arranged for it to be looked at in Elkhart IA but we needed to get there quickly so no more dawdling. A quick stop at Chandler Oklahoma. Just long enough to clean the Texas bugs off Harvey and on our way.

We travelled a few miles on Route 66 (the mother highway) to get to the RV Resort and a few more to leave so Harvey got to drive on that most famous of roads. Imagine at one time this was the main east west road in America. Must have been a lot less traffic.

This is a rarity for us, staying in the back of a motel. Full service sites and close to the highway but just seems weird somehow. Anyway, we're in a hurry and this works. It's called the Country Hearth Motel in St. Roberts Missouri just in case you're headed that way.

Next stop is in a nice RV park with a lovely lake; not that we had much time to admire it. We're in Champain Illinois and it's our last stop before we get to get Elkhart and our repairs. You'll notice in the last few photos the slide isn't out and the Jeep stayed attached. I prefer a more leisurely drive home. We'll have to explore more another time.

We managed to take the time to admire a beautiful sunset. Little did we know that it was a portent of a huge wind storm overnight. I was praying that it would die down by morning, which it did, thankfully. The next day was windy, cloudy and cold. It felt like it might snow. I miss Hemet!

As planned, we arrived for service at America's #1 coach service specialists. Lets see how good they are. Only the best for Harvey.

The day turned a lot nicer and we got set up with power and water. We'll be going in the shop tomorrow. Hope for the best.

Poor Harvey, crammed in with all those other sick RV's. I decided to have all the important hydraulic lines replaced. After all, they're 15 years old and we've had 2 fail in the last 2 years. It looks like 7 in total; this is major surgery. We'll be here for a few days. Lets hope our next blog will show Harvey back to his old self. It's sad when one of the family is out of sorts.

This is not the South

When we last talked, we had left Phoenix where it was hot and about 1000' above sea level and were on our way towards Flagstaff where it was about 6000' asl and just a bit cooler.

Well, we certainly weren't going to stay anywhere near that cold mountain near Flagstaff so we kept traveling east until we found a great RV Park near Meteor Crater. Now if you need a refresher on the greatest meteor strike crater in the world, look up our blog from a few years ago where I covered it in length. No, I don't remember the exact blog, do some research already. It will be worth it.

See. We're a long ways from that cold mountain. This is just outside our RV Park and believe it or not, this road is Route 66 which brought visitors from the west to see that great wonder of the world, the Meteor Crater. We have been on Route 66 many times in our travels but honestly this is the first section that was not paved. Maybe not that many came to the Crater; who knows.

But the most excellent reason for stopping where we did was so we could spend some time in Winslow Arizona. Now if you don't know why that's so cool, shame on you! It's part of our cultural identity. Listen to the Eagles song and join the party.

It's all about a hot chick in a flatbed Ford; but I'm stating the obvious.

The song may be the main reason that Winslow is on the map but the La Posada Hotel has been here since the 30's. It's an historic hotel which has had famous stars from Rudolf Valentino to John Wayne to Harrison Ford stay here. That explains why the staff never fell all over themselves when we walked in; just more famous celebrities.

This is what a flower garden looks like in the desert. A few daffodils, a couple of stunted trees and lots of prairie grass. I can see why Hollywoods best would come here for quiet contemplation.

We couldn't wait any longer for someone famous to show up so it's down the road we go. After miles of flat boring desert the scenery started to change as we neared the New Mexico border.

First, we started to see some cliffs in interesting shapes and colours. 

Then we drove through lava fields that stretched on for miles. Now this is more interesting than sage brush and dead grass. 

Our next stop is just west of Albuquerque New Mexico. It's along Route 66 and has an authentic garage that was used way back when. This is the RV parks work shed now, the office was a bit more modern.

It's a nice park along the old Route 66 and has nice atmosphere. And right next door is a Camping World store where we went and picked up a few necessities.

The park has about 8 old trailers from the 50's era. They've been restored and set up on their own sites in the park. Each of them can be rented so you can get an original camping experience. All the fixtures and interiors are original. You can't take the old Hudson for a drive though.

We're in the back, parked in line with a couple of those cool trailers. I've never seen old trailers like these that you could rent for a night or so. A neat idea. The owners have the office and club house full of antiques and collectibles from the 50's, focussing on Route 66 mainly. Even the laundry room has old wringer washers and washing items. Grammy had no interest in using the scrub board.

Here is a bigger trailer for rent with another Hudson. Time to head out; I'm glad I'm leaving in Harvey and not one of these 50's trailer. We like our modern amenities too much.

Time to Leave the South behind

Well, our relaxing winter in Hemet is coming to an end. We have kept only as busy as we wanted to and apparently we didn't want to too much. I golfed a lot and Grammie did a lot of Swedish Weaving. At least she had something to show for her efforts.

We went for a few drives; here we managed to go high enough in the mountains to hit snow. We still don't miss it!

I usually go for an early walk; us older folk don't sleep in much anymore. So I get to see lots of sunrises, like this one. 

There are a few abandoned units here. People can't pay the fees and just leave their unit like this one. It was damaged in a Santa Anna wind storm we had a couple of months ago and the people just disappeared a few days later. The park can't do anything with it until legal process is followed which can take months. In the meantime it's an eye sore.

Although not as bad as this one. They were evicted due to non payment of site fees but the park still must wait months before touching it in case they come back with the back payments. Thank goodness there are some lovely rigs, like Harvey, that offset these eyesores.

But it's time to head toward home and our first stop after a 6 hour drive is just west of Phoenix in Buckeye AZ. I do love the architectural style down here.

Finally we are set up for the next few days. Having stayed in Hemet for a few months, we're out of practice and our setup routine took longer than usual but we'll speed up.

A walk around the park brought us to this happy hour setup. Now these guys know how to set up, no folding lawn chairs here. If you can't read the sign on the Tiki bar it says "Tiki Bar Open We serve whatever you bring". I like it!

If you've been following our blog, you know that we like to visit State Capital buildings whenever we get the chance. So who knew that Arizona's state capitol was in Phoenix, just a harrowing hours drive from our relaxing RV resort. Interestingly, the building is mostly museum and the actual government offices have been moved to buildings around the capitol building, kinda like school portables only more substantial. 

In front of the capitol buildings is a park dedicated mainly to the ships of the second world war.

You may recall that the U.S. entered WW2 after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour and sank a number of ships. Now which ship had the most loss of lives and couldn't be salvaged? What state are we in? (and not confusion) Come on you didn't know. You read the name on the anchor. This is the memorial to the states namesake, the USS Arizona.

These 2 big 16" guns are from the Arizona and the Missouri. One sank to start the war and the other was the site of Japan signing the surrender. Those bent things are stands holding stainless name plates of every person who died during the attack on Pearl Harbour. The flag pole behind them is the actual signal mast retrieved from the Arizona. A somber reminder of lives lost.

One of the constants of our travels is that we must keep traveling. Our route home is along a trail we have scouted before so there may not be much new to report but I'll try to keep it interesting. Leaving Phoenix, we climb about 6000' as we leave the lower desert behind and approach Flagstaff. And so ends our first posting on our return home blog. Stay tuned, who knows what zany antics we may be up to in the next few days.