Windshield Curtain Project

We really wanted to preserve our electric windshield shades, so we decided curtains can be used when we are parked for extended periods. Kathy found some nice cloth shower curtains that would match our colors at Big Lots for only $10 each and she bought two. At Lowes we bought a 10' piece of 3/4 inch PVC pipe, and three "J" hooks. She attached the "J" hooks with double sided tape and we hung the PVC pipe on them. We used light weight plastic shower curtain hooks from Walmart and hung the curtains over the windshield.

She installed the curtains, trimmed them to fit nicely, so for less than $30 we have a nice looking windshield with the curtains we close as needed.

New Tires!

Coming to Oklahoma was the perfect opportunity to do some maintenance to the coach. We already stopped in Texas for the paint repair, now it's time for new tires and a few other things. After a little research and some luck we got new Firestone FS560 Plus tires at a very good price. Do your research and compare prices! What I originally thought was a good deal at about $3600 turned out much better after I found a new distributor who got me a much better deal. I even put my old tires on craigslist and sold them for cash money instead of leaving them at the tire shop for disposal and paying the disposal fee!

Great work from L&L Tires in Lawton, Ok. I highly recommend them.

Thousand Trails

In 2015 we joined the Thousand Trails RV travel club. They boast all these wonderful resorts across the country that you can visit for a year after purchasing the membership. So now that we have joined  the club, we will be visiting these "resorts" in the southeast and northeast zones. The southeast basically is from Oklahoma/Texas all the way to the east coast from Florida up to Pennsylvania, and the northeast zone goes on up to Maine.
We recently stopped in Pipe Creek, TX for some paint repair and that put us very close to Lake Medina which is part of the Thousand Trails Texas resorts. We drove to Lake Medina to check it out for a later visit and were we very disappointed. First of all, the road to the park is very small, windy, and rough with many low hanging tree limbs. The area is not nice at all. Our 40' motorhome would have been a challenge but we would have made it as long as we didn't meet any oncoming larger RVs or trucks. The brochure shows Lake Medina as a pretty lake with boats and mountains in the background but this is what we found.
Here is the boat ramp to the lake, but where's the water? Locals told us the lake has been dry for 5 years.

Next we looked at the RV sites and what we found were a bunch of sites that have been neglected. Most sites were not level and had overgrown grass and weeds and had low hanging tree limbs that will damage your rig. If we would have driven the motorhome there, I would have been very upset.

They also have a "historic" building on the property that they are neglecting and it is rotting away. We would not ever return there at it's present condition, they would really have to clean the place up. Once you get there, there is nothing to do except swim in the pool.

Our next stop was Natchez Trace Campground in Hohenwald, TN. First of all you have to get to the park on narrow winding roads, then navigate around the 11 ft. bridge. Once you arrive at the park the check in was easy with very friendly staff at the office. Staff and management were very nice. Then it gets worse with the rough and very hilly roads that are in desperate need of repair. This picture does not do it justice, but my first words were "oh hell no!" when I saw this very steep grade. We had to disconnect our car before attempting the steep climb.

We made it to our site, number 314B and this is what we found. Broken concrete patios, rotten wood picnic tables, and only 30 amp hookups. I believe the electricity had issues, we could not run an air conditioner and have the hot water heater on without tripping a breaker. It was terribly hot and the one a/c unit struggled to keep the coach comfortable. No over the air tv service, no wifi and Verizon phone service was not available. My at&t was spotty,it would work occasionally. We would NOT ever return here.

The lake and the beach looked pretty nice, but when we wanted to rent a kayak they told us all boats were gone for the day.

In general, it was a run down neglected park in a pretty area by the Natchez Trace Parkway.

 The Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails Campground in Park City, KY was our next stop. This park is also an Encore Park. We stayed here using our Encore membership since Kentucky is not in our zone we purchased. This is a nice park that we would return to again. The staff was friendly and helpful and the park is well maintained. 50 amp service, and full hookups made it nice. The pool, fitness center and the spa area was nice and we enjoyed our 6 day stay.

Site A10 with 50 amps, water, and sewer and trees behind us was very nice. We enjoyed our stay here and would return. Lots to see and do in the area, you are only 20 miles or so from Bowling Green.

Body Damage Repair

During the flood in Destin, FL we had to make a quick exit to higher ground and I accidentally scraped a co-workers truck. Luckily I did no damage to his truck and all we got was a nasty scratch. For the time being I put one of those cheap plastic chrome emblems on to hide the worst part of the scratch until I can get it painted. Not too bad, but I hate damage to our home.

Here at the KOA in Tucson I saw a guy doing some body repair on my neighbor's truck so I just had to talk to him. Well, long story short, he was just a scam artist and I got duped out of a little money and he just sprayed some cheap primer on the damaged area. Here he is trying to look professional with the sander but he tried to hide the primer by covering it with wax. Even I knew that you don't wax a brand new paint job. I'm out a little money and I hurt my pride, but "getting even" would be illegal and finding him and taking him to court would be a challenge. Even if we got a court date it wouldn't be worth it to come back to Tucson for the hearing.

 People like him eventually get what they deserve.

Paybacks are a.......!

This is what the so called body man left me with.

 He didn't think I would notice that the paint didn't even come close to matching?

So now we have an appointment at Texas Custom Coach in Texas after we leave Arizona for our journey back east. This should occur in mid April 2015 and hopefully things go smooth and we can get the coach looking all good again. 

On Tuesday April 21st we arrived at Texas Custom Coach for the repairs and we were greeted by the nicest people. They got us parked by the shop and within 10 minutes John had already started working on the damage. John started sanding the door down to the metal and then started straightening the door. We got to stay in our coach on the property and that was a blessing since we are full time.

A short time later the door was as smooth as glass and had primer sprayed on it.

On Thursday April 23rd, the paint job was done and looking great! We were ready to leave but Dave told us we were welcome to stay another night since we would be driving into some bad weather if we left.

The end result was fantastic, the paint and body repair was superb, the price was more than reasonable and I will highly recommend Texas Custom Coach to anyone!

Spring Break With The Family

During spring break our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson came to visit us here at the Tucson KOA. Luckily we have cabins on site so they got to stay here at the park with us. They got some time to  relax and also enjoy some pool time. The highlight of the visit was our trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, AZ. Both places are beautiful and it was a very memorable trip.

The views of the canyon are simply spectacular.

Elk on the side of the road leaving the Grand Canyon.

After the Grand Canyon visit we spent the night in Flagstaff and then spent the next day in beautiful Sedona. The drive down hwy 89A to Sedona was very pretty with all the mountains and canyons.

Uptown Sedona on a nice warm day with plenty of tourists.

We had fun playing the percussion chime thingies in town, no talent...but fun.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross built into the rocks.

Nice mansion visible from the Church of the Holy Cross, wow,what a nice place!

RV & Car Attractions

Another benefit to the RV life is the opportunity to visit some museums, race tracks, and, automotive attractions. For example, I probably would have never had the opportunity to visit the I-80 Truck Stop in Iowa, which is billed as the world's largest truck stop if we weren't RVing.  Here you can fuel up, get your favorite snack, eat in a restaurant, get haircuts, dental work, get your dog groomed, visit the free truck museum, and even buy custom equipment for your truck or coach. Is this a great country or what? When in Iowa, check out the I-80 Truck Stop.

Beautiful trucks on display and check out the LED light display. I like lights!

Lots of antique trucks on display to enjoy.

One of my favorite stops was "Road America' racetrack in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Kathy and I got a worker job for the weekend of the big LeMans Series race. This was a first for us and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Actually got paid to help out and attend the race, seeing all the Corvette, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc exotic race cars.

We still had our 5th wheel and here we go through the speedway tunnel.

Well, it wasn't all work. We had time to relax at the Tequila Patron vendor. Life is good.

The Indianapolis 500 Museum and speedway was another great place to see. Here we had the pleasure to meet a 92 year old retired police officer who volunteers at the museum. (well I guess it's a volunteer position).  He was so cool, he says to me "I showed them, I've been retired 44 years and still drawing my pension." What an interesting man to visit with.

Give me a photo op, and I'm there baby. Probably the only time I will feel the seat of an Indy race car.

The famous Sebring International Speedway in Florida was another cool place to see. Not too much in the museum department but a great historic speedway.

The "Shelby World Headquarters" and museum in Las Vegas, NV is a great place to visit. Free of charge and lots of neat Shelby automotive history to admire. It has lots of cars and plenty of gifts and memorabilia to purchase. Plus it is next door to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

A very valuable chrome Shelby Cobra and Kathy posing, now that is nice!

We even got to put our names on the large guest autograph wall in the shop area. You can photograph everywhere EXCEPT the shop, there they want to protect the customer's identity.

The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY is a place all gear heads should see. Luckily we got to visit before the infamous sinkhole incident where something like 8 Corvettes were swallowed by the earth.

The Festival of Speed in St. Petersburg,FL attracted many nostalgic race cars plus every exotic beauty you can think of. Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, and Bentley were just a few of these exquisite works of art on display. We would love to return.

When in Elkhart, Indiana, the home of the RV industry, you need to visit the RV and Motorhome Hall of Fame. So many RV's from way back plus RV's that were owned by a celebrity or was used in the movies. It was a great experience.