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Full-time RV travels in the United States and Canada
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This page updated May 7, 2007, scroll down to find new content. April, 2008 -Time keeps flying by with no regard to whether we are able to keep up or not. We have slowed down so much in our retirement years that we no longer try to keep up. We like traveling at our own speed - SLOW. We left Edinburg, Texas on February 19th and our next stop was Bayview RV Resort in Fulton, Texas just east of Corpus Christi. Two weeks went by quite quickly in some ways and very slow in others. We were in no rush to get home because of the snow, but at the same time we wanted to get back to Ontario to see our son who has developed a very serious medical problem. He assured us everything was under control and that he would worry a lot, if we tried to drive home through the late winter blizzards with all the snow and high winds that our route was receiving. We decided not to stress him out more than was necessary and continued to monitor his medical process by telephone and e-mail. It was a very difficult time and was a real big worry to us, but we got through it. We left Bayview March 4th to return north for the summer. We were getting close to Victoria, TX on US-77 when we started smelling something burning. It smelt something like potatoes burning. We pulled the coach over, got out, walked around and couldn't find anything. We continued on and the smell was getting stronger so we stopped again. Still nothing. Then Doug made a wrong turn which turned out to the the right turn. He went left taking us onto the service road for Victoria. The smell was getting stronger all the time and we knew we had to find the source. There was a Sam's Club so we pulled into their parking lot. We checked inside and then went out and started looking under and around the coach. I noticed a puff of smoke come off the left front hubcap and brought it to Doug's attention. He checked it out and determined that the caliper had seized. Now what? At least we were in a good spot, off the main highway and in an area to get help with the problem. We unhooked the car, left the coach sitting in the Sam's Club parking lot and drove back south to a car parts store we had seen within the past mile. They couldn't help us but told us that "Howard" worked on big trucks and motor homes, so would be able to help us. We drove back north on the service road and after a few false stops found Howard. He said bring the coach on over and he would get right to work on it. He was less then a half a mile away from where the coach was parked, so we were back quickly with it. He pulled the wheel off, did some checking and confirmed Doug's suspicion that it was the caliper. He thought that he could have another one delivered before closing time so that we could be on our way that day. We went for lunch in the car and said we would be back to find out if he had found the part. We were back from lunch before he was, but he had stayed after we left and was able to tell us that he was not able to get the part that day. He had ordered it from Dallas and it would be there the following day. He said that we could stay in his yard for the night and he would provide electricity. We had spotted a RV park just up the road about a half mile - Victoria RV - with some nice pull-thrus, so asked him to put the wheel back on and we would go there for the night. He had the wheel back on and we were all set up at Victoria RV before 3 p.m. Doug was able to see his TV programs for the evening so all was well. Next morning we were up at our usual 6 a.m. and sat around watching the news etc., until around 10 a.m. We then returned to Howard's Auto Repair. Howard was still waiting on the part but said that it would be in soon. Sure enough, shortly after a delivery truck pulled in with the part. Howard had the wheel off already and was able to install the new part within minutes. We paid the bill - $155.00 and were on our way. Our Guardian Angel had been with us guiding us through the whole repair. We are so happy that we don't drive faster then our Guardian Angel can fly. We continued north on US-77 to US-79 east and then SR-43 to US-59 until we reached I-30 east. We found this to be a great way to come up through this area. We really enjoyed the drive and plan on taking this route again. We never ran into any heavy traffic, the roads were all in real good shape with the majority of the way having wide shoulders. No Houston or Dallas traffic and that is what we wanted. This was a long day because of loosing so much time yesterday. We ended our day at the T-ricks RV park. It was easy on and off at exit 193 on I-40. We were sure happy to pull in for the night. They are open all year round which is good to know. We left there in the morning, continuing east on I-40. We had a good drive all day. The wind was strong at times, but we arrived at Tanbark (a Passport America Park) at exit 163 in Tennessee. There was no one in the office, the door was locked with a note on it to leave the money in an envelope. I put $13.75 into the envelope, wrote our name, the site we were going to use and our Passport America number on the envelope and pulled on into our pull-thru site. We were glad to shut it down for the night. We awoke in the morning to this
The manager came along and suggested that we stay another day. He said that the interstates were really bad and that we were safer off the roads because "people in Tennessee don't know how to drive in snow" - his words, not ours, so we paid him for another night and stayed put. We knew that we were close enough to our next stop, that we could stay the extra night. The next morning we were on our way and all the snow had disappeared accept for in the ditches and shaded areas. We took US-155 north around Nashville. The traffic was light and this is another route that we plan on using again. It was a nice, uneventful drive around Nashville with no slowdowns. We arrived at Diamond Caverns, just north of Park City Kentucky (exit 48 north and south on I-65), in the afternoon. There were still traces of the snow storm, but nothing like we had expected. We picked a site and I went to the camp host RV because the registration office was closed today. She took our information and wished us a good stay. When I returned from the Camp Host Rv I noticed that Doug wasn't in our pull thru site. I saw him down over the hill on a level spot, but had no idea why he was down there. I walked on down to see why he was just sitting down there. The car was unhooked from the coach and the hood was up on the car. When I arrived at the car he told me the car wouldn't start. We use a power pack with the Brake Buddy to avoid this problem, so I couldn't understand what the problem would be now. We decided to drive the coach to our site and come back for the car. We backed the coach into a site other then the one we had first picked, because the section we were going to park in didn't have water. We got backed in, hooked up and plugged in the power cell so that we could take it to boast the car. A couple of hours later we took the power cell back to the car, hooked it onto the battery and started the car. We had a problem. The car was running very rough with a message on the little screen saying "reduced engine power". We let the car run for about 3/4 of an hour and were able to get it moved to our site. It was still running terrible. We let it run for another hour to charge the battery, but no luck. It was still running terrible. We turned it off, with the plan to check it out in the morning. March 10th the car was still running rough. It didn't have enough power to pull itself. We called Roadside Assistance and they dispatched a tow truck from Cave City about 10 miles north of Park City. He arrived within the hour, backed up to the car and loaded it onto the flatbed of the tow truck. He let us go with him to the closet Chevy dealership which was Cave City Chevrolet-Buick 1-800-288-2438 or 1 270 773-3174, just south of I-65. They took the car right in and was able to determine that it needed a new computer. The car is a 2005 Chevy Cobalt. We bought it because it is light and no fuses to pull before flat towing. When the car is working, it works great but we have had numerous problems with it since buying it Sept. 2005. Even though we have extended bumper to bumper warranty on the car, few of the problems have been covered under this GMC warranty. We were very happy to hear that this was one problem covered by warranty and they also arranged a rental car for us through Enterprise. We had to wait for our ride to come from Glasgow, Kentucky but it was worth the wait. After driving to Glasgow to the Enterprise office, they drove us back to Cave City Chevrolet-Buick where we picked up a brand new 2008 Buick La Crosse. That was a nice jump up in driving. Fully loaded including heated seats. I wanted to keep it, but it was only our car for 24 hours. The new computer for our car would be in on the 11th. We did enjoy a drive around the countryside with the La Crosse, then we returned back to Diamond Cavern. There is much more for me to catch up on adding here and I will do that over the next couple of days. I have more photos to add also and they will be uploaded by the end of this week. It has been much longer then a couple of days, but here is the rest of our trip home............ We were up early the next morning. After breakfast we drove the La Crosse back to Cave City Chevrolet-Buick dealership. We were happy to find out that our GMC warranty had covered the complete repair of our car and that it wasn't quite ready yet, but soon. We took the La Crosse for a short drive around the area and returned to the dealership. This time the car was ready. We paid for the oil change we had them do while it was in for repair and Doug followed me in our car while I drove the La Crosse back to the Enterprise office in Glasgow. We dropped the car off and were on our way back to Diamond Cavern within minutes. There was a dog running around the campground trying to be everyone's friend. She was very friendly.
We found out that she had been abandoned. She was so thin. Her fur was really thick, but you could still see her hipbones. I fed her all the meat I had in our freezer. She just gobbled it down and wanted to eat the plastic bag I had carried it outside in because it also smelled of food. I knew she was still hungry even after she had ate everything we had for her to eat. I took a drive down to the nearest store and purchased a 4 pound bag of kibbles. She ate the whole bag of kibbles over the next 24 hours. She was also able to consume another 4 pound bag of kibbles over the next 24 hours. We were going home in the next couple of days and didn't know what we could do to help her. We would have brought her home with us but knew nothing of her medical history. We would have had to get all of her medical shots including rabies and didn't know how long in advance of crossing the border, that she would have had to have the rabies shots. Luckily I was talking to a woman that was starting work on Monday, and she would take her home with her then. We told her that we would look after and feed the dog until she came back on Monday. What a heartbreaker! It was a very difficult decision to make. This dog was so optimistic and friendly even though she was only a few days from starving to death. She never gave up. We still feel heartbroken that we could not bring her with us. We hope she likes her new home with the woman that took her in. We left Kentucky with heavy hearts, continuing our drive north with a lot of what if questions. We don't drive very far in a day. We drove around Indianapolis on 465 linking up to I-69 north. We left I-69 at exit 14. We drove west on State 18. Our destination was Glowood Campground for the night. There isn't many campgrounds open at this time of year and we needed electrical hookup to run our furnaces for the night. We pulled in and there was no one around. A note told us to pick a site and someone would be around shortly. The sites were very soft and we picked one out that seemed the driest. We hoped that we would no sink during the night. We were able to find our TV satellite and settled in for the night after a light supper. Just before dark the owner?/manager? came around. He was very friendly and after a short chat and the exchange of $$'s we parted company. We settled in for the night and had a good sleep. Our next stop was Lakeshore and Outdoor Adventure park and one of our favorite home parks. It is just north of I-69 and east of Flint, Michigan on the Irish Road. We arrived in good time on March 17th and settled in for a two week stay. We will leave here April 1st to cross back over into Ontario, Canada. The water isn't turned on here yet. We are prepared because we filled our fresh water tank in Kentucky. We are good for a couple of weeks with the amount of fresh water we have on board. It is good to be this close to being back home for the summer. Temperatures are still very cool here with freezing at night. We are quite warm in our coach home and have been in cold weather like this several times since we bought it. We know that spring will be here in a few days. It caught up to us in Kentucky and we are sure that it will catch up to us here. We enjoy the spring season, watching the earth wake up from it's long winter sleep. We lots to do here. We will be visiting our cousin Pat and family in Auburn. Jody and Rachael are coming over this coming weekend. They will be staying in a cabinette. They have been wanting to try one of them and we were able to book one for three nights. We hope they enjoy the stay. We know that we will enjoy seeing them this weekend. We also plan on going to a surplus RV parts store in White Pigeon, Michigan. We have lots to keep us busy here. Our next post will be from Ontario. Hope to see you then. We are going to be busy the next couple of weeks. We haven't taken our satellite internet off of winter shut off yet, so our internet connection is limited. We will reconnect soon and have all the internet that we want. See you then.
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