Rain & Laundry

Started raining early this morning and it's kept up so far. Forecast is
for mostly rainy all day today and tonight. Cooler, too, low 80's. So I
decided might as well do my laundry since it's raining and the
nearest laundromat is just across the way.Walked over, put it in and
came back and made a scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast. My new toaster
works ok but manages to set off the smoke detector every time so I
resorted to rubber banding a plastic bag over it.

Last night I got a couple of DVDs from the video library.

Rainbow's End, Livingston, TX

Hot driving down here, 91. My engine temp was pegged on high from 11am until I got here.  This is The Escapees National Headquarters.  A big place with a mixture of houses, mobile homes and RVs, some on owned lots.  Also 2 recreation central,  pool, 2 laundromat s, ATM and a book-video library.

One unique item is the Care Center. Its for full time rvers who are too ill or old to travel. Escapees volunteer to cook meals, clean their rv and take them to appointment s. Meanwhile they can live in their rvs here.

Ron via Android

Wright Patman Lake Sunset

After supper last night the Camp Host stopped and told me to watch for
"the most beautiful sunset you'll see" from my campsite. So I sat out
on my picnic table with a beer and waited. It was pretty spectacular
even with no clouds.

Stayed warm and muggy last night so I ran the a/c all night. This
morning it's clear and 67, on the way to 88 for today. Nice look out my
RV window!

Cass County Park, Queen City, Texas

Made it to Texas!!
Easy drive, I left by 8 to beat the heat (90). Stopped at the Texarkana
Walmart for groceries. Interesting seeing half the customers in cowboy
hats...

Took a chance and headed for Cass County Park instead of Atlanta, TX
State Park which got excellent reviews. Cass County was a Passport
America park which means I pay half price. There are NO reviews for
this park anywhere which usually isn't a good sign. Turned off the
main highway onto a county road which shortly turned into a very bumpy,
lumpy 1 1/2 lane lonely stretch for 5 miles with some shabby trailers.
But there were signs for the park so I kept going. In the middle of
nowhere but boy I'm glad I came.  This place is gorgeous. Huge, open
sites, every one with a lake view. Host was really helpful and picked
me a great site and then drove to show me where it was. Electric, water
and a strong 3G signal for $8 a day!! People have caught 5 ft.
catfish here this summer. I signed up for 2 nights.

I uploaded a short video from my kayak trip on Table Rock Lake showing
one of the ducks and the Branson Showboat.

Chillin'

After my 3 hour kayak trip and the 5 mile hike today I'm relaxing by the stream, generating solar power. Supposed to be 90 today.
Leaving for Texas tomorrow.

Ron via Android

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

I drove down here this morning. Dry sites are $10 and they have a kiosk to purchase them. I put money in and hot no ticket; it was out of ink or something. I talked to the host and he set me up. Then I hiked 5 miles on Dead Chief Trail over Hot Springs Mountain to see the historic bath area. I was almost dead!  The water comes from a thousand feet down and is four thousand years old. A street was Bath House Row in the 18 hundreds. One is restored and is the visitor center. Electric baths and all.

Ron via Android

Boating

I debated taking a cruise on the Branson Queen Showboat until I found the cheapest ticket was $52 including lunch. I decided to go on Ron's Kayak Cruise instead. The lunch wasn't quite the same but I saw a lot in 3 hours and a light lunch was provided.

Paddled alongside the Duck Tour and saw it going in and out of tje lake.  Went down to look at tje Branson Queen, too.

Ron via Android

Table Rock State Park, Branson, MO

Windy drive here from Sedalia, and a lot more hills than I expected in MO. Stopped for supplies at Walmart in Springfield.

Table Rock Lake is manmade and they have dam tours for $14. I found a lakeside site and if the wind moderates I'll go kayaking.

Ron via Android

my view

Here is the view from my motorhome here. My neighbors can probably look
over my roof from inside their rv. Same on the other side.

Went to a couple more seminars yesterday. One on RV Storage Solutions
another on Is Fulltiming for You And finally one on Sedalia's famous
red light district. Evidently it was known countrywide for
it's number of whore houses. They operated with the tacit approval of
the city government by paying regular, weekly fines to stay in
business. At one point in the 1890's they shut them down for 3 months
and found the city couldn't pay it's bills, so the let them reopen.

Last night was the "Ham-o-rama", an amateur hour. 2 of the entertainers
were over 90!

Today a few more seminars and the big Chili Cook-Off.

Class Time!

Cool this morning; 46 out.


Yesterday was a full day of classes for me.  1st up was "RVing to Alaska". One thing I found out was it may be hard to get into any RV parks there without a reservation. Many RV Caravan Tours go through and book sites, bus tours and attractions a year or more in advance. So unless you want to dry camp with no utilities it might be worthwhile to go on a caravan.

Next was "RV Weight Safety" studies show 60% of RVs are overloaded. RVs are the only class of motor vehicles that are 100% loaded 100% of the time. Manufacturers stick the tanks and appliances and storage cabinets anyplace they can with little regard as to if weight is evenly distributed. So your total load may be within specs but way off balance with too much weight on one side or tire. Escapees offer Smart Weigh which measures all 4 wheels independently. The following class was by the same team, "RV Tire Safety" since overloading harms the tires. I was 1 of only 3 people who check their tire pressures every day.

The last class was a 2 hour "RV Fire Safety" by Mac the Fire Guy. He was quite the entertainer. After the talk and videos we went outside where he lit fires from pools of a gasoline/kerosene mixture and had ladies try to put them out while he tried to simulate the panic they'd feel in an actual fire. OSRIC was what he called it: "Oh Shit! Running In Circles!"  I finally saw my little aerosol foam extinguishers in action. It was due to what I read on his site that I bought some. He even sprayed some all over his face and body to show they're non-toxic. He said you might do this if the fire got around you.  The powder extinguishers were pretty messy; toxic dust everywhere.

Watch the videos.

Today's first class is "RVing to Mexico"!

--
Ron

Lots of rigs

This morning I went to connect my water hose to the utility post and
discovered a problem. I store the hose in the water heater cabinet
along with some other stuff. I pulled the hose out and noticed the
floor was all wet in there! I found one pipe connection with water
dripping out 1 drop every 20 seconds or so. I tightened it and it
stopped so I have a fan blowing in there to dry it out.

Went to the see the RV Show. One had a 23'x9' "living room" which means
my Sunrader would about fit in there. 6'8" ceilings. $249,000.  Bought
a couple things at the RV Marketplace and talked the the guy
representing the WNY Escapee Chapter. Also talked to the Caamco sewer
hose dealer who, believe it or not, is in a 1986 Toyota motorhome. I saw
it parked last night; looks much worse than mine. He said it had leaks
and lots of rotten wood. He sold his big Class A and bought this
because it's easier and cheaper to drive.

Took a panorama shot and a short movie of all the motorhomes around.
They are still arriving. They have little underpasses to walk over to
the fair area from the campground.

--

Ron

at The Escapees Escapade, Sedalia, MO!!

Bad sleeping last night at Horseshoe Lake. Racoons kept crawling on my
hood?! Widows were shut & there's no food out. Some other creature, a
bird or animal, screeched every hour or so. I set my alarm for 5:30
because I had to drive right across the whole St. Louis metro area and
wanted to beat the traffic. I did. There was hardly any at 6:25.

I made to Sedalia by 11. They squeezed me into a spot under a tree, I
hooked up the electric & sewer, and they provide free wi-fi. Man is
there a LOT of RVs here in every direction; mostly huge ones. I walked
over to get my Welcome Bag of goodies and see where the buildings were.
It's at least a 10 minute walk. This is where the Missouri State Fair
is held and it's big.

The seminars don't start until Monday morning although there is a
First-Timers Orientation tomorrow.

I hope it's quiet tonight! It's cloudy, 65 degrees and a 12mph wind
right now.

Horseshoe Lake State Park, Granite City, IL

Left camp this morning and drove into Benton, IL to wash clothes at a
laundromat I googled. Cool and cloudy. Left for Horseshoe Lake and
arrived with no problems or alternator lights?! I had cleaned the
battery terminals, tightened the connections on the alternator &
battery so who knows. Not crowded here and as before the St. Louis
Arch is just visible over the tree line. The humps in the lake are
blinds for ducks and doves. I hear shots once in a while. Tons of big
dragonflies patrolling over the fields bordering the campsites.
Still only $8.00 a night, just like when I stopped here in 2009!

200 miles to Sedalia, MO tomorrow and I'll arrive at the Escapade.

at Wayne Fitzgerald State Park, IL

Left Lake Shelbyville this morning. One last thing I did was hike the
trail past some old pioneer buildings at the far end of the lake. I
walked Squire Boone Trail.

On the way out through Shelbyville I drove
past the Claudia Sanders House:
"In 1959, at the age of 69, Colonel
Harland Sanders and his wife, Claudia, moved from Southeastern Kentucky
to Shelbyville. Prior to this, the Colonel had spent many years in
Corbin, Kentucky, developing his now world-famous chicken recipe. His
move to Shelbyville was prompted by the opening of Interstate 75 which
bypassed Corbin and his restaurant. It was however, from this very
building that Kentucky Fried Chicken grew into a world-wide
organization."

My plan was to drive to Horseshoe Lake Park near St. Louis.
Unfortunately on the trip my alternator light came on 3 different
times while on the expressway?! It always
went off again but I was getting nervous so I chose to stop here. It was
just replaced in July and the battery is a year old. When I got out to
pay the camp host I noticed my headlights were on(!); must have
accidently hit the knob. Maybe the a/c, headlights & charging 2
batteries overloaded it, but it shouldn't have. The old alternator
worked fine for 3 years.

Anyway I took a site and got my meter out and tried to make the
warning light show and failed. Turned on the a/c, lights, etc. The
battery reads 12.8V with the engine off. With the engine on it reads
14.1V so the alternator IS charging. Don't know what else to do but
cross my fingers and continue on tomorrow.

This park is really nice with a 22,000 acre lake. All the sites are
paved and have electricity: $20/night. You can see it isn't too
crowded, either. Making good use of my home made ramps! I grilled 4
boneless pork chops for dinner and froze 2 for later.

Lake Shelbyville Campground

After leaving the distillery I finally made it to the Lake Shelbyville
Campground. It is small and run by the county. Only a few sites but
only 3 other campers here. A nice little lake formed by the mighty
Shelbyville Dam. Plenty of swans, fish and turtles swimming by. A plus
is a paved site with water & electric is $15/night. That's the 1988 New
York State parks price...

Previously I had stopped at Lowes and bought a roll of Refeltix
insulation and a roll of adhesive velcro. My small motorhome heats up
really fast when in the sun and I don't always have electric for the
a/c. So I covered the windows in the upper bunk. The side ones are in
2 pieces so I can take half off to slide open the window. I also made
some curtains for the cab side windows and the ceiling vent. The
ceiling vent is very thin and lets in heat and cold and noise. I can
remove the Reflectix if I want to open it. I even made a cover for the
front door window because a few times I've been in sites where a light
shines through there and it has no curtain.

MUCH cooler in here now.

Tomorrow my plan is to drive to St. Louis, MO and camp at Horseshoe
Lake where I camped in 2009. No electric there! Saturday I go to
Sedalia.