Here we are, on the road: We’re in Moscow, Iowa

Friday, July 09, 2010 Lorraine’s report

It’s Friday evening and we are sitting here at the HWH repair shop in Moscow, Iowa. Chuck had the jacks worked on this afternoon; they finished working on them and said we could stay the night here again in the parking lot, since they finished them at closing time. It has 50 amp only, but it’s free.

We got to the shop yesterday afternoon; put our name on the list. The gal in the office said we could park and set up, then come into the office in the morning to see if they could work us in to their schedule. Our appointment wasn’t until this next Tuesday morning, and we were early, hoping to get in earlier.

We left Hershey, PA on Tuesday, July 6^th. We spent a very quiet day at home on the 4^th of July. Chuck made Bar B Q hot dogs, and brats. It was the hottest day we had been in thus far, almost 100 degrees, the air conditioners worked hard trying to keep the coach cool. Record temperatures fell all over PA that day.

We headed over to the fireworks in Hershey, PA around 8 pm. We found the perfect spot, put out the chairs, and visited with a very nice young local couple before the show. They were from just up the street where we were sitting and told us all kinds of information about the area. They had a girl (about 6) and a boy (about 10). The time waiting for the fireworks flew by quickly. It was still very hot, around 90 plus at 9.

The show was spectacular, with the finale taking about five to eight minutes with fireworks going up that entire time, no breaks. Chuck commented that we hadn’t seen anything quite like that before. Hershey really put on a show!

Monday, we packed up the coach; then I headed off to the matinee. I went and saw Toy Story 3. It was a very good movie; one that I will buy when it comes out on DVD.

Tuesday we were up and on the road before 10, with the coach heading west. Hurray! We are finally heading home out of the heat! Hopefully it will be cooler than the mid 90’s every day, with matching readings for the humidity. I love being in the sun, but not this hot; the mid 70’s suit me just fine.

We left Hershey, PA and drove 300 some odd miles to Belmont, Ohio to a Passport America Park, called Bark Camp, a state park. It was a very pleasant camp, nice, friendly people at the front office, who sent us to a cute little diner that had great food for dinner.

The next morning, we were up and off before 10 again, heading west again. We stopped in Crawfordsville, Indiana at Sugar Creek RV Park, a Passport America Park. This was a second day of driving 300 plus miles, in about six hours, with only one stop to make sandwiches for lunch.

It feels good to be heading west. Sugar Creek was very pretty, with a creek following the banks of the park. I stuck my feet in the creek and it was cool, but nice.

The next day we left Sugar Creek and continued our routine; leaving before 10, driving about 300 miles or so. This time we made it to HWH here in Moscow, Iowa.

After setting up, we decided to go back to see the Biggest Truck Stop on Interstate 80, about a half hour back east on I-80. Upon getting there we found that there was a Trucker’s show going on and that the area was full of trucks, cars and tons of people. We decided to drive through and keep going, way too many people and too much traffic.

Chuck drove us through one of the quad cities, Rock Island and then on to Jumer’s Casino, a new casino we saw on the way west. We tried our luck, and we both came away with more $$ than we left. Dinner was at the buffet, Surf and Turf. We both enjoyed food we liked to eat; Chuck said his prime rib was good and my all you can eat lobster was great.

Today, Chuck was up and into the office to try and get us on their schedule. We waited and around noon, I took the car and went to try and find a Super Walmart to resupply.

The GPS took me to a dirt road, on Highway 61 in the middle of no where; I didn’t know where I was. I reset the GPS and headed southeast to find another Walmart the GPS said was there. I ended up close to Davenport, Iowa at a Super Walmart, where I was able to get all the groceries we needed.

I asked the clerk if there was a mall near by so I could do some shopping for my sister, Thelma’s birthday. As luck would have it, there was one a few miles down the road. It was big. I went in and low and behold, they were having a mall wide sidewalk sale. I was able to find something for her birthday, at one of the many stores.

I hit the GPS for home, and it took me right home, which was only a half hour away. Going to Walmart took over an hour to get there, and that was after it sent me to the middle of nowhere; crazy GPS!

Tomorrow we are leaving HWH here and headed north to Minnesota to Dakota Meadows RV Park in Prior Lake. This is the huge casino owned by the Shakopee Sioux Indian Tribe. It is one on the nicest RV parks we have been in. We will be meeting our friends, Dave and Sandy there, and hope to visit them for a few days.

This trip to the east coast has been full of a lot of firsts. This was our first time to stay in the coach in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. We added all those states to the map on the side of the coach. Wow!

I guess that is all for now. Until next time………Lorraine

7/9/10 Chuck’s report

“Ok, enough already”, Lorraine said to me. “ It’s too hot, let’s head West and see if we can find some cooler temperatures.” We really enjoyed our time on the East Coast, all the history, battlefields, beaches and locations! But the high temperatures and humidity was more than we are used to.

The perceptions I’ve had of the East Coast area were shot out of the water, so to speak. We found the people to be just as friendly as anywhere we’ve been in the last three years and for the most part they are really proud of their homes, cities, states and our country. I think we’ve seen more signs of patriotism here than on the West Coast and more bumper stickers that I would be apt to put on our car. I think the best drivers we’ve seen were in Pennsylvania, for some reason, they know how to merge onto the freeway without getting mad at us. The area isn’t wall to wall people, I’m surprised at the size of the forests we’ve seen. The campgrounds we’ve been to were able to handle big rigs and they weren’t charging an arm and a leg per site. People we’ve talked to back here are full of questions about the West Coast area and say they would like to visit someday. Guess the differences across this county of ours aren’t as big as I thought!

Sunday the 4th Lorraine talked me into taking her out to watch the fireworks. She’s missing home pretty bad, I think it was because of the large parties she would have on the holidays, lots of family and friends. But she really like the fireworks display we saw put on by the town of Hershey, PA. They shot off fireworks for about 1/2 an hour with one of the largest finales we seen.

We had thought about leaving the area on Monday but we got back to the coach too late from the firework show. So Monday Lorraine took off to the movie house, she really likes to go but I don’t. I got a few chores finished around the coach but it was too hot to do much outside.

When we decided to leave early I called to get an earlier appointment to get our leveling jacks serviced. Our appointment was for next Tuesday and I wanted to get done this week, if possible. I called and they didn’t have any opening but suggested if we got here, they would try to fit us on Friday afternoon. So with that possibility, we changed out itinerary and schedule and headed out on Tuesday.

We knew we had to travel about 1000 miles in three days, very do-able but not our preferred type of traveling. We tried to break it down into even distances and drive three days in a row, another rarity for us. One of our camp ground memberships, Passport America, allows us to pay 1/2 price at member campgrounds. So we checked out our route and found a couple of PA parks along the way and in the areas we wanted to stop.

Our first day’s travel was to be around 300 miles, that put us in the area of Belmont, OH. on Tuesday evening. I was surprised to find out this PA campground was a State Park, Barkcamp State Park. None of the sites had water or sewer hookups, only electric service but the sites were really nice. They were large with asphalt parking, plenty of grass and lots of shade trees. We found one that would allow us to get satellite service, backed in, got set up and rested. A very nice place if you ever find yourself in Belmont, OH. with a camping rig and only $10/day with PA membership.

Next morning we hooked up and took of for another 300+ mile day. This time we wanted to get past Indianapolis and found another PA campground, this one in Crawfordsville, IN. This was another pleasant surprise, we were assigned a spot that didn’t work, changed to another close by and get set up. The camp is situated along the Sugar Creek, thus the name “Sugar Creek Campground”. Funny the way that works, huh? Once again Lorraine had to test the waters, this time no pictures however. She said the water was very cold, almost like the ocean temperature in New Jersey. But it was hot outside and she said it help her cool off.

Thursday found us on the road for yet another 300+ mile day that got us here to Moscow, Iowa. Some of the biggest cities we driven through (but didn’t stop and explore) were Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN. and Peoria, IL. Thursday was the first day in awhile that the high temperature didn’t get into the high 90s, only got to the mid 90s, ha.

There are a number of casinos in the area so guess where we went for dinner? (First guess don’t count.) But to our surprise, they had a special on Thursday nights this month, Steak and Lobster buffet. Lorraine really likes lobster and I’ve been known to eat a steak once in a while. We had a very enjoyable dinner and we both won a couple of bucks on the slots.

Friday I checked with the office when they opened, the receptionist said she hoped to be able to get us in for service in the afternoon. So Lorraine took the car and headed out to find a Wal-Mart and maybe a shopping center or something.

About 1:30 I got a knock on the door and they said to report to bay #1 ASAP. I got there about 1:45 and they assigned a tech to work on our coach. I told them I didn’t have any major problems (Richard, we have HWH, not Atwood) but wanted them to check the system over and check out two leaks I’ve seen. The tech worked for about two hours, one time there were actually three techs working on it. At $70/hour shop rate, I was prepared for a large bill but they shop foreman said they would only charge us for 1/2 hour. We got out of the shop with a quart of hydraulic fluid and a clean bill of health for under $50, very nice.

They also allowed us to park here with their supplied 50 amp electrical service both Thursday and Friday. All in all, a nice visit at the HWH factory/service center.

Since we were able to finish our business here earlier than expected, I called the campground we are going to stay at in Minnesota and got us in there starting tomorrow, Saturday. Once again we are looking at a 300+ mile trip for tomorrow.

Our main reason for going to the Minneapolis area is for a visit with our good friends, Dave/Sandy, who live in the area. We aren’t sure how long we will stay there but know we will be busy with our visit so we decided to write and post our weekly blog earlier than normal. We usually have it written and posted on Sunday morning but will have this one out on Friday evening.

So there you have it, an early report but still have some pictures to share. So with that, I’ll add the pictures and get this posted.

Here are some pictures the evening of the 4th of July. The fireworks are at HersHey (that’s with the second “H” Ron), PA.