JUNE 9 - June 15: Carney Park, O'Neill, NEBRASKA

Saturday, June 9: The 2 hour drive from Pender to O'Neill took us through northeastern Nebraska farmland and small towns. O'Neill (population 3700) is the Irish Capital of Nebraska, although now a greater percentage of its residents are of German heritage. Carney Park is one of 3 parks in O'Neill, and incudes a western arena, softball complex, and a small campground (first come first serve) with tent areas, bathhouse, and 18 campsites with water and concrete pads. Half of them have electricity.  We got a site with water and electric since there were only 4 other RVs and two tents on the grounds.



Sunday, June 10: There was a youth rodeo on the grounds, and a staging area for families and horses was on the large grassy area in front of our site. We didn't attend the rodeo, but enjoyed watching the families unload their horses and prepare for the day-long event and then pack up and reload for departure. It was amazing to see how the smallest children (some pre-school age) handled the large horses with ease.

Monday we toured the town, which didn't take long, and picked up a few grocery items.

The rest of the week was quiet with campers coming and going. There is no charge for the first 3 days of camping) (donation requested). After 3 days, you must go to the city office and get a permit for the rest of your stay ($10 per night). We took care of that on Tuesday and paid for 3 more nights.

Wind turbines are very popular in the midwest and we've seen many semi's on the highways transporting the huge blades and generators. You get a better idea of just how large these items are when you see them up close. Last night, a group of escort vehicles spent the night here. 



During our stay in O'Neill, the weather was cool for a couple of days and then the heat returned with highs in the mid-nineties (above normal for this time of year), but with little rain. Carney Park was a nice quiet spot to relax and at the same time,  stay busy with our computers. There is no Sprint coverage in this area, and one of our Verizon air cards is over the "unlimited" use for the month, with the other one coming close to the signal being throttled back.  But we're managing and learning to be patient with our slower download speed. The Verizon cell phone signal was good annd we could pick up several OTA tv stations.  As we move into more remote areas, these are situations that we'll  continue to deal with.

Today, Friday, we're driving further west to Valentine, Nebraska.

JUNE 2-8: Quiet Time in Pender, NE

It's always good to find a location now and again where life slows down and we can settle in for awhile. The Blue Ox Campground in Pender, NE fits the bill nicely. The campground is adjacent to the Blue Ox facility that makes a variety of towing equipment. They offer service at your campsite and free tours.





 Our location was at the western edge of Pender, which is a small village of around 1000 people in far eastern Nebraska. When we arrived here, there were about 9 Tiffin motorhomes here for a rally, but they left on Sunday, leaving us, and one trailer next to us with a family of 6.

June 3,Sunday: Bob (a ham radio friend we had never met) who lives about 35 miles away, visited with us for a few hours. We shared a pizza in Pender and then he headed home. It was great getting to know him and learning of his life in rural Nebraska while working an hour away in Omaha.

Monday was a quiet day other than a trip in to Pender for gas and a mail drop.

Tuesday (yesterday) was grocery day. We drove 45 miles west to Norfolk, NE to go to our bank, CVS and Walmart. We didn't find a town any closer where there were those three companies in one town. It was a nice outing, but the weather was sunny and in the mid-90's so we didn't want to spend much time outside. Norfolk, NE was the boyhood home of Johnny Carson.

Wednesday, we received maintenance service on our Blue Ox Towing System. Kevin, our tech, disassembled and lubricated all parts at our campsite.

Friday afternoon, we were joined by Howard & Linda Payne, who we had met up with a few weeks earlier in Iowa. They're now headed back west and they were here to get their towing system checked out. It never gets old meeting up with friends on the road!

A few more RVs came and went during the week. During our stay, two strong thunderstorms with very high winds, but the most severe parts went south or west of us both times.

MAY 30 - JUNE 3: Westward Travels and Repairs

Wednesday, May 30: We left the Cedar River Campground near Tipton, IA about 11:30 A.M. for the two hour drive on I-80 to just north of Des Moines, IA. We were lucky to get a prime campsite in the popular Bob Shetler Recreation Area Campground for two nights. With our America the Beautiful Senior Pass, the cost was only $11 per night.  Our site had a 50 amp electric hookup, a concrete pad and water nearby if needed and it was right beside the Des Moines River just below the spillway from Saylorville Lake.






 This scenic area draws lots of fishermen  hoping for a catch in the rapidly moving water.



On the way to Des Moines, we stopped at a rest area for lunch. With temperatures in the 90's, Hank tried to start our generator so we could use our coach A/C, but the generator wouldn't start. Wednesday evening, Hank phoned a Cummins repair faciity in Des Moines about 20 minutes from the campground and was told to come in on Thursday for work.

Thursday, we drove to the Cummins shop. The first diagnosis was a bad starter, and one was ordered to arrive on Friday. They offered to let us stay overnight with a 50 amp electric hookup just outside of the service bays. We decided to do that we wouldn't have to drive back  to the campground in a hot coach, and to be on the premises when the part arrived. It also gave us a front row seat to watch as they worked on semi's, school buses, etc.



Friday, the new starter was installed, but unfortunately that didn't fix the problem. A new inverter, a much more expensive replacement, fixed the problem. We also had them do some routine maintenance work. By the time all was finished, it was 4 P.M. and again the temperature was in the mid-90's.  Hank found an available site with electric at the Acorn Valley Recreation area just a few miles north of Bob Shetler's, again for $11 a night with our Senior Pass. We drove to Acorn Valley with the dash air on, and with the generator and coach A/C on to test the repairs, and arrived with a somewhat cooled-down coach for a relaxing night in the woods. Luckily, the predicted severe weather overnight modified before it reached us.

Saturday morning dawned bright and cool. We left Acorn Valley about 10:30 a.m for the 4 hour drive
via I-80, I--680, I-29 and various state roads to Pender, NE and the Blue Ox Factory.





Blue Ox is the brand of towing equipment and auxillary braking system we have. They have a nice campground with full hookups, they offer service at your site, and give factory tours. With service, you can stay at the campground at no charge. Pender is a small village of about 1000 people in far east Nebraska,  surrounded by large corn-raising farms, and a nearby Indian reservation. We've been told the closest grocery store is at least 20 miles away. There is good Verizon coverage and reception from several TV stations in Souix City, Iowa. We expect to be here for the next week.

MAY 23 - MAY 27, 2018: Cedar River Campground, Tipton, Iowa

The Cedar River Campground is next to I-80 at Exit 267 about 30 miles west of Davenport, IA. It's a full-service campground with many activities, crowded sites, and is full on this holiday weekend.  We arrived on Wednesday afternoon for a week's stay, and were told to pick any site in a particular area with 50 amps.



The area has trees for shade, and many sites are not level, but since this area was mostly empty, Hank found a nice level one that he could pull into. Interstate 80 is right behind us so the traffic noise is very loud, but inside Little House,  the noise from the A/C s drown out a lot of the road noise. We can see the Cedar River from our campsite.

There are 4 casinos within a 35 mile radius of our location, and on Thursday we visited the Rhythms Casino in Davenport.




The facility appears fairly new with a hotel and the usual amenities including a very good buffet restaurant. A large area of the casino in non-smoking which is always nice. With our player's card bonuses, we received a buffet discount and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Hank got $5 free play because it is his birthday month, and he won a little at the slots and I lost a little.. Our 2018 casino tour has begun!

Thursday afternoon and again on Friday, Selene finished getting the dirty laundry out of the way. Friday we enjoyed seeing the holiday crowd arrive as they manuevered into campsites, setting up their supplies and preparing meals.The campground quickly filled up.  We were very glad we had arrived on Wednesday before the holiday hubbub.

Yesterday, Saturday, we had the pleasure of meeting up with Howard and Linda Payne.


The Paynes are fulltimers, originally from Louisville, KY who have become well-known in RV circles for their educational rallies, RV show seminar talks, and their website( http://www.rv-dreams.com/ that is full of information on RV life and their adventures. We  met them at one of their rallies in Tennessee in 2011 when we first started thinking about becoming fulltimer RVers.  The knowledge we gained at that time confirmed our desire to pursue the lifestyle and we attended another of their rallies after we went fulltime to learn even more. They were traveling east on I-80 yesterday and we arranged to meet at Gramma's Kitchen next to  the world's largest truck stop about 17 miles from us.

 Our lunch was very good and it was great to share time with the Paynes!

After our lunch and good-byes to Linda and Howard, we took a non-interstate drive to downtown Tipton, which is 5 miles from our campground, but ended up being over an hour away from our lunch stop. There aren't too many paved roads around here in rural Iowa once you're off the interstate, so we had slow travel on the many gravel farm roads we had to travel to Tipton (population 3300). After a grocery stop at the local market, we headed back to the campground, this time on paved Hwy. 38.

The weather has suddenly turned to summer here with highs in the low 90's, higher than normal for this area in late May. Thunderstorms rolled through overnight on Friday with heavy rain, but no problems. We'll be here until Wednesday when we're heading further west. If we're lucky, it will be a little cooler for our next travel day.

MAY 18-May 22: 2018 Hamvention and the Next Stop

We enjoyed our stay at the Greene County Fairgrounds from May 17 to May 21, the home of the 2018 Dayton Hamvention.  Many of last year's problems were addressed  and Hamvention was another great success.  Yes, it rained several times, but that didn't seem to dampen the spirits of those attending.  By camping at the fairgrounds, the sights and sounds of the event were always close by for us.

Monday, May 21, we arrived at the D&W Campground in Champaign, Illinois after 5 hours on the road.  This is a small campground with a lake in rural surroundings. We wanted to stay a week, but with the upcoming holiday weekend, we could only get a full hookup site for 2 nights. We have a site overlooking the lake.




  Since it had been over 2 weeks without doing laundry,  we needed a sewer connection in order to get the dirty clothes basket emptied! We also need to get used to being in the Central Time Zone.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading to Tipton, Iowa, northwest of Davenport.  We were lucky to get a 7-day reservation there with full hookups over the holiday weekend.  It will be nice to have that many days to relax without work appointments or events going on.  There is a casino about 35 minutes away that can provide some entertainment if we feel the need to try our luck!

MAY 10 - May 16, 2018: Repairs in the Country & Hamvention Prep

Thursday, May 10, we left the Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN for the 90 minute drive to our appointment at the Linnemeier Repair Service near Ossian, IN, about 15 miles south of Fort Wayne, IN. The shop is in the midst of family farmland and mainly provides service for many types of large equipment - construction and dump trucks, farm vehicles, fire engines, buses, etc. We were referred there for chassis work by a fellow customer at Cruising America RV Service in Celina, Ohio a few weeks ago.  One of the Linnemeir employees, John Taylor,  is a former REV chassis specialist and very experienced in motor home repair among other things.

We wanted to have our air suspension system looked at because of an intermittent problem of not "airing up" for travel on the first attempt.  We also needed our dash air recharged, and our rusting exhaust "turn down" replaced.  John Taylor started with the diagnostic work as soon as we arrived.....a rarity in repair shops...and finished with the a/c recharge job as well as making an adjustment in the air suspension system.  Parts were ordered for the rest of the work, and we settled in the rural setting next to the shop for the weekend with a 30 amp electrical hookup.  After being next to the railroad tracks and 40 to 50 daily freight trains for 11 days in Goshen, the quiet country environment was a welcome relief.

Tuesday, May 15:  Little House went back inside the large shop for the exhaust repair and to have a hydraulic filter replaced. After a quick power wash of the engine area, we were on our way about 2:30 P.M. for the 3 hour drive to the Xenia, Ohio Walmart.  A good portion of our drive was in heavy thunderstorms, including the drive from Dayton to Xenia, and we even experienced some small hail before getting settled in at the Xenia Walmart.  We're in Xenia for the Dayton Hamvention, the largest ham radio event in the world, to be held May 18-20.

Wedneday, May 16: We did some Walmart shopping before driving the 3 miles to the Green County Fairgrounds,, where the hamfest is being put together and our home for the next 5 nights.  The fairgrounds has 100 campsites on grass with water and electric hookups. Upon arrival, we dumped our tanks at the dump station and set up in site 148, the same site we had last year. The next 5 days will be busy ones, and we hope to meet up with many of our ham radio friends.







We're in the grass camping area just above the left corner of the racetrack. The Hamvention flea market is in the racetrack infield, and vendors are located in several buildings and large tents, with food service trucks and seating scattered throughout the areas. Last year's attendance was nearly 30,000 over the 3 day period and this year should be another good one!

April 28 - May 8: Maintenance Session Prep and Activities

We left Celina, OH on Saturday, April 28 for the 3 hour drive to Goshen, IN. The 2018 Ramblin' Pushers Maintenance Session was to be held starting on May 4 and we arrived early as a small part of the "staff". This rally, at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, is to further the knowledge of motorhome ownershp through seminars, interaction with others and having repairs done by the appropriate vendors (many located in the area). This was our third year to attend. We were to be joined by 251 coaches  who are all part of the REV family of motor homes. The Session is well-organized and run by over 200 volunteers.    http://www.ramblinpushers.org/

Once the Session officially began, it was a busy time with breakfast every morning, and non-stop seminars all day, as well as other meals, tours and meetings.  We helped 3  first-time attendees get settled in and oriented to the whereabouts of all the activities at this large facility, and began enjoying the activities ourselves.

The weather was very cool and windy upon arrival, and one night there was over 3 inches of rain. Luckily, we missed out on nearby severe weather conditions.  Spring started showing herself after that with warmer days and sunny skies.

The Session ends Wednesday,  May 9, with a catered dinner and final meeting.  We'll leave on Thursday, May 10 for the short drive to Ossain, IN, 10 miles south of Ft. Wayne IN,  for some more repair work.