1 very long day

We left Kansas City around 8 this morning. We were making good time until about 30 miles east of Dodge City, KS. DaGirls Rv started to feel slugiest. Could not go fast enough to get into 6th gear. Susan started calling around in DC, but seems like no one had time to change a fuel filter.  We finally spotted a Freightliner sign. She called and they got us in right away. 
The only thing I can think of that caused the problem was that we took on some Bio-Diesel fuel 2 tanks ago.  That along with the colder nights must have caused clogging.  

Anyway SUSAN decided to travel another 100 miles to Hooker, OK.  That will make for 1 very long day.  It seems she wants to get to AZ very quickly and thinks a couple of 400 miles days are ok.  She driving so I can't say much. 

Anyway, we have another hour to get there which will be around 6 pm making a 10 hr looooong day.

Sorry no photos of the route, but keep your heads up and smile.

Safe Travels and Journeys 
from DaGirls RV.

Closet Mod

Back on line with a new Mod to DaGirls Rv. 

Do you hate how the closet door is locked down, has the latch broken, getting tried of using rods to hold the doors in place? Well let me tell you about the Flip Latch. This part provides a method of holding the doors in place with only 1 screw and small pieces of felt.

​Safe and Happy Travels from DaGirls 

Where is DaGirls Rv

Well, it has been an exciting and non-eventful week since I last reported in. Since the last report we have spent time with Barb and Sid Zielke, visited with Susan’s adult children, visited with the grandchildren, and have arrived over in Bremen, IN.

Many of you will remember the summer of 2013, this is when we re-sided and full body painted DaGirls Rv. Since then we have had some issues which Susan and Paul (Precision Painting) have been in discussions which center on blistering of the remaining side end walls.  In 2013 only 1 of the 4 slide ends was done. At that time Susan requested all end walls be done, however Paul talked her into only doing the one with blisters. Well we are back and the 3 remaining ends are being reskinned/painted.

As I have reported in the past, I trust only 2 locations to do residing and painting, Precision Painting and McMiller Custom/Mike's. Both have integrity and honor. You cannot go wrong in choosing either of the companies to perform your work. The main key is be respectful of them and their employees, work within their time frame, which means you don’t just drop in, without first calling ahead, discussing your needs and making an appointment.

Dave, the group leader, has been with Paul many years, then there is Ryan (painter), Brian, Freman, Rodney and a returning employee Brian. All are highly skilled and trained.

The day was spent in removing and doing cleanup work on the end walls. As we guessed, we had water intrusion, which in my opinion, leads to the blistering and this water intrusion has led to the floor plywood having moisture also. With the inside demo completed, I spent time in cleanup and putting everything away, which needed to be removed to allow the side wall to be removed.

The next part is cleaning up the side walls to allow the gluing on of the new material. At which time it will be time to re-assemble everything and then prep for painting.  By observing I have learned a few tip-bits of info, especially in the removal and re-installing of our windows. Sandwiched between the frames is a butyl rubber gasket, which they replace when re-installing. This makes for a airtight fitting window.

One of the few repair items we listed was the door frame.  It was not rehung correctly in 2013. While this work will be going on, I plan on spending time in the evenings installing molding on the wall/floor to complete our summer project of replacing all flooring. Just got the bathroom done. Noq it is on to cleaning DaGirls Rv. Freman and Rodney got the end wall installed on the big slide, tomorrow will be the bedroom slide. Then it is all about putting the inside back together. 

Few photos of the demo

Happy Travels and Safe Journey 

from DaGirls Rv

Road Trip to Chi Town

Did you get up early to see the Harvest (Blood Moon) Eclipse? I did and I also was able to get a few shots with my camera. Not too bad if I have slowed down the exposure may have been better.

 

Yesterday was a great day for a road trip. I asked Susan if she wanted to go with me to see my grandmother and aunt’s resting place. You see my mother was born and raised in Chicago, off of Cicero Ave. My grandmother was 1 of 3 sisters born in the early 1900’s. My Aunt Pearl never married and they lived together until Aunt Pearl passed away in the 70’s.

Anyway, it has been about 12 years since I last visited St Adalbert Cemetery on North Milwaukee Avenue, in Niles.

Once we arrived, we stopped and were given directions to the head stones, only to find they were wrong. When I came 12 years ago, an elderly lady (only one there) knew both spellings of my relatives names and location of just about everything. Now there are 4 persons, computers and what not and they still can give out the wrong information.

After 15 to 25 minutes of searching Susan & I were finally able to locate the head stones, only to find this:

You can see why it took so long to locate them. But after a while we were able to get them cleaned up.

Susan did a really good job.

We ended up with them looking pretty good:

Once we were done, we went back to the office to discuss what we found and informed them of the incorrect information we had been provided. We also learned that we could request a cleanup and the lifting of the grave-markers back to ground level. Susan will come back either next week or in March of 2015 to verify this.

Now for those of you who follow

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/diners-drive-ins-and-dives.html

We went to Paradise Pup for lunch.

The episode that showed this only happened 3 to 4 years ago!

But hey, it came recommended and it was fun. Be warned though they only take cash and have a small eating area. But the food and fries were worth it the visit.

Oh,  guess what, we have company, Sid and Barb are traveling to the east coast and stopped by to say Hi. They were up north getting a sewing cabinet made and installed. You see Barb is a sewing fool, she sews everything you can think of and does wonderful work. So, after a very longgggggggggggggg drive of 125 miles they arrived here at Big Rock County Forest Preserve and we are having a mini-rally of Alfa’s. They have been full-timing since 2002 – 2003.   And currently have over 130K miles on their rig.

Safe Travels and Journeys from DaGirls Rv

Landed in Big Rock County Forest Preserve Campground

We landed Saturday afternoon here in Big Rock, IL. The CG is large with about 100 rv sites. All sites are large and level. Sites share a common water and have 50 amp service. 
More additional information check Here.  Not many campground options in Chicagoland area.  This is a good option - can easily hop on highways to get into city or onto commuter trains.  

Lat & Log (41.7530658, -88.5167192)

The one big drawback is the there are no showers. Regular bathrooms and vault toilets. But no showers, this is a very new CG.

 

Susan is off to have fun with the fam- at autumn fest on Sunday. I stayed home to enjoy working on the water heater, which turned out to be a bad connection.

Next on the list is setting up our new Dish satellite system - O' joy.

But don't forget I always have my supervisor on hand to verify proper procedures are followed.

Safe Travels and Journeys from

DaGirls Rv

Back on Da Road Again

Wednesday:

Well here we are back on the road again. After looking at the corrals and weather we decided to leave on Thursday instead of Friday. We made our choice based on weather and the conditions down at the corrals. So, we let everyone know that we would not be there. In a way I am glad, even though they are very humane in the treating of the buffalo, sometimes they will get hurt.

Photos of the Corral Workers - Press Here

Oh by the way, I now look at the buffalo in a different way. I may never eat another buffalo burger again.

 

Link to additional Photos - Press Here and Press Here

Also Round up day photos - Press Here 

Thursday:

Dawn came early with the sun shining brightly thru the skies. We made our goodbyes to the few people we saw and slowly headed out of the park.

Susan waving as we were leaving

One last shot

We stopped at the Heartland RV Park just off of 79 and 36 to refuel with propane, $3.15 a gallon. Then off to the Super "D" for diesel, where we refueled at $3.76 a gallon.  Fuel is definitely coming down.  Once on the road we headed east to Lake Vermilion Recreation area where Susan booked us a night with our free pass.

I forgot to tell you, we switched to Dish from Direct TV. It had gotten to the point I hated calling and working to get our service address switched. With Dish, all I have to do is Online Chat and it is easy as pie. Now I just have to relearn the system along with aiming the dish with new equipment.

Friday:

We awoke to howling winds, seems a cold front moved in during the night.

What we saw at Cracker Barrel

After discussing, we decided to head out and see what happened. Well it took us an hour to go 15 miles, seems we had awning problems. We got the problem fixed at a Cracker Barrel in Sioux City, SD and decided to have breakfast. Just before we left, another Alfa pulled in beside us. After a few minutes talking with Dennis, we decided it was time to leave. Looking at the weather, we decided to head south instead of east, as the wind was blowing southeast. Going this direction, made it easier with gusting winds and failing awning. We arrived at the Moose Lodge in Newton around 6'ish. Due to the wind this made for 1 very long drive day.

One of the good thing is Diesel prices are coming down, lowest price has been $3.559.

Safe Travels and Journeys 

from 

DaGirls Rv, 

"Della & Tilly"