Another St Joseph Trip

We had a pretty good Memorial Weekend. It was a bit hectic getting ready, though. We had to take Allan's trailer down to Michael's to pick up Stephen's dinning set Michael had been keeping for Stephen for several years. Stephen's new home finally has room for his dining set, so we're making another trip to St Joseph and picking up the dining set was the kickoff for the weekend.

Just before the trip, I had to make a quick trip to the Branson VA Clinic.  On my return, it was raining pretty hard and Pumpkin misfired briefly which seemed to have triggered an ABS fault. I tried clearing the error codes, but the error comes back. The biggest inconvenience is that now the cruise control doesn't work. So, we wound up making our trip to St Joseph without cruise control.  I'm going to have to make an appointment at the Mercedes dealer in St Louis to have it fixed since it may be still under warranty (fingers crossed).

But, before a trip to St Louis, I've got to get the generator fixed. I have an appointment with Cummins locally to work on the generator. I hate getting old. In my younger days, I'd crawl under there and fix it myself (sigh).

One good thing, my new mattress is pretty comfortable and well worth the cost - finally.

While at Stephen's, Joyce helped him strip wallpaper and I helped him check out his underground sprinkler system and a cranky sump pump. The sprinkler system checked out pretty good except 2 or 3 sprinkler heads may need replacing and one of Stephen's neighbors built a privacy fence across the property line and sunk a post right through the sprinkler underground line. So, he is going to get to meet that neighbor soon.

What Happened?!!

Just woke up to the fact that it is waay into May 2018. What the heck happened to 2017? It was here just yesterday, I'd swear.

So, what's happened with Pumpkin since, uh, the last time I wrote about something that happened to Pumpkin? Well, not much. It took what seemed like forever for spring to arrive for real, not just when the calendar said. Stephen bought a new house in St. Joseph and closed on it a few weeks back. We took Pumpkin out for its post-hibernation run to visit Stephen. Stephen had stored a bunch of his "rough" stuff in our garage and my workshop, so we loaded Allan's trailer with that stuff and took Stephen's stuff "home". Stephen's new home has a separate drive built especially for an RV which was great. It was level and had a good power source, so we opted to sleep in the RV instead of carrying "stuff" back and forth to the house. We parked and unloaded the trailer and said farewell to Stephen's stuff. Whew!

Stephen's new place is beautiful. Oh, don't get me wrong, it is not perfect. In fact, it has lot's of fixing up that must be done. But, that's one thing that makes it great. Stephen will have lots of fun stuff to do as he puts his touch on things. After raking up a few tons of leaves, he plans to attack that ornamental pond, before it attacks him.

Izzy (Isabel), Stephen's dog, is very happy to move to her new home after having to stay in an apartment for so long, poor thing. But now, she has her own back yard and her own squirrels.  And her own stealthy, lying in wait, deck where she can rest, snooze, and when awake, keep an eye of the bird feeders. Squirrels can rob you blind if you are not alert.

We had a nice shakedown visit at Stephen's. However, I still had trouble sleeping comfortably. The mattress just wasn't getting it for me. So, I ordered a custom foam mattress. I haven't tried sleeping on it yet, but it looks good and feels good just flopping on it. We're heading to Stephen's again next weekend (Memorial weekend) to take another trailer load of stuff. So, I'll be able to give it a good test. This trip it is Stephen's nice dining table and chairs being held by Michael who appears tickled to be rid of. Also, we still had a couple of antique items at our house we'll stick in since the trail will have lot's of room.

All this sounds good, but how it turns out will depend a lot on how well I feel. I just got out of the hospital after an attack of UTI. To top it off, Joyce has a nagging back problem that has her cussing now and then. I think we're feeling well enough to get all this done. We'll see.

Shhh!

Pumpkin is hibernating.  It's all winterized and set for freezing weather.  Tanks drained, water lines blown out, RV anti-freeze added to sink traps and macerator.  We'll likely take it out on occasion through the winter, but without the convenience of fresh water and flushing toilet...unless we decide to head waaay south sometime.

We're Still Here

Well, that didn't work out.  We thought we'd take Pumpkin out for a short spin and tour Alley Spring Mill and other such sites nearby, but old age and plain old lazy scratched that itch.  Oh well, there's always next year.  Instead, we decided to wash and wax Pumpkin.  Sure, we can do it.  Yeah, right.  We got one side almost finished before we both gave out.  But, my friend, Charlie, offered to do the job next Thursday.  I'm going to let him.  Afterall, I just spent an entire day working on his laptop and tablet.  He does owe me. 😊

In the meantime, I get to work on the Dakota.  I went out to take it to the store and it wouldn't cooperate.  I think it's the IAC valve (Idle Air Control), not a difficult fix - if that's the problem.  It got chilly last night and frosted so I think I'll let it warm up a bit before I go out and try to fix it.

Freedom!

We were supposed to be doggie sitting for my son's two pooches this week while he went to Greece and Italy for a fling.  But, he ran into a passport tangle at the last minute and had to cancel.  So, all of a sudden we are free to hit the road for an autumn color trip...maybe.

It happened so quickly, we are having to sit quietly today trying to pack in our minds before we start loading.  Touring this time of the year takes a little more planning as many campgrounds have closed.  So, I've got to make sure Pumpkin is ready for a lot of dry camping.  The last time we were on the road this time of the year, our LP regulator shot craps so we couldn't use the furnace or the generator.  Bummer if you can't find a campground with power available.

I'll try to record this trip while also trying to catch up the blog from last summer's Canada/Western US trip.

We're thinking maybe an old mill trip, visiting some of the old mills in the area like Alley Spring.  We've driven nearby the mill many many times and every time said something like, "We ought to go there someday."  Maybe the day has come.

Custer State Park In All It's Glory

We made it to Custer State Park, one of my favorite places to visit and make a day of it on the Wildlife Loop Road. Ditto loved it.

Ditto loved it.

Roadblock ahead! Some rather aggressive pedestrians crossing the road.

And in my rearview mirror, a young bull bison satisfies an itch as he rubs his head on my taillight. Luckily, no damage.

2017 West Day 1

Leaving Stephen's Tuesday morning, heading north along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Our first stop is Riverview SRA located beside the Missouri River just north of Nebraska City.

Ditto took Joyce for a walk.