Colarado Springs & blowout

We made it to Pikes Peak RV Park just outside Colorado Springs and plan on staying here until after Memorial Day & do some exploring. Jody will be here until Friday when she flies back to Mobile. Temps were up to 88 today until a small thunderstorm blew through this evening. We had a nice dinner across the street at an Italian place after another long day.

After the hard work of picking up the pieces the ladies decided it was time to take a tan & relax.

A little excitement today as we were cruising down a hill on a two lane road in Colorado but all went well considering what could have happened. Our first blowout. We heard it and easily pulled over, minor damage to the RV, a call to Good Sam Emergency Road Service and we were on our way in 2 1/2 hours.

Traveling

We covered 318 miles westward today to Oakley, KS. For us that's a lot of miles. The CG is just an overnighter beside the expressway but we got a couple pictures at an antique shop next door and Jody liked the cows. Not much around here.

Picked up the doc.......

Doc Jody & Doc Heather in Kansas City for the Family Medicine chief resident seminar.

Judy & Greg in Kansas City with George Washington in Washington Square.

Today we went into Kansas City and picked up Jody and her friend Heather. They were in KS for a medical seminar for new chief residents. We then met Steve Billings (he's a slave driver, no mercy at all, we've had lunch twice with him in the last couple weeks but he's so mean he makes Suzy work all the time, she's probably starving!) and the 5 of us went out to Jack's Stack House for BBQ lunch, very good. We then dropped Heather off at the airport then Judy, the doc, and I returned to our place on Clinton Lake at the COE campground. NO rain today, all sun but only mid 60s.

MAN, am I glad we are not in a tent! We do need an ark.

Yesterday we took our HitchHiker in for some toilet service. That's important you know. The bowl wasn't holding water (we didn't want it to hold any of that other stuff) and NuWa replaced some parts they had received from Thetford. While it was in the shop we went to the Grain Bin with Jeff & Susan and another couple so Judy could have one of her favorites....pecan waffles. We returned to the city campground at 3:30 and set up camp and then went to see Star Trek in Chanute. Boy, that was a real good movie that all 4 of us enjoyed. This morning we packed up and left about 10am for Clinton Lake outside Lawrence, KS and a COE (Corp of Engineers) park. It was REALLY windy and fortunately we had a tail wind most of the way north. The last 15 miles we were into the wind or had a cross wind that was not fun. It was 84 when we arrived at noon and sunny. Now, 6pm & 66 degrees, it been raining VERY hard with lots of hail since 2:30. Two big time thunderstorms have passed over us and the rain was coming down in buckets....really. Hopefully it will stop soon and the sat TV will get a signal, I'm pleased the Sprint Internet card is working. When, IF, it stops raining I'll get a couple pictures of this place for you to view. It is a very nice COE park in the boonies.

Back to Chanute, KS....in the rain of course

We had a relaxing Saturday in Chicken Creek then on Sunday Jeff & I pulled his HitchHiker to Chanute as he has a service appointment and his truck is still in the Ford garage with a cracked head. We all stopped at a BBQ joint and Jeff treated us to a nice BBQ dinner....Judy loves BBQ. Judy & Susan followed in their rental car and then Judy and I made the 190 mile return trip. Monday we did the laundry, had dinner with Wes & Tonia to say goodbye and started packing up. Tuesday we made the trip back to Chanute with our HH in the pouring rain arriving about 2pm. After setting up we said HI to Jeff & Susan again then stopped at Subway for dinner.
On Wednesday we towed Jeff & Susan's HH to the HiLo furniture shop so they could remove their hide-a-bed from their sofa and replaced it with storage boxes. Another thunderstorm skirted us this evening and we'll be taking our HH in tomorrow to have a little work done on the toilet now that parts have arrived. Look our Jody.....you are next on our list!!!!

Been busy busy busy

While in Muskogee we visited the Three Rivers Museum and the USS Batfish, a WWII sub that has retired to an inland resting location.

Wes & Tonia put on a MAJOR crab boil...crab, shrimp, taters, corn, bratwursts, on & on......I can't remember eating crab legs before but they were good!

We went to Muskogee where the first recorded sales of Gild Scout cookies is documented.

Here we are having a snack & a drink or two.

This is the Cherokee National Courthouse.

We have been busy this week. Jeff's truck is experiencing problems so it's in the Ford garage. We have spent time driving around Tenkiller Lake and the dam. Had some good BBQ at the Smokehouse and Fishs. We went to Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace for pizza and Fishs for BBQ. Go figure. We spent a day in Muskogee at a museum and the USS Batfish WWII memorial. We all had a free lunch at KFC thanks to Ophra. Today we did some shopping and went to Wes & Tonia's for a crab boil. I enjoyed the crab, first time I've ate it!

The weather is breaking, we see the sun everyday, not much rain and the lake is not rising much.

Cookson, OK Chicken Creek COE Park

We had a fun Thursday night, a major thunderstorm woke us up at 3am Friday morning so we turned on the weather radio for the county we were in. The darn thing went off at 4am....severe weather alert, 5am.....heavy rain & hail alert, 6am....strong winds alert, 7am....flood warning alert. Cripe, not sure I want to use this thing at night if we can't get any sleep. The lake in now less than 100' from us. Friday & Saturday Judy went to Curves and we tried to stay dry, the lake is 75' from us.

Sunday we were up early (Judy couldn't sleep so she read from 3 to 6am) and we were on the road at 9:15. The lake was less than 50' from us. We made the 115 mile drive and arrived at Chicken Creek at 11:45. We avoided the scenic drive along the Illinois River due to flooding concerns. Jeff & Susan arrived about 4pm and set up camp. Wes & Tonia were here about 4pm so we had a nice chat before the Collingwoods arrived. Wes brought us our mail, THANKS Wes!! After they had set up the six of us went to Sam & Ellas Chicken Palace in Tahlequah for some GOOD pizza. I tried the Internet and it's working great tonight, this afternoon it told me that Sprint had no data service in this area??? It's been misting all day, hope we see the sun soon.