Off to Biloxi

Today we left Chicken Creek and made an easy 205 miles to Little Rock, AR. We are in downtown Little Rock for the night. Not a fancy or scenic campground but the location is a first for us, downtown & on the Arkansas River. We'll have to remember this place and return to do some exploring next time by.

Chicken Creek Classic rally

Gee, do we look like we are having fun?

Jeff, Susan & Judy relaxing below. Above is our RV club, the Haulin' HitchHikers, at Chicken Creek. This is just part of the total group attending the rally.

The pavilion where we had out pot lucks.

Patches is enjoying the view.

Here we all are at Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace having some of the best pizza in the USA.







NuWa finished our service on Wednesday afternoon so we picked up our home on wheels and returned to the Chanute's Santa Fe park for the night. We pulled out Thursday morning for Cookson, OK and our fourth Chicken Creek Classic rally. It's held at a Corp of Engineers park on Tenkiller Lake. We were among the last to arrive & Wes saved us a nice site right on the lake as you can see. There are 17 HitchHikers here this year. We didn't have any Internet access so I wasn't able to do any blog updates while we were there. We made one venture into Tahlaquah Friday afternoon for some of the best pizza we have ever had. On Saturday Wes broke out his smoker and smoked some brisket and ribs. The weather was perfect but all things come to an end so we packed up on Monday morning & bid farewell to those still here, several had left on Sunday.

Chanute living

On Sunday Judy went to church and did some shopping. We spent the afternoon & evening socializing with all the neighbors. The ladies were in the shade on one side of the HitchHiker and the guys on the other side in the shade. In the evening 14 of us went out to dinner downtown at the old hotel. When we returned we packed up and hooked up. We were on the road at 7am for the long 1 mile drive to NuWa service for our annual appointment. After dropping off the trailer we went to the Grain Bin with 15 others then at 9:45 we were on the NuWa factory tour with ~20 RVers. Monday afternoon we checked into the Knight's Inn motel because service was going to take a couple days, one big item was to repair a soft hallway floor. Late in the afternoon we went to dinner with Tall Texan and alittleRnR (their forum names) at the Mexican restaurant. We have met a Canadian couple here checking out HitchHikers & I inspected their 2001 Nuwmar trailer because it had a great custom paint job by Phoenix in western Michigan. I had to return to the factory to compare it to the two full body paint jobs they have in stock. This would be one way to fix our failing decals but an expensive way!

We are not sure if Patches likes moteling it or not.....she does like the king size bed so she can sleep comfortably with us.

We slept in Tuesday morning the stopped at the city campground across the street to chat with friends before stopping at service to get some stuff we wanted. The basement ceiling was torn out so a new floor can be installed in the above hallway. It looks and sounds like we'll be here at least until Wednesday afternoon. We then went to a light lunch and stopped to get more stuff we wanted. We'll now have to investigate a king size bed for the HitchHiker! We'll be going out to the downtown Italian restaurant late this afternoon with Tall Texan, Fred A, and a new couple here to trade their old HitchHiker for a new one.

Our HitchHiker is home

Chanute, KS above & Ozark, MO behind Lamberts below.

Friday we traveled through Missouri on US60. It's a very nice 4 lane divided road, our maps showed that it had over a hundred miles of 2 lane road but obviously the maps are old. We both noticed that the trees down here are turning colors in several areas and some are already red. We must not dilly dally too much in this area as the overnight temps are dropping into the mid 40s. BURRRRR. It was windy & hilly so we only got 8.4 miles per gallon but we did find diesel for only $3.58 a gallon. Friday night we stayed in a gravel parking lot behind Lambert's restaurant for $20 with full hook ups. We have ate in this restaurant before but were not hungry enough for their "throwed rolls" today.
On Saturday we made the 187 mile trip to Chanute, KS arriving at 1pm. We are in the city campground parked next to "Ancient Mariner". I have communicated with him for 3 years on the NuWa Owners Forum and he has helped me resolve a vibration problem with our truck. This was a pleasant surprise. Also here is Harold & Karen who have attended every Michigan lunch & rally we have had. Pulling in shortly after us was Paul & Dottie and then Fred & Mary Lou who were at last weeks rallies. It is impossible to come to Chanute and not meet some RV friends. We went out to ludin (LUnch & DINer) at the local Mexican restaurant with Paul & Dottie, the others had already ate lunch at the proper time. We'll be in Chanute for our annual HitchHiker maintenance early next week and then head down to Oklahoma for the years last RV HitchHiker gathering.

Off to Chanute, KS

We left the International rally a day early so we could make a casual 3 day drive to Chanute for our annual service appointment Monday. We have been at a rally for the last 2 weeks so it's nice to be out alone again. We covered 4 states today, TN, KY, IL & MO. We made the 260 mike trip in 4 1/2 hours and crossed the Tennessee, Ohio & Mississippi Rivers. We are in Sikeston, MO at a CG we stayed at in October 2007e

HitchHikers of America International rally

Well now you know....this is what we do best.....potluck eat'en. These were taken at our chapters potluck and the annual meeting of the Haulin' HitchHikers. Of the 68 couples at the rally 20 of them were Haulin' HitchHikers and are in our group picture. All together we have 57 couples in the Haulin' HitchHikers. We elected a new secretary/treasurer today so after 3 years & 9 months I have been replaced! Out to pasture. Retired again.

Off to Lebanon & another rally

Today we made the 180 mile trip to Lebanon, TN with 4 or 5 other HitchHiker friends for the HitchHiker of America, International rally. We have 15 or 16 sites together saved for the Haulin' HitchHikers. It rained most of the way over but the sun came out in the afternoon so we all had the chance to sit around and do some socializing here at the Wilson County fairgrounds.