East bound & down!

Monday we just hung out with our HitchHiker friends waiting for NuWa service to finish our repairs.  They will be finished Tuesday morning.  After saying our good byes we loaded up stuff from our truck into our home and pulled out at 10am.  It was a good driving day so we just kept going, made it through Kansas City and hit St Louis at the 5pm rush hour which wasn't too bad.  We stopped about 6pm in Mulberry Grove, IL for the night.  We set up, got a little more diesel and had supper at Denny's which was VERY good!  Especially so with the AARP 20% discount.

HitchHiker repair & lots of RV friends!

Here's a couple pictures of our HitchHiker with the front side fiberglass removed.  This was done to gain access to an area that was flexing when we were hooked up to the truck.  NuWa found that water had gotten inside and rotted some wood. 

Here you can see the new wood at the bottom & two steel L brackets that were added to eliminate any flex. 

This work was done Wednesday & Thursday, Friday the fiberglass exterior was put back on.

We have been spending lots of time with Dave & Theresa Stack, friends from NV.  We have met a new couple, Jim & Loretta, from Maine who are picking up their first RV, a new Discover America, Friday then off to SD, CA & MA.  That's a lot of ground to cover in your first RV!  We also had dinner with another couple from Chicage here to buy their first RV. 
Friday we drove over to Wellington, KS to visit Mel & Dee Hamburg at their home.  We also met them for breakfast Saturday morning & before we left Wes & Tonia called from Tahlequah, OK.  They drove up to Chanute to pick up Dave & Theresa then we met them with Mel & Dee in Wichita for dinner.  Then....Roy & Carol also showed up.  If this sounds confusing....it was!  Just a bunch of HitchHiker friends gathering.

It's Sunday & we are back in Chanute, very tired of living in 3 different motels.  We want our HitchHiker back & return to Onsted.  Oh, & it's VERY hot too.

Made it!

No thanks to the wind but we did make the 180 mile drive into the wind in 3 hours.  Thanks Mom Nature for 7.6 mpg today!  Good thing diesel is cheaper in MO & KS than back in MI.  After cooling down we did a cheap lunch at McDonalds then went to NuWa to check out a specific new trailer for a friend.  We sent him the spec sheets and lots of pictures.  Not only has it been very windy but it's very HOT too.  It's 7:45pm and down to 90 right now.  We have spent the afternoon inside the air conditioning and expect that will be the case for the week as it's forecast to be in the mid 90s all week.

Higginsville, MO

We planned on stopping in Columbia, MO today but with the forecast for winds of 20 to 30 and gusts to 40mph Monday & Tuesday we decided to push a little further today in good (next to none) winds.  The Great Escape CG in Higginsville was very convenient to I70 and had FHU (full hook ups) so we could empty our tanks before Chanute.  But, at $28 is overpriced.  Time for more diesel, last fill up was in Dundee last Thursday. 
NASCAR even smiled of me by delaying the MI race (rain) until we set up, good job Jr! 

Back on the road to Kansas!

We said out short term good-byes Thursday and pulled out early for us, 7:30. We made a stop at the BP gas station to empty our tanks and arrived in Bremen, IN at 10:30 to meet with & check out an RV painting company. We continued on to Monticello, IN arriving about 2. We spent the afternoon staying cool recouping from the early start.

Saturday we made another 240 miles to Litchfield, IL.  Another early start, 9am, but not as bad as yesterday.  We stopped at a Pilot Truck Stop for lunch....Subway.....and arrived in Litchfield, IL early as we crossed into the Central Time Zone.  We met Charlie & Kay for dinner at 5pm.  We met them in Gulf Shores last winter and taught them how to play euchre.  They live 30 miles away and are eagerly planning another RV trip in a week to help determine if they want to spend more time on the road. 
Right now it's raining, it's been awhile so the sound on the roof sounds good, we have been missing the rain.

Two weeks in Onsted

Devyn helped us make a ladderball game & tested it with Judy....Devyn won.

                      She's not afraid to mix it up with the boys on the soccer field,   She scored a goal too.

Checking out the wetlands. She drove me there in the Gator, after the ride I told Randy that when she gets her drivers license in a few years he should remove all but one spark plug wire to slow her down!

We are heading back to KS for two weeks so we took Patches to my sisters to cat sit.  We'll be spending some time in a motel & Patches doesn't like motels or spending time in the truck.  Thanks BJ for watching Patches for us!

We got to see Kristi & Randy & Devyn while we were here, well yah, that's why we come back.  We saw Devyn's last 2 soccer games which they won.  We also got to cut the grass which we do enjoy.  Their Ally cat injured her shoulder so we got to care for her, she's being kept inside.  We also had dinner with Chris & Amy plus their two young'ens Caleb & Sidney.  Judy had a doctors appointment and I had a tooth pulled so we are taking care of business too.

Back in Onsted!

We made it back to Onsted and our summer pasture home on Saturday June second.  We spent the afternoon & Sunday with Randy and Kristi and had supper with them & Kristi's parents Irene & Benny.  Good to see them all again!  Benny is doing GREAT!  Tuesday we picked up from school our favorite Michigander.....Devyn.  It didn't take long for her to continue to give Granny lessons on how to play Pounce!  Next week the school year ends and we are looking forward to spending more time with her, ya think!