New pool!

It was a very hot day when randy had rented a trencher & trenched about 150 feet from the barn to the pool for the electricity. Not that he needed more but while trenching he did discover a few more rocks.

But as you can see below the end result was very well appreciated!

Paint booth, painted Devyn, friends, & a pool

Devyn & her mom were on a 5K color run and during the run various colors were thrown on them, her she is after changing her clothes.

Randy & Kristi are getting Devyn a pool, a family has to have a good activity to stay involved with each other & Devyn loves the water.  It's been a very hot summer so we are sure this will be well used.  Here's a picture of the pool, doesn't look like much huh?

 The excavation work to level a spot for the 24' wide above ground pool.

Construction of the pool base.

We made another trip to Bremen, IN to see our HitchHiker in the paint booth, here's a preview of what she will look like.  We will get our home back this Friday!

After that we wandered around the countryside and moteled it for the night, then last Sunday we went to Wauseon, OH to meet Paul & Dottie on their way to Elkhart; we were also joined by Ron & Roberta and Harold & Karen then we all went out to chow down.

Living in Michigan

                                    

 

We stopped at MorRyde in Elkhart, IN to have some routine suspension maintenance then went to Bremen, IN and dropped off our home to get it painted.  The decals were looking really bad.  So we are now living with Randy, Kristi & Devyn for at least 3 weeks while the HitchHiker is getting painted.  We stopped in Bremen several days latter to see her sanded & taped up. 

Our favorite granddaughter, Devyn!

We have spotted, in Onsted, an illegal alien & managed to get a photo.

One day we went to Sturbridge Village's Barn restuarant in Ohio to meet and have a late lunch with Ron & Roberta and Karen & Harold, good HitchHiker friends.  We also went to Turkeyville to meet with Harold & Karen again and Ron & Lois who we haven't seen since last year, my CRS was working well and & forgot to take a picture.

  Judy & friend, cold beer and good burgers too.

One evening we spotted a pair of turkeys in the front yard, one is white.  A couple days latter we learned that the turkeys were Ma & Pa with 11 youngsters following them!

Back in the Onsted pasture

After 421 miles yesterday we were up early and on the road at 7:30 this morning.  We had lunch & a break at a rest area just north of Indy.  We arrived in Onsted at 4:30 after driving the final 417 miles.  Judy drove both yesterday and today.  After Randy & Devyn arrived home they made a great supper, steak, corn, salad & pumpernickle bread.  Everyone is pretty tired tonight so we are all hitting the sack.  We really wanted to see Devyn!

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.