BLING, BUGS, BBQ & BAREFOOT

I have been totally frustrated with the cloudiness of our headlights and tail lights since last June, when I did the three step procedure of cleaning up and waxing our Tiffin Allegro Bus.  

Monday, we pulled into the Rathburn Lake and Dam Campground in Centerville, Iowa.  Tuesday, I attacked the headlights and tail lights with the 3M 39008 Headlight Restoration System from Amazon.com.  

Oh, My!  What a difference a few minutes makes! 

Take a look at this....

BEFORE....

AFTER....

NOW.......FOR THE TAIL LIGHTS!

BEFORE 

AFTER!

AND, do you see the shine on the exterior of the motorhome????  That is all from the use of the Mother's Three Step Clean and Wax System from our Amazon.com location in the top right portion of our blog....even though it says something about year end deals....lol

As to bugs.....we are plagued with what I would call gnats and large gnats!  They are absolutely driving me bonkers.  So if any of you know how to get rid of these critters, please let me know....

Our router to Centerville, Iowa took us through the little town of  Shelbina, Mo and a restaurant, Buckhorn BBQ!

This is exactly why we love to travel the roads less traveled.

Where else can you find an award winning BBQ Restaurant in Missouri or Iowa????  You cannot!

Not only did we eat the best BBQ that we have tasted, but we found a small town establishment that is worth a detour off Interstate 70 on U.S. 36. Shelbina, Missouri is your delectable destination!  Be sure to tell them Nan and John sent you!

The restaurant is definitely not the Ritz!  But is hometown, America.  A business we want to keep flourishing!

On the walls we find the jerseys of local athletes who have "made it big"  in athletics.

This wall represents the two smallest schools in the area that have produced some of the best athletes in the mid-west.  

Displayed are jerseys from high school athletes who have gone on to play at numerous universities, even the United States Naval Academy.






I wish I had taken a photo of our full rack of ribs rack of ribs that  we  shared, but we were too busy enjoying our non-vegetarian meal, once again. Oh, oh, we need to be getting back on the wagon, don't we?  The only problem>>>>the scales are showing the results.

We try to eat the plant based diet for reason of better health and weight loss, but there are times that we slip into the bad, old ways of eating.

We have been staying at Rathburn Lake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathbun_Lake in Centerville, Iowa for the last 5 days.  Centerville is the hometown of my father and I have come to learn more about my family history.

I have not learned much about my family history, but the campground is a treat.  What solitude we have experience in the last week.     We have been the only inhabitants of the campground and have the freedom to allow Oliver and Olivia to romp as they will.

One thing I did learn today is that there is a town with my name.  It rivals New York City and Los Angles for size and population.  Here is a photo of the metropolis....

Welcome to the booming city of Monteith, Iowa!

I did not know it existed until a trip today to the Centerville, Iowa museum.

We are definitely planning to tour the town as we head north into Minnesota next week.  Stay tuned for the elaborate descriptions of the town with my family name!

I have visited the county museum, the county courthouse and the library in town.  My research has not produced much that I did not know already, but I have loved walking the courthouse square and surrounding streets that my father must have walked as a teen.

I have learned that my father graduated from Exline, Iowa high school as number one or number two in his graduating class.  But there were just two students in his class. So I am sure he was number one!

My father went on to the University of Iowa to study Pharmacy although he wanted to study medicine and become a physician.  Because his mother had been widowed seven year earlier, my father had to take a shorter path in order to help provide for his younger sibling, still at home.

Oops, I have been providing information to our family that he lefty behind and that I am sure is boring y'all, so I quit here.

Thanks to all for stopping by and sharing our experiences as we travel the roads that most avoid.  May God bless you regardless the roads you take, be it the interstates of North America, or the small, less traveled highways.

Also a huge thanks to you who shop through our Amazon link....

AND thanks to all who shop through our crazy Amazon link at the upper right area of this blog stating "year end deals".....someday....someday, Rick will once again teach me how to update this link.

Until next time.....looking forward to your comments!  And may God bless you as you go about your daily living.....

MECHANICAL PROBLEMS SOLVED AND SOLAR!

It has been a lazy day here in Quartzsite. Again, John worked on the inverter, fixed our lunch and hard boiled some eggs.                                                                      I used The Solution to remove the bugs from the front of our Tiffin Allegro Bus and walked the dogs.                                                                                           That is the extent of our day. 

This morning, we called the Tiffin service department in Red Bay, Alabama.  John talked to our go-to service advisor, Stanley, and received some helpful advice.  

First, Stanley suggested old batteries.  Our response was that the batteries were new when we purchased our Allegro Bus almost two years ago.  

Second, he had two more things for John to check out.  Nada, zip, nuttin Honey.  Now what?  

Susan Thompson, a snowbird from Minnesota suggested we get in touch with Brian Boone and that is just what we did.  He came out to our part of the desert and voila...."your batteries are the problem!"  

"What? Those batteries were new when we purchased our new to us Tiffin Allegro Bus!"  At lease we assumed they were new since they were so clean when we looked in the battery bay.  And someone tested them as we were sitting in Red Bay awaiting completion of work on the coach.  The someone was not a representative of Tiffin Service.  His gauge must be wrong.  

Lesson?  .....  Never assume anything when purchasing a previously owned motorhome, car, boat...anything.  We looked at the dates on the tires.  Why didn't we think to look at the date on the batteries?  

The batteries were about ten years old!  Brian could not believe that they had lasted this long!  Off to Discount Solar here in Quartzsite.  

Ahhh, four new Interstate Batteries.  Now we will be in tip top shape.  And here we thought it was the inverter.  

Wait, there's more!  The batteries were not the only problem. After Brian installed the new batteries, the solution was not there.  Brian declared the inverter was dead, very dead.  

So now, we have a new inverter in our home on wheels. NOW, everything is working as it should. 

But, there is still more!  We have made the decision to have Brian fit us with solar power.  We have spent days researching and gathering prices and Monday, we will have our first installment of of two solar panels with two more in the plan for next year.  

We are pleased with our decision.  The solar panels make up for the disappointment of not having our booth dining area removed and replaced with table and chair.  This too will happen, just not this year.  

If you are in Quartzsite in winter months and need work performed on your trailer, 5th wheel, class C, B, or A motorhome, Brian is the man to call.  His fees are extremely reasonable.  

Brian is a very  honest young man that has for the last eleven years migrated in the winter from Montana to Quartzsite to work on our rigs.  Previously, he worked for another solar dealership, but has now started his own business.  We wish Brian God speed in his new business.  

Thank you for coming to our blog today and a double thanks for clicking on our Amazon link at the top right of this page.  I know, it's not the end of the year, but I am having a difficult time changing the link.  Can anyone help?  

Tonight, I close with sunset photos.                                                                                                                                                                                                There is nothing like an Arizona desert sunset!  

 Until next time, God Bless!  

                                                                     

SAD SATURDAY

Yesterday was a frustratingly sad day. After breakfast, we decided to look for some of John's weaving materials. 

We had Christ Gustin of Homestead Weaving Studio in Nashville, Indiana (think Brown County) prepare warp for two scarves.  John was going to put the warp on his loom and weave away.  

Then John got sick, the warp was packed to go into the vast basement of our Tiffin Allegro Bus.  Now, we cannot find the warp.  What a huge, expensive bummer!  

We started to empty the basement compartments, one at a time.  As we were emptying the compartment, we inspected the bags of llama and alpaca fiber that I had stored there.  Oh, oh, wool moths larvae!  In all, I had to throw twelve huge bags of larvae, moths infested fiber into a dumpster.  That sure reduced my stash!  

We looked at the hats, handbags and scarves I had in storage bins.  These were items that I was preparing to sell on the Internet.  Every item in the tote that did not have an air-tight seal had damage.  Thank goodness, some items designed for children were in a sealed bin.  

We are still searching nooks and crannies for John's warp. Hopefully, it will be a successful, satisfactory Sunday.  

We did come across much of John's mom's unfinished quilts.  At least one top needs to be stitched and there are three or four groupings of quilt squares that need to be sewed together.  Then, there is fabric!  And more fabric. Can you say weight added to the bus?  At least, we reduced considerable weight when the fiber went to the dumpster.  

Our thanks to those who used our blog to enter into Amazon's store to make their purchases.  No matter how small or large, every order helps.  

I'm off to find that warp!  Wish me luck.    

God bless!  

MRI COMPLETED AND FORTY FEET OF ANSWERED PRAYER

We arrived at Indiana University Hospital and the Simon Cancer Center for John's MRI.  After a short wait, John was escorted to the "inner sanctum" of the hospital.  Then, I waited for an hour and a half.  I had no idea that it would be that long.  

While waiting, I watched many patients come for their tests.  Some had huge "cocktails" to consume prior to their test.  Others had their hair in pretty wraps to cover their bald heads on a very cool, windy day.

One gentleman sat in the warm sunlight and enjoyed the garden on the other side of the huge, glass window.  He radiated peace.  It was good to glance up from my reading and see him sitting there.  

Another gentleman came into our area and sat down, placing a huge backpack and what looked like a case for a medium size musical instrument.  He quickly struck up a conversation with the gentleman in the sunlight.  Then they included me in some of the conversation.  

I what kind of instrument was in the case.  As if he was just waiting for someone to ask, he opened the case and revealed a ukulele.  It was larger than the ones I have seen previously.  

He played the ukulele for a while then segued into his version of AMAZING GRACE.  After his song, he returned the instrument to it's case and the conversation turned to "why me?".  The man in the sunlight shared that he went from "why me?" to "why not me? The ukulele player said he has not reached the why not stage, but he does see life in a new perspective.  

Both men were then called for their respective tests and I resumed reading my book until John came out.  We then went to have lunch.  

While eating, my phone rang, but before I could get to it, voicemail took over.  I looked at the number and it revealed one of the dealers in Kentucky that we visited Tuesday and Wednesday.  We decided to finish our lunch, do our shopping and then call the dealer when we returned to our home on wheels. 

Tuesday, we had made our offer on a 40' Tiffin Allegro Bus and the salesman countered.  His counter was unacceptable to us and we walked.  

Wednesday, we returned and shot him our final offer, we left for him to think about it.  We came back to Indy for John's appointment.  We were totally at peace with what we offered and we knew that eventually, we would have a motorhome that met our needs.  

To make a long story even longer, I can now say that he accepted our low ball offer!  This is based on the buyer of the condo completing his purchase next week.

Soooo, here is our new to us Tiffin Allegro Bus!  It has only 26,000 miles, new carpeting, four door refrigerator, washer/dryer, tons of storage.  Thank you all for your prayers, advice, and your encouragement.     

One by one, we tick things off our list.  The only thing holding us back from heading to South Dakota is the results of John's MRI and biopsy.  

Did you catch the ONLY???

Thanks again for your good wishes and prayers.  Keep them coming!  I am praying for zero cancer!  I know the doctor said eighty percent, but I am asking for John to be in the twenty percent!  

God Bless!