Home?

We pulled into the Lone Star Escapees Park this afternoon about 3pm.  It almost seems like coming home as we have spent a lot of time here and we know so many people here.

We got parked and hooked up and made it to the social hour at 4.  They saw us come in and we even have a couple of orders already.  We expect to do a lot of work here in the next month before heading to Mesa, AZ. 

Had a nice trip down through the Texas Hill country to San Antonio where we picked up Loop 1604 that circles the city about 14 miles out.  Traffic not bad until we got close to San Antonio where it really gets heavy.  Around the north west side and down to US90 and west to Hondo, TX.  We stopped at Walmart for some groceries and filled up with fuel for $3.19/gal and on to the RV park.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to son Dennis, sister-in-law Nancy and niece Holly as they battle serious physical problems and the families involved.

First hamfest

Finished the first hamfest of this trip at Ardmore, OK.  Not a lot of business, mostly one line tags, may be the slow economy as a lot of vendors did not do a lot and the attendance appeared to be down.

We are in Thackerville, OK for a few days to rest and catch up on some engraving orders and get them in the mail so we can head on toward Hondo, TX.

The last two nights we were boondocking at the hamfest site.  It was 41 degrees on Friday morning and very windy.  This morning it was 31 degrees but the wind had settled down and the sun warmed things up nicely.  It is currently 46 degrees but our two electric heaters are keeping things comfortable.  IT is hard to keep warm with out electricity at night.  The bed warmer works on 12vdc as well as 110vac, but not as well.  It is better than nothing but not as good as a good hook up in a campground.

A long day

It was up early this morning, empty the holding tanks and hook up the van and on the road by 8:15 am.  Thru the town of Hardy and west on the 4 lane, as they call it.  Down through the foothills of the Ozark mountains and around Little Rock on the new bypass, I440.

As we were coming along, the Pressure Pro kept going off indicating a problem with the left front tire on the van.  It was indicating 35psi, which is about right, but then it started dropping in pressure, which is not good. 

It was about time to change drivers and get fuel, so the next interchange indicated a Murphy station, (Walmart) so we pulled in and around back to the tire shop and told them our problem.  We unhooked the van and went to the filling station and filled up for $3.19/gal.  Back to the tire department where they found a razor blade in the tread.  He said it was pretty deep and he did not want to chance a repair.  We buy all of the van tires at Walmart and get their road hazard warranty on them, so they put on a new tire and charged us for the road hazard warranty $10.00, on the new tire, and sent us on our way.  Not a bad deal at all.

The Pressure Pro paid for its self as the tire would probably have shredded and caused damage to the van and maybe the wheel.  Besides we would have been stranded on the side of the road while Good Sam Road Service came to put on the spare which is under the back seat requiring the unloading of the back of the van to extract.  Not a good option at all. 

It is interesting to see how much the pressure goes up in a tire as it heats up to normal operating temperature.  the big ones on the motor home will increase 8 to 12 psi and the van 6 to 8 psi.  That is why you always check your tires when they are cold and never let air out of them.

We are at the Daisy State Park in Daisy, AR and will be heading west on US 70 to Ardmore, OK tomorrow for the hamfest Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Off to Arkansas

 Got an early start on our way to Hardy, Arkansas.  The sun was up but there were dark clouds to the west and south but we did not run into any rain.


They are improving the highway between Poplar Bluff, MO and the town of Pocahontas, AR.  They are wider and mostly with some berm outside the white line.  Before, there was hardly room for a white line before you were in the ditch.  Apparently not improved much from the horse and wagon days.

We arrived at the Hardy campground down by the Spring River.  Always a pleasant place to spend a couple of days.

 As we were getting parked we noticed some tents on down in the park across from the playground.


Before we ate a bite of lunch we decided to check it out to see what it was all about.

 It was an Old Settlers re-enactment with a Blacksmith working at his trade as well as other craftsmen selling all kinds of items.

One was an Irish restaurant, for a better word, where they were making Indian fry bread, burgers & chips, coon dogs among the most popular.

We had a burger & fries on Indian fry bread. Most tasty with all the fixins you could ask for.  We ask if it was roadkill and she said not.

We will be here until Wednesday when we will head for Ardmore, OK.

Headed west again

Finally, we are back on the road again.  Not really a lot to write about over the summer as we were around the Fishers area doing the doctor thing and seeing a Physical Therapist for some exercises for my right shoulder to maybe gain some strength to help with my driving skills. 

We left the White River CG this morning about 9:15 and stopped by Greencastle to visit Alice Ellen in the nursing home.  She is doing alright, does not remember to well but knew who we were when we told her.

From there we headed west  to Effingham, IL and south on I57 to Missouri and Boomland for fuel at $4.39/gal.  We will spend the night in their handy campground and then tomorrow morning it will be off to Cherokee Village, AR.