Saturday, October 14, 2017

Back at the Martin Manor RV park

Lunch was a little bit late at around 1:00 but it was nice to dine in the cafe at the Manor.  No tree color sighting on the way so the shortest route was the best.

Now our next travel plans are for leaving Nov 2, heading for Renfro Valley, KY as another week long outing.  Jackets are already on the don't forget list and also on that list is to make sure the LP tanks are full.  The electric heater worked well this trip but if temps drop below freezing the furnace will be required to keep the pipes in the basement from freezing.  There are a lot of TC campers that use their rigs for winter ski trips in all kinds of winter weather.

Sunrise on Truman Lake

It was a very nice sunrise view out our back window this morning.  It's been a very enjoyable few days and now we pack up and head for the  house.


Friday, October 13, 2017

Friday the 13th

Another beautiful day in west-central Missouri.  Afternoon temps reached mid 80s but still very pleasant to just sit outside in the shade watching birds fly around.

We had hoped that this trip would be during a nice fall tree color event but that just didn't happen, I guess still too early.  It has been a nice relaxing time even without the color.  We have been mostly alone in this campground until today when the weekenders started moving in.  Now it is mostly full with families and fisher-persons.  One tent unit across the road from us is just now in the process of cleaning a very nice large stringer of fish.  They have a boat so don't know just where they were successful however all foot traffic passing our site on the way to fish the banks have all come back empty handed.

Tomorrow we pack up and head back to the ol' Martin Manor.  A couple of doctors appointments next week and then early November we head to Kentucky.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

left behind, found, confiscated, and used


That is what happened to the pile of firewood that was left by our near neighbors.  It was nice to just sit outside in the mild temperatures and enjoy this campfire.  We don't have any marshmallows or hot dogs but still nice to just watch and be hypnotized by the flame.

The weather forecast was spot on for today.  It was cool and overcast this morning but weather.com said it would clear up by noon time and at 11:45 there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Dumb thinking or lack thereof

In less than two weeks I will have lived in Missouri for 80 years and still not smart enough to leave the house prepared with a jacket in mid October.  That is exactly what we did because last Sunday when we left home it was so nice and sunny it never crossed our minds that it would change this quick.  As reported, yesterday was a gloomy day with dropping temperatures so we stayed inside all day.  Today will probably be more of the same.  The forecast is for mid 60s this afternoon, mid 70s tomorrow and mid 80s for Friday and Saturday so I guess our GWF is taking care of us this trip.

Our next trip with the camper is scheduled for the first week of November so guess what will be the first things loaded for that trip.  As we drive away from the house every trip we always say to each other, "wonder what we forget" and then we say, "oh well there is always WalMart."  There is a nice big WalMart only  about 6 miles away from here in Clinton but we don't need to add to our jacket closet when we can get by with just waiting out the temperature climb.

Our electric space heater is working like a charm except with only a 30 amp shore power connection we do have to watch our use of other electric items when it is running, such as the microwave or electric teapot.  The water heater is switched to LP gas instead of electric because of the space heater use.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Gloomy day

Just the opposite of yesterday.  It rained during the night and early this morning.  We had about 15 seconds of sunshine this morning before the cloud cover sealed it off.  The high temperature for today occurred at 12:01 am and gradually falling all day heading toward a predicted low of 44° tomorrow morning.

This camper has a smaller interior volume than our previous 5th wheel trailers so it is easier to heat.  I had purchased a small electric heater so that will save on LP use by the built in furnace.  It has three settings 600 Watt, 900 Watt, and 1500 Watt and so far we have managed very well on the 900 Watt setting.

Looks like a good day to stay in.

Monday, October 09, 2017

Beautiful relaxing day

After that sunrise, today has been simply beautiful, not a single cloud in the sky and mild temperatures.  The forecast is for rain tonight and in the morning so I moved our borrowed firewood to under the camper to keep it as dry as possible.  Jo and I sat outside most of the day in the fresh air and watched all the birds flying around.  Here are a few pictures from today.

after a brief hike to the main channel
 
 and the view back to our campsite
 this afternoon there have been a flock of white pelicans around
these last photos were taken from our campsite with a lot of zoom
 
  
This is a zoomed in picture as I thought there were two birds here one white and the other gray 😁
 I have to keep telling Jo to move around a little as these folks keep circling above us.


Sunrise out our back window


Sunday, October 08, 2017

left and found

When we checked in we had neighbors in the next site.  This was a family with a tent and pop-up trailer,  Apparently they were just here for the weekend and the kiddies needed to get back home for the school week.  When they left they left a large stack of firewood at their campsite so I picked it up and now it is at our fire ring.  Some time this next week we will try to have a nice campfire or two.

Truman Lake

We decided that between doctors appointments this month we would get a quickie get-away.  It was a little more than a 2 hour drive to Sparrowfoot campground on an arm of the lake near Clinton, MO.  We don't have any tourist plans in the area except for just a relaxing time.  We are here until next Saturday afternoon when we will again head for the Martin Manor.

This is our back yard
 our campsite

When I select our campsites from the internet it is difficult to determine the quality of the site I choose.  This time the site I had chosen was totally in the trees with no view of the lake.  Fortunately at this time of year the campground isn't full so we were able to go back to the check-in station and change our reservation to this site.  We have shade from the big locust tree and a nice view of the water.

There isn't any good television signals over-the-air except for Warrensburg which is our local PBS station.  Fortunately we do have a very good AT&T signal so our internet connection is good.  We will be able to watch any special programs (Jo's soaps) on our computers.  I have my laptop that I am using for this posting and Jo has my Surface-Pro tablet which she can use for TV as well as her games.