more pictures

Today I found a group of pictures of the very TC that we have a down payment on.  It was on the web (RVTrader.com) where our dealer had posted to promote the sale of this unit.  This was a good find as it shows us more detail than we can remember from our short visit.

Still don't have a date set for the trip to pick up this Truck Camper and bring it home but should be within the next two weeks.

This is our floor plan except we have a swinging door to the bathroom instead of the roll out as shown here

 

 

 

This shows the backup camera that projects wireless to a screen in the cab of our truck

 The slide-out trey for the basement storage bay

 

 

 awning toppers for all slide-outs

 a small storage space accessible only when the TC is off of the truck

 speakers for outdoor music (probably won't get used)

 The entryway, the switches inside the top step control the slide-outs

 The top cabinet is for a control panel

The magazine rack is being replaced by a cabinet

 

This picture is from another TC but shows the cabinet that will be installed in place of the mag rack

 

entry way

 pull-out pantry

 

 pantry and fridge

 

 kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

 entry to bathroom

 control panels

 bathroom

 

 medicine cabinet

 bathroom door closed against the shower for traveling

 shower pan

 skylight over shower

 entry to my side of the bed

 bedroom with queen size mattress

 Jo's wardrobe

 my wardrobe

 inside Jo's wardrobe

 

 skylight/escape hatch over the bed

 blackout shade for skylight

 TV is mounted with swivel so it can be rotated to be viewed from the dinette

 dinette

 

 

 

 overhead storage

 the black rectangle is the AM/FM/CD/alarm clock

  

dinette converting to a bed

 

all done

All done with cleaning out the 5th wheel, what a chore.  That trailer had a ton of storage space and Jo just couldn't see a space go to waste without something in it. ;-)

Now we wait as we have ask for an additional cabinet to be installed in our new camper and it is being built.  After it is installed we will be pulling our trailer up to Sheboygan for the trade and then bringing our new truck camper back home. Current plan is to use the new camper for an overnight on the way.

big change in RV style

We have made a big move in the way we will travel with a new RV camper.  Last Sunday we drove to a camper dealer near Sheboygan, WI to look at truck campers.  Truck campers slide into the bed of a pickup and are carried across the miles without having to tow a large box behind on another set of wheels.  It was a loooong days drive with a nice motel stay Sunday night so we could be at the dealership early Monday morning.

We had planned to view a very large truck camper that we had been reviewing online and it was very very nice but with that unit we would have had to trade our truck for a larger model in order to haul such a big load.  While there we looked at a slightly smaller truck camper that would fit on our current truck and still be quite nice.  After some discussion with the sales staff we then headed back home with another loooong drive we did make it home by around 8:30 pm that Monday evening.

With a little discussion back and forth with that dealer since then we now have placed a down payment on that smaller unit and will be making the trade in a few weeks.  Now the task of unloading our trailer so we can then move a small part of those items into the smaller space.

Here is a connection to the manufactures website and below are some pictures that I took that day.

http://www.hostcampers.com/product-gallery-rainiersb.html

back at Martin Manor RV park

We kinda like this campground except there aren't any pull through sites. ;-)

Backed in here at home a little before lunch time and now have all the dirty laundry piled up near the washing machine.  It is unfortunately time to unload all freezable items and winterize all water systems.  It has been a good year of travels even though we didn't make as many trips as previous years we did have some very nice adventures.  The last few years our October outings have been close to home and just a time to relax near a lake or other quiet locations.

The last few days we just enjoyed the peace and quiet of a nearly empty campground.  That campground is an older campground that had really gone downhill for lack of care.  Apparently the young couple, new owners/managers, are working hard to restore it to a very nice park.

Jo and I have been pulling a large trailer around this North American continent for the past 17 years since retirement for a total of 172,055 miles..  We have visited and camped in all of the lower 48 States and 9 of the 10 Provinces of Canada staying in 348 different campgrounds.

We are now considering changing our method of travels.  We are thinking of downsizing to a much smaller RV and what that might look like we don't know for sure just yet.  Our trip from Branson to Joplin was a step in that direction as we visited a camper showroom there for some ideas.  We are planning on visiting other camper showrooms in the near future.  A smaller unit will allow us to visit smaller, more primitive, campgrounds like state and national parks where sites that would fit our large trailer are mostly non existent.

Bennett Spring

Visited the state park this morning and it was a very nice, mild temperature, morning and a chance for some nice pictures.

the spring

 nice catch

 

 spot of fall color

  

 

 trout hatchery

 

Post Office trip

This afternoon I ran up to our post office to pick up our saved mail.  We needed to see if Jo had a letter from the jury duty folks for next week.  As it turns out there wasn't a letter so we are good to go for the original plan that was to stay here 'till Tuesday.  If she was to report next week we would have had to leave here on Sunday.

While I was out I stopped at a grocery store for a few items and now we are ready to enjoy this area.  We plan to visit Bennett Springs state park tomorrow.  We had camped in the state park back in the 60s when the kids were little and enjoyed our time then.

made the move

We originally planned to have lunch at the lake before moving to Bennett Springs.  Checking the weather map and forecast showed scattered thunder storms most all afternoon so we closed up and left a little after 10 this morning.  Driving through Lebanon we saw dark clouds to the north and east but when we arrived at the campground it was only sprinkling.  We parked and had lunch and then set up the trailer after the shower had passed.

Here we have over-the-air television from Springfield and tomorrow I'll set up the satellite dish.  The Verizon phone signal is not very strong but the data signal seems to be good.

moving day

We will have lunch here and then pack up and move to Bennett Springs state park area near Lebanon, MO.  We will camp in a KOA near by so we will have a full hookup pull through site.  Our stay here at Table Rock Lake has been super and quiet but we have reached our limit of 14 days max so must move on.

Jo is on call for jury duty this quarter so we will have to check our mail before the weekend to see just how long we will be able to stay out before going back home.  It seems like she gets put on the list every other year and my name is on the list the opposite years.

Oct 24, 2015

One year ago yesterday I took these pictures of some beautiful trees here in this campground.

 

This year they have just began to color in small areas.  Mother nature doesn't follow the calendar but has a mind of her own it seems.

peace and quiet

A day of peace and quiet without even leaving the trailer.  We have enjoyed not having to go out and do something and just rested with our e-books, background music, and the view of the lake out our windows.  Tomorrow will probably be a carbon copy of today.

Looking at a weather forecast for Wednesday it looks like thunder showers in the morning but since our travel plans are only from here to Lebanon we can wait it out and leave after lunchtime.

Happy Birthday to me

79 years ago, mom used to tell me, was a frosty morning on South Newton St in Springfield, MO.  Today here at Table Rock Lake it has been a very nice day with afternoon temps of 78.

My birthday party consisted of a trip to the dump station to empty our holding tanks, whoopee.  Not a big problem but a necessity.  Most COE campgrounds don't have sewer hookups at the campsites but they do always have a dump station to use on the way out.  It's just that if it had been just the two of us we could have made it the whole two weeks without the need to dump but we have had our daughter with us for seven of those days.  Now we are good to go for the remainder of this trip.

We are here for three more days before we pull up to Bennett springs near Lebanon, MO next Wed.

Another reminder of last year

Last year here in this same campground I remember that most mornings just before dawn I heard the haunting sounds of a hoot owl that we called HOOdini.  I hadn't heard him this year until this morning there he was again.  I remember that one morning last year he was talking with his mate in a back and forth conversation of HOOs.

Yesterday morning was a bit chilly out, jacket weather.  Here at the campground, surrounded by the large mass of water, the temperature was a mild 50 but when we drove out to take Phyllis to the airport it dropped to a cool 38.  It even looked like some light frost on some cedars by the roadside.  It's supposed to rise to mid 70s this afternoon.

It was fun to have Phyllis with us for the past week.  We did get in a couple of card games and she won the first one but I prevailed on the next.  She sent us a text yesterday around supper time that she had arrived back with her kittens with no travel woes.

what a difference a day makes

Yesterday was a beautiful day with temps in the low to mid 80s but this morning it's 58 and the high for today is forecast to be only 62 with a low tomorrow morning of 40.  We'll need a jacket when we take Phyllis back to the Springfield airport. ;-(

We had a very nice time last evening.  We had a very good dinner before the Oak Ridge Boys show.  The show was tremendous with just the four of them and their long list of hit tunes.  Their backup band was very good also.

We have plans to just take it easy today with probably a hard fought game of cards (hand and foot) where it is tough competition between the three of us.  Jo and I never make it easy on the "young one" so she has to fight hard to win.

Our local welcoming committee

Here are a few pictures of our friend that has been wading along the shoreline every day that we have been here.  He/She was also here last year when Jo and I spent a couple of weeks in this same campground.

Today we made a trip over to Joplin for reasons that will be revealed in future posts.  It was a nice day, weather wise, and we had a nice lunch at Cheddar's.

Shoji

Last night's show was very nice, we all enjoyed it very much.  He told a little of his history of studying classic violin at an early age, he didn't say how young.  Early in his college years Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys were touring through his area of Japan and he went just out of curiosity.  Listening to the fiddle player's version of Listen to the Mockingbird with all the bird sounds changed his life forever.  He began collecting country music records to practice the different fiddle music.  After college he came to America finding his way to Nashville.  Soon he was in Shreveport Louisiana probably (he didn't say) at the Louisiana Hayride which was almost as big as the Grand Ole Opry.  27-28 years ago he started his first season in his new theater in Branson and the rest is history.  His show is a variety of music from Classical to Rock and Roll and Western Swing (Texas Style) to Garth Brooks.  His daughter did many numbers along with a team of male backup singers.

He said that when ask, what is the difference between the violin and the fiddle, he always says that the instrument is the same it is just how you fiddle around with it.

It was a fun but late (for old folks) night time.

campfire woes

It wasn't a good boy scout event.  The bundle of firewood that I bought at the local grocery store apparently wasn't seasoned or dried out as I wasn't able to get a good flame going.  The starter sticks and twigs with some wadded paper would light and seem to get the larger ones to start to burn but it wouldn't last even after several restarts so we gave up and did the dogs on the kitchen stove instead.  It was the same meal that was planned for outside except without the "light-em-up and blow-em-out" marshmallows.

This evening we are going to the Shoji Tabuchi show.  He is a Japanese fiddler, country music that comes from a different country, that puts on a great show.  Jo and I have seen his show several years ago and wanted to take Phyllis.  Wednesday evening we will see the Oak Ridge Boys.

Branson

Took a drive this morning to show Phyllis what a mess Branson and the 76 strip is with all the congestion.  She was only three when we moved away from Taney County so she doesn't even remember how it used to be.  After the drive through we went to Dick's 5 & 10c store for a fun time of browsing through some things you might need and many others that makes you wonder if anyone needs it.

We then went to Mel's Hard Luck Diner for lunch.  Jo and I have eaten there several times and knew that we needed to take Phyllis for the experience.  All of the servers take turns with a mike and the PA system to sing songs from their own CDs that are for sale in the gift shop.  And the food is very good also.

After lunch we took a side route to get away from the 76 congestion.

This evening we plan to build up a campfire and do some dogs and marshmallows.

a very good Friday

Phyllis is in the house, Yea!  Her flights were all smooth and on time with good weather for her travels.  We met her at the Springfield airport a little after 3:00 this afternoon.  We called Wilma to suggest a visit so she could chat with Phyllis a few minutes but she was out and about so we just headed back to the campsite.  She returned our call as we were traveling toward the campsite so we did get to visit briefly over the phone.

We expect mostly a quiet time here by the lake with perhaps a few games of cards.  We do have tickets for a couple of shows in Branson next week.

cool and a little fog

Here is our front yard as seen from our front door

and our outdoor dinning room

The satellite dish is aimed and connected but we are too far from anywhere for over-the-air tv programming so no local network stations.

here we go again

Pulled out of the driveway around lunch time and now settled into our campsite on the banks of Table Rock Lake.  This is the same campground that we used last October in fact our first night here last year was October 12, exactly one year ago today.  We drove through several light showers coming down but was able to get all setup without being rained on.  Now as I type this it is sprinkling but we are inside and dry.

Looking forward to Friday when we drive up to the Springfield airport to pick up Phyllis as she is going to be spending a week with us, it's going to be fun.