Hello from Branson, MO

Hello from Branson, MO

Drafted Tuesday evening,  October 7, 2014   (First post of this travelogue)

Posted Thursday morning 10/9/14

We are at an Eagle Bus rally at the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map)

We left Evergreen on Sunday 9/28 about 9:30 so that we could get to Goodland, Kansas in time to watch the races.  We stayed at the Walmart that we have stopped at several times in the past.  On Monday we drove to El Dorado, KS and again stayed at the Walmart.  

From El Dorado, it was a short 150 mile drive to Nevada, MO where we stayed at…… Walmart.  We arrived early enough to do quite a bit of genealogy/grave decorating.  This is the area where Pat’s grandfather was raised and there are quite a few of his relatives buried in various cemeteries.  We made a large loop up through Butler and down to a cemetery in Virgil City.  That “loop” is about 200 miles.

On Wednesday we drove about 150 miles to Branson.  On the way, we had an issue with the tow dolly and had to unload the car and drive it the last 35 miles or so.

The Eagle rally was well attended.  I think the count was 21 Eagle buses and an assortment of other types of buses and motor homes (maybe 30 units total).

This post is getting old, so I will end it here and update the events in Branson in a couple of days.

Hello from Branson, MO

Hello from Branson, MO

Thursday afternoon   October 4, 2012   (Second travelogue of this trip).

Monday we drove a  bit under 400 miles and stayed at a Wal Mart in Iola, KS  Our route took us to Salina, KS and then south on I 135 to just north of Wichita where we turned east and took US 54.  US 54 is a nice road and took us through some rolling hills and great farm land.  In spite of the drought this year, the grass and hay was green.  We could see that the crops had suffered.

On the drive, we hit several small rain storms.  Not a lot of rain – just enough to mess up the bus and car.

Our drive from Iola took us through the towns of Nevada and El Dorado Springs, MO.  Those towns are significant in that they are locations where some of Pat's relatives (several generations removed) are buried.  We will return to the area after the rally and before we head to Iowa.

Tuesday, we arrived in Branson in the early afternoon.  I gave the bus and car a quick wash and we got settled in.  The rally started yesterday and will go for seven days.

That is all of now

Hello from Colby, KS

Hello from Colby, KS

Sunday evening   September 30, 2012   (First travelogue of this trip).

We are on our last trip of the year in the bus.  We are headed to Branson, MO for the Eagle Bus Rally and then to Iowa to hang out with the relatives.

We really had to scramble to get ready for this trip.  I had quite a few things going on this week, we had a few family things and then Pat went to the Women of Faith event (her birthday gift from the girls).  In addition, Pat had quite a bit of Stampin'Up! things going on.  I had some bus projects that needed to get done.  As a result, we did quite a bit of last minute packing of the bus – something we try to avoid on departure day.  That said, we were able to leave about 11:00 AM and drove a bit over 250 miles.  We needed to get settled in so that we can watch the races tonight.

We are at the Wal Mart in Colby, KS (map).

We are getting pretty good mileage on the bus.  Right now, I show over 10 MPG on this trip.  That is a bit optimistic as I need to put a fuel correction in the computer, but it is well over 9 MPG actual.  We are pulling a much lighter vehicle (PT Cruiser on a tow dolly vs our service truck that weighed over 9K pounds).  The weather on our route was great and we did not need to run the air conditioner and that helps.  Plus, I have slowed down from 68 to 66 MPH.  That does not sound like much, but it can have a significant impact since the wind drag on our big barn door is a square function of the speed.

That is all for now.

Hello from Chugwater, WY.

Hello from Chugwater, WY.

Wednesday morning August 31, 2011 (third travelogue of this trip).

Well, we are a day behind our schedule. More about that later.

Sunday, we toured Yellowstone and The Tetons. We drove the truck. In total, we drove a bit over 320 miles!!! It had been years since we viewed the gorgeous and amazing Tetons. We had lunch at a great little restaurant in Teton National Park. We then drove north towards Old Faithful. We saw it erupt just as we entered the area, so we knew that we would not be able to wait for the next eruption. We did walk around the area and had a quick snack in the lodge.

We then drove around the north loop (Madison, Norris Canyon Village,and Fishing Bridge). From there we headed back to Cody (about 50 miles from the east entrance). We saw some elk and lots of buffalo. We had hoped, like everybody else, to see moose and bear, but it was not to be.

We had planned to leave the campground early Monday and be home Tuesday. We had the engine started, but noticed one our the chapter members was having a problem with his bus. He was not able to release his parking brakes (cause by a failed brake diaphragm). He had the parts to convert to a more modern system (from DD3 to Spring brakes for the bus crowd). It took 4 of us the whole day to do the conversion. Mounting the parts was the easy part. Getting the air brake control system was the challenge.

We all left yesterday morning and we met up with them a few times – the last time a bit north of Chugwater. The system was functioning well.

If you follow our blog, you know that we have stopped here a couple of times (once on the way up to Cody). It is a quite little town that makes a good logistic stop. Last night I unloaded the bicycle and rode around the town. Once you get off the main street, the town does not look like it is “dead”.

Responding to Judy's comment on PETA and the pig race. PETA would have no problems with the race. The pigs love it, as they all get a nice treat at the end of the race. The track is very small and they don't have to run a lot. You can tell that they have done the race a bunch of times. As soon as the gates are raised, they run very fast. The owners of the saloon had to work with the Montana legislature to get approval so that the patrons could wager bets. I think they said that the proceeds go to worthy charities and a state fund for recreation. The whole event was a lot of fun.

We got an off-line comment from some friends asking us to post some pictures. We have gotten very lazy about taking pictures (took a few) but even more so about taking the time to process them so that they can be posted.

That's all for this trip.

Hello from Cody, WY

Hello from Cody, WY.

Saturday Evening August 27, 2011 (second travelogue of this trip).

We are parked at the Absaroka Bay RV Park map. This was the site of the Eagles International Rally. It has been a blur since we got here. I will try to catch up as quickly as possible.

We arrived here Sunday about mid-day. While the rally was scheduled from Wednesday (8/24) to Friday (8/26), there was a lot of pre-rally events. Sunday we rode with some folks up to Red Lodge, Montana so that we could have a great dinner at the Bear Creek Saloon and Steakhouse. The town is in the middle of nowhere and is about 60 miles from the campground. The food was great, but the real fun was the pig races. They are famous for this event.

On the way up to Red Lodge, we went through a big thunderstorm. On the way back we could see a pretty large fire going up the side of the mountain – apparently started by the lightening. We heard later that it is a fairly large fire. It has rained a bit this week, so we hope that helped the fire fighters.

Monday we drove up South Fork road to the end of the road (about 30 miles). It was a pretty drive. The end of the road is not far from the boundary of Yellowstone and there were several signs warning of grizzly bears in the area. About the only wildlife we saw was a large herd of elk. Monday night the hosts had a great spaghetti dinner at their house for the early arrivals.

Tuesday we kind of cooled our jets, and I worked on an article for Bus Conversions Magazine.

Wednesday, the buses started rolling in. We had something like 32 Eagle buses and 4 or 5 other types of buses. That is a great turnout in this economy and with fuel being so high. That evening we had a big pig roast.

Thursday, we all took a trolley ride around Cody and then went to the Cody Rodeo. This rodeo is held every night during the summer and is a well known event.

Friday we had a board meeting at 9:00 and a General Membership Meeting at 10:00. The major item was a discussion/review of the chapter bylaws which are undergoing revision. A couple of us were very concerned about some folks who were very vocal prior to the meeting. However, it went well and the bylaw committee got some very good input. Friday night we had a great pot luck dinner.

Today we watched many of the Eagles depart. There are still about 6 coaches here now. We went to the famous Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. It is a great museum and is famous for its extensive firearm collection.

Tomorrow we will make a tour into Yellowstone. I suspect it will take most of the day. We will travel in the truck. We had thought about driving the bus though the park and down towards the Tetons, but that just did not seem to provide us to much opportunity to see the park and driving the bus on a sightseeing tour did not seem like a lot of fun.

We did have one exciting event this week. A couple of us were sitting in chairs close to our bus. One fellow noticed that one of our tires has some very severe wear. I thought I had been careful to check the tires, but apparently the part of the tire that was not worn was where I did my inspection. I was pretty sure that the bearing setting was too loose but I never got a chance to adjust it. In truth, I simply blew it and forgot the put it in the priority list. I was able to locate a good used tire, and they came out and installed it yesterday – all for the bargain price of $182. That is a very good price – especially when you hear the horror stories of traveling folks being gouged.

That is all for now.

Hello from Carthage, MO

Hello from Carthage, MO

Saturday Afternoon October 9, 2010 (third travelogue of this trip).

We are currently at a bus rally in Carthage, MO (map).  This is a small very informal rally that is held each year to coincide with the “Apple Butter Makin' Days” in Mt Vernon, MO (http://www.mtvernonchamber.com/mt_vernon_applebuttermakindays.php). We were at this rally two years ago and were walking to the Court House square when Pat twisted her ankle on a rock in the street and broke a bone in her foot. As a result we did not make it to the fun event. We plan to go today.

Yesterday I went to Colaw RV Salage (http://www.colawrvsalvage.com/). It declares itself the largest RV Salvage yard in the US. I walked through acres of motorhomes that are being parted out. It was amazing how many were fire damaged vehicles. That is really scary. They are pretty “proud” of their parts and I came away empty handed.

Last night the hosts of this rally served a wonderful dinner of smoked ribs and chicken. Attendees brought side dishes. It sounds like we will do the same thing tonight.

When we get to the bus rallies, we are so busy having fun that I don't have time to post a blog. So, I will try to catch up a bit on things that have occurred since my last post.

In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to detour to go to a cemetery. The cemetery is located close to El Dorado Springs, MO. That was not a big detour from our direct route to Springfield. However, that detour was “interesting”. Pat had found a map of the cemetery location, and I put the coordinates in our GPS system. Looked like a pretty straight forward trip – NOT. First of all, the GPS took us on some very narrow highways. Then when we got close to the cemetery location the GPS told us to make the last turn to the left off of the narrow road we were on. Turns out that it was a very narrow, rutted dirt road. We had to continue without making the turn, but that road turned to a dirt road. We had to unhook and turn the bus around at a “T” in the road. We then drove a round about route to El Dorado Springs and left the bus in a shopping center. We were then able to drive to the cemetery in the truck. It was a neat setting and we were able to find Pat's great grandparent's graves. In addition we were able to somewhat recreate a photo she found of her grandparents standing by grave with her standing in the same location.

We then traveled to Springfield and stayed in a Wal Mart. We unhooked the truck and drove to some very long-term friends. Jack and I went to high school at roughly the same time, but did not meet until we were both working at Gates. Jack left Gates and went to work for a competitor (Dayco) but we stayed in touch. Indeed, we see them whenever we get to Springfield or when Jack and I go to Bonneville together. As usual, we had a great visit.

Tuesday we traveled to Branson for the Eagle Bus Rally. This rally has been held every other year for several years. We have been coming since 2002. It is held at the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map). I think there were 30 Eagle buses at the rally. The rally is somewhat low key. We had a barbecue dinner Tuesday evening and a pot luck dinner on Thursday evening. Wednesday evening the group split up and went to various restaurants in the Branson Landing area. We went with a group to a Mexican food restaurant that was OK, but expensive. Wednesday the group went to the afternoon Pierce Arrow show. They have an extremely funny comedian.

I have posted a couple of pictures that were taken by one of the Eagle's International members (Paul Lawry).  They were taken  from a scenic train that tours the area. 

 Branson Lakeside RV Park from a scenic train on the bridge

 View of some of the Eagle Buses.  Ours is in the lower center behind the trailer

Friday, seven of the Eagles headed in a caravan to this rally.

That is all for now.

Hello from Custer, SD

Hello from Custer, SD

Saturday Evening July 17, 2010 (Second travelogue of this trip).

We are at the Broken Arrow Campground (map). This is a fairly new campground and does not show up in the satellite view. This is the site of the Eagles International Rally.

Today was the last full day of the rally. We arrived on Wednesday (7/14) and the rally officially started on Thursday. There is a good turnout with 21 Eagle buses and two SOB (some other brand).

Some of the Eagles at the Rally

Custer is located in the main tourist area of SD. Mount Rushmore is very close, as is Crazy Horse and many other fun destinations. Thursday we took the Wildlife Loop where we saw some really neat burros who tend to block traffic until you feed them. Later, we saw a whole field of Buffalo (perhaps 200-300). Many had calves who were still nursing. Later we drove over a tight twisty road to Mount Rushmore. You pass through several tunnels, two of which “aim” right at the monument.

Friday we toured Bear Country USA. This facility has a road where you drive through the facilities and view many wild animals including Elk with HUGE racks and mountain sheep. The last part of the road is through an area that has a large number of bears. The bears wonder all around the cars and one even started chewing on the front bumper of one car. At the end of the drive, you can walk through a zoo type area. One pen had several baby bears. There was a vet tech there talking about the bears. About four of the cubs were extremely playful, wrestling with each other and the vet tech.

Burros on the Wildlife Loop

Buffalo on the Wildlife Loop

Bear Cubs at Bear Country USA

We have had some wonderful meals with the group, concluding with a great potluck tonight. Of course, there was lots of social time and the guys all stuck there heads in each others engine compartments and compared note on their buses and some of the experiences encountered while driving our “toys”.

Tomorrow we head home. We should have a relatively easy two days of driving.

That is all for now.

Hello from Santa Fe, NM

Hello from Santa Fe, NM

Sunday evening January 24, 2010 (Third travelogue of this trip)

Our stay in Quartzsite was quite interesting to say the least.

First, lets talk about the motel (Super 8). It is one of two motels in Quartzsite, and the largest. Our cost was $116 per day plus taxes. For that we got a very mediocre room (at best), no internet in the room (router was too weak) and the “Super Start” breakfast (Fruit Loops and toast – literally). We brought string cheese so that we could have protein. The TV had about 10 channels the first couple of days and then the major networks no longer worked.

Then, lets talk about the weather. As noted in our previous post, on Thursday, the day started with very strong rain and got worse. The rain continued all day and then tornado-level winds came up in the evening (actual tornadoes near by). When we came home from dinner, a large Saguaro cactus had been blown over into a car. I helped remove it so the owners could go to dinner. It was about 7 feet tall and must have weighed over 100 pounds. Many streets in Quartzsite were flooded and closed to traffic. The area of the rally was very hard hit. A large metal culvert was washed down the drainage ditch (see photo). Friday was a bit better, but had very cold winds. Yesterday was clear and reasonably warm during the day.

In the last post, I mentioned that this was a GM/Flxible/Eagle bus rally. There had been some confusion about the rally schedule and the Flxible buses had their rally the previous weekend. This was a real downer for me, as I love the classic style of the Flexible buses. However, there were perhaps 75 buses at the rally. I was surprised that there were not a lot of GM buses, but there were 30 Eagles, several Prevost and MCI buses, and a handful of what we call SOBs (some other buses).

We got to spend a lot of time talking to lots of old friends and meeting many new folks. Because of the nice weather on Saturday, everyone spent a lot of time outside, since they had been cooped up for the previous days. I think most of the folks had a good time. Not having the bus at the rally was a real downer, but we still had a good time chatting with folks.

Pat and I attended the Eagles International board meeting. Pat is the secretary and I am a board member. Quartzsite is the designated annual meeting for our chapter and the board meeting is, obviously, required. In addition, we also attended the general meeting.

Our very good friends (Ed and Stevi) gave me a hard time because I mentioned having steak with friends, but not have a gourmet fired chicken dinner at the Loves truck step with them. So, now they are mentioned {grin}. Indeed, we had dinner with them two more times. We always enjoy their company, and regret that we will not be able to stay with them in Yuma this year. We had the best time the last two years sharing their beautiful lot in the Foothills area of Yuma. It is still possible we can get down there, but the probability is not great.

After the general meeting yesterday, we left Quartzsite about 5:00 and drove to Goodyear, AZ and stayed in the same Holiday Express that we stayed at on the way down. Today we drove 530 miles to get here. We traveled up I-17 to Flagstaff and then I-40 to Albuquerque and I-25 to Santa Fe. Flagstaff had over 5-7 feet of snow while we were in Quartzsite and the drifts were still quite high. However, the roads were dry and the driving conditions were good.

That is all for now.

This is the entrance to the Bus Rally

(note the irony of the photo)

 Replacing the culvert that was damaged by the flood

Eagle Rally Epilog

Eagle Rally Epilog

I wanted to mention a fun activity at the Eagle Rally. One of the Eagle bus owners has a VW bus that is re-powered by a small Ford V-6 (I think Capri). I had seen it at one of the other Eagle rallies and it really brought back fond memories.

In 1979 I bought a VW bus (camper) with no engine and rebuilt it so that we could travel as a family.

When our three girls were small, we planned three long distance trips so that they could see the country and experience traveling in this wonderful country. The first two trips were made in the VW camper bus. The first trip was to California in 1980. We saw many of the typical tourist locations in the LA area as well as other great locations in California (Hearst Castle, Big Sur, etc.). We made that trip with a somewhat stock engine in the bus. It was a slow trip when we encountered any sort of hill. Never-the-less, we had a ball.

One of the fun stories on the California trip was that our youngest daughter Judy (9 at the time) bought a huge Micky Mouse doll which was bigger than she was. On the way home our three girls had to share their space with this fourth “person” and Judy's two sisters were not happy!

Our next trip was to the East coast so that we could experience quite a bit of our country's early history. In preparation for that trip I converted the VW bus to a Ford Pinto engine. Not just any Pinto engine, but one that had been warmed over a bit. On that trip, the bus just flew! Unfortunately it was 1981 and the national speed limit was 55 MPH. Fortunately, some of the eastern states turned a blind eye to the new speed limit {grin}.

I sold the VW bus after that trip and I kind of regret it yet today. It was one fun vehicle!

Back to the VW bus at the rally. The owner knew my story and offered to let me drive the bus (with 5 passengers) when we went to tour the Boeing surplus store and other locations in Wichita. It took a bit of getting used to, since the throttle tended to stick and the shift linkage was a bit sloppy. However, it really brought back fond memories.

I drove the first leg of the trip and the owner drove the rest of the way. He could make that thing fly! The passengers (I was sitting on the porta-potty) were bouncing around as we drove through Wichita. I wanted to take a picture of the VW at the rally, but he left before I could get to it. The hosts of the rally sent a CD and it had a picture where part of the bus was visible. I have attached that photo (cropped).

Until we are back on the road, I will continue to post a few stories that might be of interest to our readers.

VW Bus with Ford Engine

Hello from Goddard, KS

Hello from Goddard, KS

Sunday evening September 20, 2009 (First travelogue of this trip)

We are at the Express Inn in Goddard, KS (map). For the past couple of days we attended the Eagle International bus rally at Afton Lake.

We left Evergreen Wednesday (9/16) in the late afternoon. We had debated about even attending this rally, since our bus is still not running. It is not nearly as much fun at these rallies when you have to commute from a motel to the rally. The bus is a place to relax and makes it convenient at the rally. Not so when you are staying several miles from the rally site.

We stayed Wednesday evening in La Junta at a Holiday Inn Express (not one of the better ones). Thursday we drove about 350 miles to Goddard. We took US 50 most of the way. It is an interesting drive, since you drive through several small towns. Most are small farming communities. Many look like they are not doing well economically.

Once we got into Kansas, it seemed like every small town had huge grain silos and giant feedlots. We normally travel on the interstates, since we are usually on a tight schedule. However, we found the drive on the two lane highway to be interesting and enjoyable.

We arrived in Goddard late in the afternoon. We quickly checked in and unloaded the luggage and then drove to the rally for the group dinner.

Friday, the guys went to the Boeing Surplus Center and then to “The Yard” (http://www.yardstore.com/about.htm). Both are “candy stores” for “overage kids”. At the Boeing store, I stalked up on a large number of very high quality drill bits at $2.50 per pound!! The Yard has to be seen to be believed! They have a tremendous amount of surplus aluminum and nuts and bolts, plus all sorts of specialized tools.

Saturday we went with most of the group to the Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, KS (http://www.undergroundmuseum.org/index.php). This is a tour of an active salt mine and the tour takes place 650 feet below ground level. It was very interesting. That night we had another group dinner.

Today we went back out the to rally site and said our goodbyes as the folks pulled out in their great Eagle buses.

Tomorrow we head to Shawnee, OK where we will be vendors at the regional FMCA rally.

That is all for now.

Eagle Bus Conversion Rally at Afton Lake

Hello from McLean, TX

Hello from McLean, TX

Sunday evening October 12, 2008 (Second travelogue of this trip)

Normally, we would be in a Wal Mart parking lot as we cross the country. Only problem is, there is not a store within 50 miles and I was too tired to drive any further. So, tonight we are in a restaurant parking lot is this very small town (here). The restaurant is closed tonight, so we hope there will not be an issue with parking here (nobody around to ask).

I need to catch up on the happenings of the past several days. On our last blog, we were in Branson, MO for an Eagle bus rally. The rally went from Monday 9/29 to Thursday 10/2. Things were pretty hectic for us. I ended up selling some product and doing some service (unfortunately gratis). I still got to spend some time with all of our friends and met a few new members. On Tuesday we all went to the Duttons afternoon show. They put on a great show and the family members have a lot of talent.

There were about 27 Eagle buses at the rally. In the photo below, you can't see all of the buses, but they are spread over 4 rows. Our bus is in the front center of the photo (right behind the air conditioned outhouse {grin}).

The weather was very good. Kind of chilly in the evening, and nice and warm in the daytime.

We had one catered meal, one potluck, and one dinner at a local fish house.

Most everyone left on Thursday, but a couple of buses stayed for another day or two. We stayed an extra week. One night we went to the Mel Tillis Family show (including Pam Tillis). They put on a GREAT show. Another night we went to “Country Tonite”. We had gone to that show before, but we were a bit disappointed with this show. The audience was very small (perhaps 100 people).

In general, all Branson tourist statistics are off by almost 10% and it sure showed in audience attendance and considerably less traffic. One wonders with the terrible economic situation, whether Branson will have a good Christmas season (November and December). That is usually a very strong period with all the name entertainers performing.

We left Branson on Thursday 10/9 and headed to Carthage, MO for another bus rally. We made a stop in Marshfield, MO to pick up a transmission that I had purchased several months ago. I bought the transmission system for the computers (two) that are the same as mine. I had them ship the “replacement” parts (which I carry in the bus) and figured I would pick up the transmission while I was in the area. The folks who had the transmission were not there, but left a fork lift for me to use to load the parts. The transmission weighs at least 800 pounds and is huge. It took me about 2 hours to load the transmission and associated parts.

We got to Carthage in the late afternoon. We knew the rally would be very small, but we knew most of the folks going, so it turned out to be a lot of fun. On Friday we headed out to Mount Vernon, MO for the “Apple Butter Festival”. Unfortunately, as we walked towards main street, Pat stepped on a rock and took a pretty hard tumble. I took her back to the truck and went to the festival to get something to eat. By the time I got back, we pretty much figured out that Pat had hurt her foot (along with lots of other scrapes and deep bruises). We went back to the bus, but made the quick decision to visit the emergency room. I turns out she broke a bone in her right foot. They did not put it in a cast. We hope that is the correct decision, as it is very painful for her to even walk short distances.

Friday and Saturday nights we had great barbecue prepared by the folks who organized the rally. The attendees brought side dishes or dessert. Saturday the group went to a flea market and had a Chinese lunch. I took the opportunity to organize the truck a bit and do a bit of detailing on the bus.

Today we started our 1000 mile journey to Farmington, NM. We need to be there mid-day Tuesday. Today we drove a bit over 400 miles, so we should be able to make our schedule.

I guess that is all for now.

The Eagle Bus Rally in Branson, MO
Our bus is the front center (behind the air conditioned outhouse!)

Hello from Quartzsite, AZ

Note: This is the first post on our new blog.

I have been writing travelogues for many years. The main purpose was to document our travels for future enjoyment by Pat and I. We have delivered these posts, via email, to our daughters, a few family members and some friends.

We have followed a great blog that some friends write as they travel around the country in the very unique and beautiful converted bus (see: http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/). We recently met with them and they encouraged me to post our travelogues to a blog so that others could follow us as we travel.

I will start building this blog by posting the first two travelogues I wrote for this trip.

Jim

Now to the first post:

Wednesday Morning; January 23, 2008 (First travelogue of this trip)

Well, as been the case with the last few travelogues, I am very late in writing this one.

I have added a new feature to this travelogue. I am adding a link to Google Satellite Maps to show you where we are. Our current location is here.

We left Evergreen on Saturday 1/5/08 around noon. We had planned to leave on 12/27, but I had the bus torn apart in several locations as I tried to finish some projects. I did get some front cabinets done, relocated all of the heat exchangers and several other projects.

Leaving that late really put us in a bind. We had to be in Indio, CA by 1/8. That is a trip of almost 1,300 miles. We got off to a bad start, as we ran into terrible cross winds almost from the start. We saw several truck/trailers rolled over and the highway signs said that any RV would be ticketed if they were on the road. We pulled off at the Walsenberg exit and stayed the night. From there we traveled to Demming, NM (over 500 miles) and stayed in a Walmart. Next stop was a parking lot in Tonopah, AZ (slightly less than 500 miles). On both of those legs, we were severely buffeted by winds and a few severe rain storms. That part of the trip was NOT fun!

We made it to Indio at mid-day on Tuesday (1/8) and got settled in at the Expocenter Fairgrounds. This was the site of a large regional FMCA (Family Motorcoach Association) rally. Most regional rallies have around 500-700 motorhomes and this one had 1250 (down from about 1500 last year). Tuesday I scoped out the vendor area and did some unloading. Wednesday, I started to set up in the morning and then drove Pat over to Palm Springs (about 30 miles) to the Hilton where her Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference was held. As is always the case, she had a great conference.

The rally was open three days. It was very busy for me since Pat was not there to help as the “traffic cop”/partner. Our sales were low, but there were many folks very interested in my system (hopefully that will translate to future sales).

I was too tired to go to the first two evening entertainment events, but I did get the booth torn down on Saturday in time to go the Diamonds concert. They are a group out of the '50s and they put on a GREAT concert.

I picked Pat up on Sunday morning. We moved the bus from the parking field to a great place with water and power under some beautiful Palm trees (I will post some pictures later, after I catch up on some projects). The weather was great during the day but got a bit cool in the evening (not like Denver). We decided to stay another couple of nights and then left for Quartzsite on Wednesday (1/16).

As the map will show, we are east of Quartzsite just off I10. This is where the Eagle Bus Rally was held. The official dates of the rally were 1/18-20/08. Several folks came early like we did and a few are staying over.

The Eagle rally was well attended and fun. There were almost 40 Eagle buses and several other kinds of recreational vehicles that folks drove because their bus was not done. One couple drove a beautiful fully self-contained semi-truck.

While I do not hang out my “shingle” at these rallies, I sold over $1,000 worth of product!

We are staying over for a few days to go to the huge flea markets and the very large RV parts tent (open one week each year). Our plans are to leave here Friday and go south to Yuma and stay a couple of days with a fellow bus nut.

I have a lot more that I would like to document, but I am out of time since we are headed to town in a few minutes.

Jim