I wish I could say that some supper dramatic event happened or that the show had some kind of mishap just to make the blog more engaging and exciting. But the shows went smoothly and we filled the stand at every show.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
World's Biggest Indoor Kids Fair...Day 1
I think we are doing fairly well adjusting to waking early after going through three times zones this past week. We awoke early and got the the venue and we were set for our first show in short order. We had a couple of hours from the doors opening until our first show so I went out in my favorite robot costume, Maximus Gluteus, Jim went out in stilts.
I wish I could say that some supper dramatic event happened or that the show had some kind of mishap just to make the blog more engaging and exciting. But the shows went smoothly and we filled the stand at every show.
I wish I could say that some supper dramatic event happened or that the show had some kind of mishap just to make the blog more engaging and exciting. But the shows went smoothly and we filled the stand at every show.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Louisville Show Set Up-----Spring has come
It seems spring has sprung. We all slept in this morning since we didn't have to rush today. I worked on marketing until 4am so I slept until almost noon. When i awoke I noticed blue skies and a strange round orange thing in the sky. Someone said it was a big fiery thing called the Sun and that it warms the earth. I was confused because I though Co2 heated the earth. So I laughed at the first hybrid car that drove by.
Anyway, it looks like we will have cool nights and warm days, at least for the next few days. That is perfect for all those folks who have been home bound. The parks are still too wet and mooshy so going to a the world's biggest indoor Kids Fair is the perfect thing to do.
After waking the kids went outside and had snowball fights with Kyle. He seems to be a master. The girls were very excited in describing how he dodged the balls, whacked them with his hands out of the sky and kicked them away. Victor claims that he was able to get the only good shot to hit Kyle.
It was nice to get the R and R but after lunch we had to get over to the convention center to set up. We got to drive up to the second floor and into the main room. I would say you could put several football fields in their. The only problem was finding it in the first place. It shouldn't had been hard but Louisville is "One Way" haven. After a few wasted turns, which allowed us to site see (I saw a historic plaque on a building that is supposed to be "the birth place of Truth in Advertising"..... yeah, that caught on didn't it. )
The organizers arranged our stage dead center in the building. The back stage area was large enough for us to park our main trailer inside. I was dreading loading the show in from outside, but this being able to park the trailer right there, just inches from the stage, was a blessing indeed.
While the kids started setting up I got on the computer and went to work marketing again. Since our plan was to spend the rest of this month doing schools (two counties' districts had been promoting us to their schools) but the up to 3 weeks of snow days has killed the schools doing extra stuff like having us. One principal told me it is likely things want get back to normal until at least May. So we have one month without a single gig. That means hunting, praying, wishing,, searching, calling, emailing, etc etc etc until we find something. But as the drive out and the ease of our load in has proved we are under God's grace and blessings, we are in His hands so all will be well.
Before we headed out we decided to show Kyle a baseball bat more his size. The Louisville Slugger factory - store - tourist spot was one block down and five over so we all went for a stroll. They really have made that part of town look very nice. There is a whole bunch of very strange art along that section of town. Since the last time we were here they have erected a 15' gold statue of David (in all his splendor). Being a Friday night closing in on 5pm the area was beginning to pop with activity. Folks were filling the cafes, pubs, steak houses, etc. It was very lively. One barrel shaped black man stood on one corner singing at the top of his lungs and as two lovely women passed by he interrupted his song to ask, "Can you help a homeless brother out?" They didn't. If he had had a hat I would have dropped some coins in but as we passed he was too busy with the girls. I felt slighted, I mean I am hotter than those girls.
Once we took the obligatory pictures of the Big Bat at Louisville Slugger we went back to the venue picked up the van and went to a very unusual and marvelous place. A place out of PT Barnum's dreams. A place where rich and poor gather. A place where girl scouts were selling cookies. Walmart.
Well, that brings me back to the RV. Mami fixed a chicken parmesan, mac and cheese, and broccoli.
Anyway, it looks like we will have cool nights and warm days, at least for the next few days. That is perfect for all those folks who have been home bound. The parks are still too wet and mooshy so going to a the world's biggest indoor Kids Fair is the perfect thing to do.
After waking the kids went outside and had snowball fights with Kyle. He seems to be a master. The girls were very excited in describing how he dodged the balls, whacked them with his hands out of the sky and kicked them away. Victor claims that he was able to get the only good shot to hit Kyle.
It was nice to get the R and R but after lunch we had to get over to the convention center to set up. We got to drive up to the second floor and into the main room. I would say you could put several football fields in their. The only problem was finding it in the first place. It shouldn't had been hard but Louisville is "One Way" haven. After a few wasted turns, which allowed us to site see (I saw a historic plaque on a building that is supposed to be "the birth place of Truth in Advertising"..... yeah, that caught on didn't it. )
The organizers arranged our stage dead center in the building. The back stage area was large enough for us to park our main trailer inside. I was dreading loading the show in from outside, but this being able to park the trailer right there, just inches from the stage, was a blessing indeed.
While the kids started setting up I got on the computer and went to work marketing again. Since our plan was to spend the rest of this month doing schools (two counties' districts had been promoting us to their schools) but the up to 3 weeks of snow days has killed the schools doing extra stuff like having us. One principal told me it is likely things want get back to normal until at least May. So we have one month without a single gig. That means hunting, praying, wishing,, searching, calling, emailing, etc etc etc until we find something. But as the drive out and the ease of our load in has proved we are under God's grace and blessings, we are in His hands so all will be well.
Before we headed out we decided to show Kyle a baseball bat more his size. The Louisville Slugger factory - store - tourist spot was one block down and five over so we all went for a stroll. They really have made that part of town look very nice. There is a whole bunch of very strange art along that section of town. Since the last time we were here they have erected a 15' gold statue of David (in all his splendor). Being a Friday night closing in on 5pm the area was beginning to pop with activity. Folks were filling the cafes, pubs, steak houses, etc. It was very lively. One barrel shaped black man stood on one corner singing at the top of his lungs and as two lovely women passed by he interrupted his song to ask, "Can you help a homeless brother out?" They didn't. If he had had a hat I would have dropped some coins in but as we passed he was too busy with the girls. I felt slighted, I mean I am hotter than those girls.
Once we took the obligatory pictures of the Big Bat at Louisville Slugger we went back to the venue picked up the van and went to a very unusual and marvelous place. A place out of PT Barnum's dreams. A place where rich and poor gather. A place where girl scouts were selling cookies. Walmart.
Well, that brings me back to the RV. Mami fixed a chicken parmesan, mac and cheese, and broccoli.
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| Finally something that makes Kyle look tiny! |
Thursday, March 6, 2014
The Drive: Success! Little miracles.
Success! Success! Success! (imagine the Three Stooges shaking hands and saying that....at least I did.)
We made it to Louisville. YAY! Perfect weather all the way. We did not have a single bit "bad" weather on our entire drive from Cali to here. Sure we missed bad weather behind us or in front of us, but we never had to drive through any of it. I call that miracle one....especially with all the horrible weather that was preceding or following us. Remember that spring that broke that made us call our travels to a halt yesterday? The one where we broke down just 8 miles from a very nice RV park and a parts store nearby? The one that made us decide to just call it a night instead of go for Memphis? We found out today that hwy 40 between Little Rock and Memphis was a mess. It made national news. One person at the rv park had left the park 11am heading east but came back 10 hours later claiming it was hopeless. A couple coming from the east said it took them 18 hours to get from Memphis to Little Rock. Today eastbound 40 was smooth and clear (albeit we had a bottle neck in Memphis due to construction and the mess left over from four days of foul foul weather. ) But their were signs of the trouble from the day before. There were still some cars every now and again stuck in the median. In fact, there was a fully loaded car hauler semi with it's tires buried up to the axles with mud and snow. I call that little miracle two. If the leaf spring hadn't broke we would had been stuck in that mess. And worse....what if it had broke while in that mess.
I do have to admit in Memphis there was one long bridge that still had ice, water and a berm of snow that was a bit scary to cross. Semi-trucks jetting across with only inches to pass me (construction narrowed the lanes) didn't help.
I am rating the kindness of Arkansas and Kentucky drivers high today. Every time we wanted to pull in, pass, get around, etc. nobody tried to rush up or cut us off. Just the opposite, folks slowed for us and were very cordial.
Our producers found a nice RV park for us and went so far as to change our reservation from two rvs (we were hoping to buy an RV trailer as well as the Motor-home, but it didn't work out) to an Rv spot and a really nice cabin for the older boys.
We set up at the venue tomorrow.
While driving into town tonight we tried to find one of the billboards with my mug on it. There are supposed to be 14 around so I hope I see one.
We met and angel today. Our GPS apparently needs an update. The off-ramp for our RV park directions has been going through changes and the road it was supposed to connect to isn't there anymore. (looks recent) The alternate route took us down a narrow industrial area road to an underpass that measured around 10'....the RV is nearly 13' tall. I climbed out of the RV to survey the situation when a woman in an old Toyota pulled up and informed me there was no way I could make it. I told here where we were heading and she told me she would back up an wait for us to first, figure out how we were going to turn around, and second, she escorted us to the RV park. She didn't even wait to be thanked. She just stuck her arm out the window as we came to the park and pointed, then drove away. Who was she? We will never know. But for us, tonight, she was an angel! Miracle three.
The girls today took every chance at every gas stop or what ever to play in what ever snow they could find. Long sharp icicles were a novelty to these California girls as well. So they became great, though short-lived toys.
We made it to Louisville. YAY! Perfect weather all the way. We did not have a single bit "bad" weather on our entire drive from Cali to here. Sure we missed bad weather behind us or in front of us, but we never had to drive through any of it. I call that miracle one....especially with all the horrible weather that was preceding or following us. Remember that spring that broke that made us call our travels to a halt yesterday? The one where we broke down just 8 miles from a very nice RV park and a parts store nearby? The one that made us decide to just call it a night instead of go for Memphis? We found out today that hwy 40 between Little Rock and Memphis was a mess. It made national news. One person at the rv park had left the park 11am heading east but came back 10 hours later claiming it was hopeless. A couple coming from the east said it took them 18 hours to get from Memphis to Little Rock. Today eastbound 40 was smooth and clear (albeit we had a bottle neck in Memphis due to construction and the mess left over from four days of foul foul weather. ) But their were signs of the trouble from the day before. There were still some cars every now and again stuck in the median. In fact, there was a fully loaded car hauler semi with it's tires buried up to the axles with mud and snow. I call that little miracle two. If the leaf spring hadn't broke we would had been stuck in that mess. And worse....what if it had broke while in that mess.
I do have to admit in Memphis there was one long bridge that still had ice, water and a berm of snow that was a bit scary to cross. Semi-trucks jetting across with only inches to pass me (construction narrowed the lanes) didn't help.
I am rating the kindness of Arkansas and Kentucky drivers high today. Every time we wanted to pull in, pass, get around, etc. nobody tried to rush up or cut us off. Just the opposite, folks slowed for us and were very cordial.
Our producers found a nice RV park for us and went so far as to change our reservation from two rvs (we were hoping to buy an RV trailer as well as the Motor-home, but it didn't work out) to an Rv spot and a really nice cabin for the older boys.
We set up at the venue tomorrow.
While driving into town tonight we tried to find one of the billboards with my mug on it. There are supposed to be 14 around so I hope I see one.
We met and angel today. Our GPS apparently needs an update. The off-ramp for our RV park directions has been going through changes and the road it was supposed to connect to isn't there anymore. (looks recent) The alternate route took us down a narrow industrial area road to an underpass that measured around 10'....the RV is nearly 13' tall. I climbed out of the RV to survey the situation when a woman in an old Toyota pulled up and informed me there was no way I could make it. I told here where we were heading and she told me she would back up an wait for us to first, figure out how we were going to turn around, and second, she escorted us to the RV park. She didn't even wait to be thanked. She just stuck her arm out the window as we came to the park and pointed, then drove away. Who was she? We will never know. But for us, tonight, she was an angel! Miracle three.
The girls today took every chance at every gas stop or what ever to play in what ever snow they could find. Long sharp icicles were a novelty to these California girls as well. So they became great, though short-lived toys.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Still on the COLD road....Little Rock
We watch the weather like hawks. We have to do it almost hourly. We weren't sure if we were going to have to hold in OK or be able to move on. Everyone got to sleep until 8AM where our awesome host, Bill and Kathy, AKA, Kid's Celebration Family Game Show prepared us a wonderful biscuits and gravy b-fast. When we arrived the night before they were in TX doing a gig but drove home late (after Midnight) not to miss us. And we are so glad they did. They are Godly kind folks and their daughter and fiancee who met us when we arrived were awesome.
The big RV we parked in their neighbor's driveway...it's cool 'cause he is dead so the house is for sale. A couple of branches in the drive were too low so Kyle got his first labor job of sawing branches.
The girls are Bill and Kathy's biggest fan. We met them back at the il-fated L.A. Spring fair. We have visited them in the past. It was great seeing them. Titus and the girls even got a "Kids Celebration" T-shirt from them.
From Shawnee, OK we set out east on I-40 and as we got closer to AR we noticed their was more ice and snow. The weather has beaten up the roads and as a result our goal to reach Memphis today was a bust. WHY? Did you ask why? Well, the cold and the rough road didn't mix with one of our big trailer's leaf spring and it broke. It ruined one tire and we had to pull off and change the spring. There was a Tractor Supply near by and they sell the springs. I also picked up a new tire and a couple of tours to make the job easier. It wasn't in the budget but God provides.
Besides being blessed with being close to a TSC we were also close to an RV park and so here we are.
The big RV we parked in their neighbor's driveway...it's cool 'cause he is dead so the house is for sale. A couple of branches in the drive were too low so Kyle got his first labor job of sawing branches.
The girls are Bill and Kathy's biggest fan. We met them back at the il-fated L.A. Spring fair. We have visited them in the past. It was great seeing them. Titus and the girls even got a "Kids Celebration" T-shirt from them.
From Shawnee, OK we set out east on I-40 and as we got closer to AR we noticed their was more ice and snow. The weather has beaten up the roads and as a result our goal to reach Memphis today was a bust. WHY? Did you ask why? Well, the cold and the rough road didn't mix with one of our big trailer's leaf spring and it broke. It ruined one tire and we had to pull off and change the spring. There was a Tractor Supply near by and they sell the springs. I also picked up a new tire and a couple of tours to make the job easier. It wasn't in the budget but God provides.
Besides being blessed with being close to a TSC we were also close to an RV park and so here we are.
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| Bill and Kathy's house...below are the people in Question. |
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| Kyle grew a manly Stache! |
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Th Drive (Day Three) Shawnee, OK
Well, we woke to a bright brisk New New Mexico Morning. The New Rv housed all eight of us nicely with a bit of room to spare. Mami was on fire to get us moving so we were all loaded in and on the road less than 45 minutes after getting me up. The kids are training Kyle on a fast load in, I am sure he is thinking we are lunatics the way we just hustle hustle hustle. He will learn that we slow down at weird parts of the day and in between gigs.
We drove a mostly uneventful drive to OK from NM. The scenery was awesome and the air got colder as we drove east. We even started seeing snow where normally there is wind sweeping across the plains.
For the record gas is 30-60 cents cheaper out here.
Tonight we bed down at our Godly good friends Kathy and Bill's in Shawnee, OK. We met them at the ill fated L.A. Spring Fair three years ago or so. Beautiful people. The live near where one of those terrible tornados ripped up part of their town earlier this year and now they have been getting kicked in the pants with all this ice and snow.
Tomorrow there is a possibility of sleet so we will wait until morning to figure out when we will leave. Normally we head from her up through MO to Louisville, but that will take us into even colder areas so we are thinking keeping it south then up through TN into KY
The only rough part of the day was driving at dusk though the bumpy, narrow road construction in OK City. White knuckles and siting up straight, sweaty palms and fearless flying truck drivers and crazies in tiny Japanese cars made the adventure scary. Remember still getting used to riding truck driver high and bus wide.....pulling a brakeless trailer (the small trailers don't come with them.) At least Jim has some awesome new tire on the Van and his trailer have electric brakes.
Mami is keeping us well fed as we go along. Having a moving kitchen, full working kitchen makes it easier.
Titus is enjoying the new RV and his new specially made travel seat. He is whining less and enjoying the large windows a lot.
In case you wonder how I survive all these years of daily long hour drives. Weak coffee, various flavours sunflower seeds, gum, Talk radio (any talk radio..even red diaper doper babies mental disorder rants...often the best to keep one awake. ), and in extreme cases those peanut covered caramel candy bars.
We drove a mostly uneventful drive to OK from NM. The scenery was awesome and the air got colder as we drove east. We even started seeing snow where normally there is wind sweeping across the plains.
For the record gas is 30-60 cents cheaper out here.
Tonight we bed down at our Godly good friends Kathy and Bill's in Shawnee, OK. We met them at the ill fated L.A. Spring Fair three years ago or so. Beautiful people. The live near where one of those terrible tornados ripped up part of their town earlier this year and now they have been getting kicked in the pants with all this ice and snow.
Tomorrow there is a possibility of sleet so we will wait until morning to figure out when we will leave. Normally we head from her up through MO to Louisville, but that will take us into even colder areas so we are thinking keeping it south then up through TN into KY
The only rough part of the day was driving at dusk though the bumpy, narrow road construction in OK City. White knuckles and siting up straight, sweaty palms and fearless flying truck drivers and crazies in tiny Japanese cars made the adventure scary. Remember still getting used to riding truck driver high and bus wide.....pulling a brakeless trailer (the small trailers don't come with them.) At least Jim has some awesome new tire on the Van and his trailer have electric brakes.
Mami is keeping us well fed as we go along. Having a moving kitchen, full working kitchen makes it easier.
Titus is enjoying the new RV and his new specially made travel seat. He is whining less and enjoying the large windows a lot.
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| Jim's friends visit when we were in Yermo, Ca....Moustache themed gifts. |
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| Silly girls in Bakersfields as we pick up Kyle. |
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| James' view of me as we enter AZ |
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| Back yard of my friend Janet in Yermo.....beautiful home. |
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| Kyle, in red, in bye-bye photos with his siblings. |
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| Victor found a toy |
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| Olivia admires herself. |
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| Jim falling back and catching some shots of clouds that only sprinkled, at best, on Sunday's drive. |
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Drive
Howdy family, friends, and fans (the good f words). I am typing this in Albuquerque, midnight (Mtn Time.)
We drove from our "winter home" where it was warm, to the deserts of SoCal yesterday. We stayed at our friend, Janet's house and enjoyed the company of other Calico friends, Mary and Paul. Jim had some fiends from LA drive 2 hours to the desert to wish Jim a belated birthday and a farewell for the tour. Mami fixed a great Japanese dinner. It was a late dinner as we arrived late because we left late and because California has a silly law about holding everyone up by making all vehicles pulling trailers drive at 55mph. An 8 hour drive according to the GPS took 10!
Belle has a really bad habit whenever she meets up with Janet. Janet is the one who gave us Belle when Belle was 9 mos old. Anytime we visit Janet at her home or her shop the first thing Belle does is poop in the place. And we don't know why. She doesn't do it anywhere else. Little Girl got to see her brother, Blue Eyes, while there too.
We stopped in Bakersfield and meet up with my childhood friend, Lloyd, and his family. His son, Kyle is helping us with the show this year's tour. He is from good stock and has proven to be a kind hearted gentle 6'7' man....though he could easily rip my head off with his black belt in karate if he so desired. I am thankful he doesn't want to.
Janet fixed us a Belgium waffle b-fast with berries and fruit and whipped cream and eggs, and bacon. Well, fatten-up from her wonderful hospitality we with the road.
Driving a class A coach with huge front windows is a different experience from the old RV. We have lots of memories in the old one and look forward to memories in this one. But we are still not settled in or used to it yet; driving or living. It is a total blessing as far as space. But gas.....yesterday my best mpg was around 7mpg. Today, 9! yay!
As I mentioned we are getting into colder areas. Tonight it will get near freezing and we haven't finished turning the little trailer into a bunk house to we have everyone in the RV. That means all three slide outs have been slidden out. A bit of floor space and the recliner are beds tonight. 6'7" Kyle is in a standard double bed (couch by day) so I am sure his feet will get cold sticking out the bottom.
We have been blessed with good weather and only a tiny scare. I saw a screw head sticking out of the inner dually tire while gassing up. The station had a tire-bay so I took it over. before pulling the tire the man took pliers and pulled out a 3/8" screw and sprayed soapy water on the hole.....no penetration. He didn't charge us. Phew!
We loose one more hour tomorrow as we head to OK City. I hope is is OK (did you know that OK as a term of being good comes from a purposeful miss-spelling of All Correct ; instead of AC the coiner said OK as a joke that the Acronym is not the all correct way to say it. )
Forgive any accidental typos and miss-spellings (some were intentional). Hope to bring you pictures soon.
We drove from our "winter home" where it was warm, to the deserts of SoCal yesterday. We stayed at our friend, Janet's house and enjoyed the company of other Calico friends, Mary and Paul. Jim had some fiends from LA drive 2 hours to the desert to wish Jim a belated birthday and a farewell for the tour. Mami fixed a great Japanese dinner. It was a late dinner as we arrived late because we left late and because California has a silly law about holding everyone up by making all vehicles pulling trailers drive at 55mph. An 8 hour drive according to the GPS took 10!
Belle has a really bad habit whenever she meets up with Janet. Janet is the one who gave us Belle when Belle was 9 mos old. Anytime we visit Janet at her home or her shop the first thing Belle does is poop in the place. And we don't know why. She doesn't do it anywhere else. Little Girl got to see her brother, Blue Eyes, while there too.
We stopped in Bakersfield and meet up with my childhood friend, Lloyd, and his family. His son, Kyle is helping us with the show this year's tour. He is from good stock and has proven to be a kind hearted gentle 6'7' man....though he could easily rip my head off with his black belt in karate if he so desired. I am thankful he doesn't want to.
Janet fixed us a Belgium waffle b-fast with berries and fruit and whipped cream and eggs, and bacon. Well, fatten-up from her wonderful hospitality we with the road.
Driving a class A coach with huge front windows is a different experience from the old RV. We have lots of memories in the old one and look forward to memories in this one. But we are still not settled in or used to it yet; driving or living. It is a total blessing as far as space. But gas.....yesterday my best mpg was around 7mpg. Today, 9! yay!
As I mentioned we are getting into colder areas. Tonight it will get near freezing and we haven't finished turning the little trailer into a bunk house to we have everyone in the RV. That means all three slide outs have been slidden out. A bit of floor space and the recliner are beds tonight. 6'7" Kyle is in a standard double bed (couch by day) so I am sure his feet will get cold sticking out the bottom.
We have been blessed with good weather and only a tiny scare. I saw a screw head sticking out of the inner dually tire while gassing up. The station had a tire-bay so I took it over. before pulling the tire the man took pliers and pulled out a 3/8" screw and sprayed soapy water on the hole.....no penetration. He didn't charge us. Phew!
We loose one more hour tomorrow as we head to OK City. I hope is is OK (did you know that OK as a term of being good comes from a purposeful miss-spelling of All Correct ; instead of AC the coiner said OK as a joke that the Acronym is not the all correct way to say it. )
Forgive any accidental typos and miss-spellings (some were intentional). Hope to bring you pictures soon.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
2014 Tour Starts in less than 30 hours
It is hard to believe that our 2014 tour starts so soon. In a way it might have been a mistake to start our tour this early, especially this year. With that crazy polar vortex going on we run the chance of hitting that cold cold weather in KY at our tour kick off on March 8th.
We had a great show for 1000 kids at a wonderful school in Northern, CA today. It was a fabulous show. We have performed for this school on and off for over 16 years The principal and I have watched each other age. He is still nearly a foot taller than me. He's a fun guy.
It was such a blessing to have lunch with our loving friends, JC and Dean....the parents of Little Girl's first puppy, Cookie. They are so wonderful.
We leave our winter home this Sunday, less than 30 hours away. We are heading out in a wonderful new Rv, but it is untested. And our main trailer puller is nearly 200K miles old. We've prepared the best we can; new tires, new water pump, tune-up, oil change, etc. But we are heading toward Al Gore's Ice age. SO I pray we have prepared adequately.
Still we are all stressed as we prepare. After all we will be gone 6 months or more. And we have a lot of holes in our schedule. We know God is Lord and we are His so we don't really worry; except in those times when our flesh is weak. And that is stupid because He has proven Himself to us so many times...yet like the ancient Hebrews we sometimes forget His splendor.
Well, more later. Love you all.
We had a great show for 1000 kids at a wonderful school in Northern, CA today. It was a fabulous show. We have performed for this school on and off for over 16 years The principal and I have watched each other age. He is still nearly a foot taller than me. He's a fun guy.
It was such a blessing to have lunch with our loving friends, JC and Dean....the parents of Little Girl's first puppy, Cookie. They are so wonderful.
We leave our winter home this Sunday, less than 30 hours away. We are heading out in a wonderful new Rv, but it is untested. And our main trailer puller is nearly 200K miles old. We've prepared the best we can; new tires, new water pump, tune-up, oil change, etc. But we are heading toward Al Gore's Ice age. SO I pray we have prepared adequately.
Still we are all stressed as we prepare. After all we will be gone 6 months or more. And we have a lot of holes in our schedule. We know God is Lord and we are His so we don't really worry; except in those times when our flesh is weak. And that is stupid because He has proven Himself to us so many times...yet like the ancient Hebrews we sometimes forget His splendor.
Well, more later. Love you all.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tour Prep means Fleet Prep
Howdy, hope you are all well. Those of you in the Polar Vortex please stay warm and safe.
As we prepare to leave the earliest we have ever left on our cross country tour (March 2nd) we are in a rush to get things ready. Not only the practice and development of the routines and the marketing, art, advertising, booking, etc. But all the vehicles need a going over since we are going to put them under a lot of load and work. Our faithful Ford van that has been the main pulling vehicle, which had to have an alternator replaced in a car parts parking lot last year is in the shop due to a new hum that developed last week. It's the power steering pump. But they say it should be fine, it's making the same noise a reconditioned one would make. So since we are at 200K on the engine I decided to go ahead and change the water pump because to get 2000K out of one is lucky to get more is gambling, in my experience. No it wasn't the mechanics idea....it was mine. I could drive a van w/out power steering for a month But a dead water pump on the road means, towing, unknown garage, and possibly gouging. So......
The new RV is well but we noticed a small gouge in one tire and the air bed has a small leak so we are taking it in to have those fixed.
The old Rv is being sold. But before we sell it I want to make sure whoever buys it gets a clean nice vehicle so we have replaced some things and fixed some minor things, gave it a tune up, etc. Two guys stopped by last week seeing the "for sale" sign on it and offered me a ridiculous amount. ( I think they wanted to flip it.) They were fast talkers and had stuff in their teeth and pushy. I don't think I would had sold it to them even if they offered full asking price since they were so rude. It was our home on tour for 3 years so I refuse to sell it to anyone like that.
We will replace the old motorhome with a travel trailer so Jim and the others can use it instead of a tent or a hotel.
The puppies are days away from being ready for adoption. They are so adorable and the girls have really become attached to them. They get their first shots on Saturday so they can be handled by outsiders. They are mostly weened from their mom. They are lots of fun.
Those who remember Cookie, our first puppy from Little Girl and Tator Tot, is doing really well at his home with my dear friend JC and Clydean. He is their joy....and they are his. When it snowed at their house we visited and found the little guy hopping through the snow. He is such a cool dog.
No pictures this time.
More to share with you. The next entry should give you a layout of our tour and the trial and troubles and blessings that come with it.
As we prepare to leave the earliest we have ever left on our cross country tour (March 2nd) we are in a rush to get things ready. Not only the practice and development of the routines and the marketing, art, advertising, booking, etc. But all the vehicles need a going over since we are going to put them under a lot of load and work. Our faithful Ford van that has been the main pulling vehicle, which had to have an alternator replaced in a car parts parking lot last year is in the shop due to a new hum that developed last week. It's the power steering pump. But they say it should be fine, it's making the same noise a reconditioned one would make. So since we are at 200K on the engine I decided to go ahead and change the water pump because to get 2000K out of one is lucky to get more is gambling, in my experience. No it wasn't the mechanics idea....it was mine. I could drive a van w/out power steering for a month But a dead water pump on the road means, towing, unknown garage, and possibly gouging. So......
The new RV is well but we noticed a small gouge in one tire and the air bed has a small leak so we are taking it in to have those fixed.
The old Rv is being sold. But before we sell it I want to make sure whoever buys it gets a clean nice vehicle so we have replaced some things and fixed some minor things, gave it a tune up, etc. Two guys stopped by last week seeing the "for sale" sign on it and offered me a ridiculous amount. ( I think they wanted to flip it.) They were fast talkers and had stuff in their teeth and pushy. I don't think I would had sold it to them even if they offered full asking price since they were so rude. It was our home on tour for 3 years so I refuse to sell it to anyone like that.
We will replace the old motorhome with a travel trailer so Jim and the others can use it instead of a tent or a hotel.
The puppies are days away from being ready for adoption. They are so adorable and the girls have really become attached to them. They get their first shots on Saturday so they can be handled by outsiders. They are mostly weened from their mom. They are lots of fun.
Those who remember Cookie, our first puppy from Little Girl and Tator Tot, is doing really well at his home with my dear friend JC and Clydean. He is their joy....and they are his. When it snowed at their house we visited and found the little guy hopping through the snow. He is such a cool dog.
No pictures this time.
More to share with you. The next entry should give you a layout of our tour and the trial and troubles and blessings that come with it.
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