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| From my truck | At my desk | Front View | Right view | Rear view | Left view |
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August |  |
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| 2010 | August | |
| View entire year's route | 
588K |
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| View year's Camps |
106K |
Route
Galleries  |
Monday, August 9
This was our last night in Clifton. The house has been sold and the movers have now taken everything to storage near Denver, Colorado. We have slept in the trailer the last 4 nights because there was no usable beds in the house. We will miss the place that has been our home for the last 19 years. Neither of us have lived that long in any other place for our entire lives. We are not sad because we are looking forward to a new life elsewhere and more traveling across our grand country. Here are a few webcam shots as we leave Clifton for the last time. 
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We have now sold our home in Clifton and we left for the last time this afternoon at 1:30. As we hooked up the truck we said good bye to the place, but we are excited about our adventures and that we are headed to Colorado to live. We will travel for about 6 months before arriving in the Denver area at which time we will begin the process of looking for another home. In the meantime, we will enjoy ourselves as we tour the country to see more rodeos and visit with friends and family. |
Today was a long and hard drive of over 300 miles. We started off on a bad leg. Frank forgot to unplug the power, thankfully we back each other up and Tom noticed. Then we discovered we had no turn signal or brake lights. We detoured to a new Camping World in Winchester and a friendly fellow took a look. Turned out to be loose fuses. Then as we were driving our power and fuel mileage was terrible. Last week we had taken the truck to Luray so they could check out why it was running very rough. Turned out to be a defective fuel injector which was replaced. They put in some Cetane booster (same thing as Octane booster for gas). This was to help the new injector to burn in. But it also gave us real problems with mileage and power. We had to fill up en route today and with the Cetane booster gone the engine began performing like it should over the last 20 miles of our trip. We are having trouble readjusting to trailer life. There has just been too much going on over the last couple of weeks for a couple of old biddies like us. Tomorrow, after all, is another day, so we will look forward to the rest of our lives. Think positive and don't squat with yer spurs on! Oh, that's from a different book. Hopefully I can get all the links, photos and stuff working by tomorrow evening.
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After arriving and setting up camp we drove over to Tom's sister's which is only about 5 miles from here. We had a good visit then went to Belgrades restaurant for dinner.
Friday, August 13 Saturday, August 14 Sunday, August 15 |
As we were packing up and preparing to leave one of the rear stabilizer jacks wouldn't work. So Frank had to pull out the wrench and go to cranking. The good news is that just a few turns and the jacks began working. Most likely the motor was just at the wrong point for its brushes to get started. Today's drive was easier and over good roads. The weather is much nicer too. The temperature was only in the mid 80's and the humidity was lower at around 40%. Frank is regenerating the water softener and Tom is doing laundry.
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We have moved into Indiana and the flat lands. Corn fields abound as well as soy. This evening the clouds have come in. Supposed to have some rain tomorrow. We are beginning to get used to the trailer again. It is amazing how quickly we forget specific things and procedures which have to be done each day. Here are a few webcam shots of our journey from today.
Wednesday, August 18 |
Today was a short drive but stressful. We had mapped out a route which avoided most of the congested roads in the area, but two of the routes were closed due to construction. Luckily we had our GPS and computer navigation map. Today we headed farther west to the Chicago rodeo area. We were in this campground last year and it is only half a mile from the rodeo site (about one mile by road). We drove into Chicago Heights to pick up meds for Frank, then a grocery store, and then back to the trailer. Tomorrow we will have a leisure day. Supper in the trailer tonight will be turkey, sweet potatoes, rolls and corn on the cob. We have also moved into Central time.
Friday, August 20 Saturday, August 21 Sunday, August 22 |
We have left the Chicago area and are headed southwest toward Kansas City and our next rodeo in 2 weeks. We have passed more corn and soy beans in the last few days than one can imagine. We can see why this part of the country is frequently called "Americas Bread Basket". Very nice little campground, except it is sandwiched between an Interstate and a railroad track.
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We are just south of Springfield Illinois, the home of Lincoln. Over the next couple of days we will do some touring of the local attractions. Yesterday, Frank had a gout attack in his left foot, apparently from the roast beef at the awards dinner Sunday evening. It is now under control with medications and is going down fast. It should be completely gone by tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, August 25 Thursday, August 26 |
We moved across Illinois and are now in Eastern Missouri, camped near the cave Mark Twain used as his inspiration for when Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher got lost in the cave in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". The Internet here is about the worst we have experienced. The campground has Hugh's Satellite which is generally useless and our own Verizon account is not much better.
Saturday, August 28 |
After crossing Missouri and settling down in camp we drove to the nearby Pony Express museum. Very nice facility and interesting history. Most people don't realize that the Pony Express only existed for 18 months before shutting down, partly because of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph After doing his exercises and while walking, Frank noticed a very large old lead telephone cable running beside the campground. These lead cables can be found in smaller sizes in a few places but this 750 pair cable is very rare. The last of the lead cables were installed around 1962 so this cable is around 50 years old.
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We're back in one of Tom's favorite campgrounds. We will be here for 10 days but on Thursday, we will take the truck, some computers and of course the camera to Kansas City for 4 nights to attend a board meeting and the rodeo. The trailer will stay here. Frank began working on judging the IGRA member association websites, a task he has to do each year as part of his position of Webmaster for IGRA. The weather was hot and humid today, with more expected over the next few days.
Tuesday, August 31 |