November 30, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, to Lamar, CO

We were “On the Road Again” at 9:30.  We had strong winds to deal with all day long.

We knew we would be crossing two state lines, so Super Driver practiced his part in the State Line Celebration several times.  He does love those air horns!  I didn’t need to practice my part.  I am very proficient at “Yahooing.”

It wasn’t too long before we crossed into Oklahoma and performed our State Line Celebration.  We were immediately confronted with a terrible road.  Yikes.  What a difference between Colorado and Oklahoma!  After a few miles, however, we were on a new concrete road.

“Honk, honk!  Yahoo!”  We arrived in Texas.  Everything is bigger in Texas...including the wind.  Wow!  Bill was really hanging on and so was I.  By the time we got to Amarillo, it had calmed down some.

We stopped at Walmart for diesel before driving on to Sam’s Club to park for the night.  But it was not to be...we missed the exit.  We decided to go on to Flying J to see if they had extra RV parking spaces.  Nope!  Instead of retracing our tracks to Sam’s Club, we took Hwy. 287 to Clarendon.  A few miles further on down the highway we came to a Rest Area with plenty of room to park.

We weren’t able to get the Bronco game on our TV, so we kept up with their progress via the Internet.

Today, we traveled 297 miles.

November 29, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

After a last minute scramble to get everything loaded and secured, we left Loveland at 9:55, five minutes earlier than Bill was aiming for.

In Denver, we turned east on I-70 and got to Limon in time for lunch and naps.  Once refreshed, we made our way to Lamar, where we parked at Walmart.  We were able to get the channel from Denver that would let us watch the Ducks game against Oregon State.

It was a good game because the Ducks won, 47-19, but Oregon seemed to run out of steam toward the end of the third quarter, allowing the Beavers to make most of their points then.

We traveled 250 miles today.  Most of it was past hay fields.  The landscape in this part of Oregon isn’t particularly nice, but there wasn’t much traffic.

Tomorrow, we will cross two state lines if all goes as planned!

November 28, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

November 28, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

Happy Birthday, Matthew.  He is very excited to be 16 years old!

Michelle and I went to US Bank this morning before picking up Meredith and Dwaine to go shopping.  We stopped at Hobby Lobby first.  That didn’t take too long.  Michelle and I both knew what we needed so it made for a quick stop.

We stopped at Starbucks for three coffees and a hot chocolate for me.  That gave us energy to make our way to Costco to fight the crowds.  Actually, there weren’t as many shoppers as we thought there would be, and plenty of checkout lanes were open so we got out rather quickly.

When we got back in to Loveland, we took Meredith and Dwaine home before we went to the day old bread store.  Michelle always finds good bargins there.

She and I both had forgotten we needed to stop at Target.  That store was some busier than we had expected.  And it is a big store, so I got rather tired.  Michelle “parked” me at a chair in the snack bar while she finished the things on a rather long list.

I rested for about an hour after we got back home.  I needed the energy so I wouldn’t miss dinner out for Matthews birthday.  We went to McGraft’s.  After eating dinner, we went back to Michelle’s so Matthew could open birthday presents.  This was followed up with root beer floats, um, um!  Afterwards, most of the guys went to see a movie. 

November 27, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Here in Loveland, our family members were doing a variety of things.  Michelle, along with Joshua, Connor, and Matthew, served dinner at a homeless shelter.  Ron had to work today, driving an airport shuttle.  Meredith served dinner to people at a dude ranch.

The rest of us...Dwaine, Bill, and I...stayed home and did some things around the house.  

Bill and I are planning to leave Loveland on Saturday, heading for Mississippi.  We plan to stop early enough to watch the Ducks game against Oregon State.  That is a big rivalry, known locally as the Civil War.

We will have some major things to do tomorrow in order for the coach to be ready to roll down the road on Saturday.

Tonight we went to Meredith and Dwaine’s for snacky-type food.  Of course, everything was good and we ate too much.  But we just had to have energy to be able to watch the Seahawks beat the 49ers.  That made Brent’s Thanksgiving even better!

November 26, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

Bill had an early morning doctor’s appointment today.  As soon as he got back home, he fired up the MH and went back to RV America.  There were some wiring problems and they needed to fix them.  It was about a five hour process, but worth it.  Now things seem to be A OK.

I stayed at Michelle’s while he went there.  I took a nap on the futon in her office.  She was waiting for a phone call from some government agency or other.  I didn’t even wake up while she was talking to them.

Meredith came at 12:30 to take me for an appointment to get another shot into my eardrum.  Each one gets more hurtful than the last and this one was no exception.  I’m glad this is the last one.  It was the most painful one of all.

Afterwards, we went to Hobby Lobby and then back to Meredith’s so I could rest.  Bill came for me after he had parked the coach back in Michelle’s driveway.

Because of other commitments, we had Thanksgiving dinner tonight...all the usual...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, broccoli and rice, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.  After we were thoroughly stuffed, we sat around the table and reminisced about rafting trips we have taken.  There was a lot of laughing going on.

We ended the evening with a viewing of Crocodile Dundee.

November 25, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

Bill and I spent most of the morning just enjoying being back in our house.  We relaxed and watched some TV.  It was a nice way to spend our first morning at home after two weeks.

Meredith and the pups took me around to various places so I could finish some of my Christmas shopping for the Colorado clan.  I really appreciate all of them for taking their time to help me.

We are looking at the route we will take to go to Mississippi.  Hopefully, the weather won’t cause us any problems.  Bill figured our mileage to various stops along the way.

I wore my Oregon Duck sweatshirt today.  Several people made positive comments about it.  I was just practicing for Saturday’s game.  Quack, quack.

Tonight was the season finale for Dancing With The Stars.  Any of the three finalists deserved to win.  They were all really good.  We’ll miss having it to watch every week.

The day started off cold, but warmed up during the afternoon.  A strong wind started blowing at 3:00 and lasted for several hours.  At bedtime, it was 34°.

November 24, 2014---Michelle’s, Loveland, CO

Happy Birthday, Coleson.  You and the motorhome are both 16 years old today!  Wow!

After getting a few chores accomplished this morning, Meredith, Jim, and I went to lunch...at Karl’s Jr.  Jim said we couldn’t stay for two hours today and talk.  Well, we didn’t miss it by too much.  At least an hour of chatting went on.

Jim gave us an update on his daughter, Jenalyn.  She lives in Sacramento, CA.  We saw her two years ago.  It was good to hear about that part of our family.

We took a few more pictures of sculptures.  We also drove through Sculpture Park.  There are so many interesting pieces of sculpture there, but we decided spring might be a better time of the year to photograph them.

We drove to Ft. Collins and picked up Peggy to go to JoAnn Fabric.  We spent quite a while shopping for quilting fabric for a quilt Peggy is working on.  There were so many patterns to choose from.  For me, picking the right color combinations was one of the hardest things about quilting.

After returning home to get Bill, we drove to RV America to get the motorhome.  Yes, you read correctly...the repairs on our house were finished.  Yippy, Skippy!  It was so-o-o-o good to be back in our own “little hallway.”

We appreciate Michelle and her family letting us stay at their house.  It worked out well for the past two weeks, but we did miss our motorhome.