Can you get a Freightliner STUCK in a perfectly dry campground?

Yes you can and it's a bit embarrassing.

I managed to get our truck stuck in the RV park.  It's a long story, so we'll just leave it as "stuck for no reason," completely unable to move, "ROOKIE MISTAKE."

It was quite a quandary, with nothing available to tow it what were we to do?  I was thinking I needed a tractor or a big tow truck.  I turned to our RV club "Escapees" http://www.escapees.com/ where there are quite a few RV'rs using HD trucks.  They said there are two categories for this problem; those that have been there and those that will be there, it happens to everyone.  They suggested all I needed was a pickup truck to give it a tug.  I couldn't see a pickup truck being able to tow a 20,000 lb truck but we decided to give it a try. 

Brady (son) with his F150 and hooked up.

Nothing To It

30 seconds later we were done.  I was amazed but that F150 yanked us out like nothing, didn't even grunt, didn't spin a wheel, nothing.  Brady said he barely felt it load up.

So once again, I was wrong, which seems to happen allot these days.  Must be an age thing :-)

Next Post "Long Weekend In Saskatchewan"

Have a super day and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal

Summer On The Prairies

Hot Hot Manitoba Summer

There's nothing like summer on The Prairies, The Heartland for our American friends.  That hot hot summer sun, and our beautiful lakes, make for a combination envied by many.  Since our hot season is only 3 months we tend to take advantage of it as much as we possibly can.  These pictures of daughters Colleen and Leslie, and Bernie and Colleen were taken on just such a warm wonderful July afternoon at Manitoba's fabulous Falcon lake.

Leslie and Colleen thanking "Garcon" (me) for delivery of cold beverages to their floats.

Bernie and Colleen

Leslie and her husband John have a cabin at Falcon and this is where we were able to have all of this fun.  Colleen and her family, son Rob and his family, along with Leslie and her family made for a FULL cabin, especially when one considers the seven grandchildren we're so blessed to have.  We have an annual "Birthday" cake for ALL of them since the ones from B.C. only get here once a year and most of their birthdays are in the summer.

The Fabulous Seven

Our summer to date has been wonderful.  Although it was slow to arrive this year we have it now and are thankful for it.  We`ve been stationary for the last 2.5 months so I haven't had much to post here.  We moved our RV to a very private spot in the same RV park "Arrowhead" in Ile de Chene, MB, where we`re on our own most of the time.

Summer 2011, Arrowhead RV Resort, Ile de Chenes, MB

My summer, pressure washing, gig is turning out as well as I had hoped.  I do get pretty dirty on some the jobs which makes Bernie laugh and has caused a few t shirts to go straight on the trash can without "passing go."  After a "shirt and tie career" getting dirty once in awhile is a good thing.  I have a number of repeat customers now who are keeping my schedule about as full as I would want it.  If it continues to grow I`ll have to hire a young set of arms and legs and "force" myself into a supervisory roll.  This would be a good thing as long as I can keep it simple.  I had 40 years of  "not simple" and I refuse to go back.

Plans are well underway for the winter. We`ve decided to go East and South this trip.  First stop will be in Indiana for a few days at the RV museum and visiting Amish country. We love to drive through there to admire their skills and cleanliness and the RV museum is a must do for me. Then it will be off to Nashville for a few days and, of course, a visit to The Grand Old Opry. Then down to Memphis for a week or so to see Graceland, and to absorb some of the local music scene. Then it's New Orleans for a few days and a night or two on Bourbon St. to watch the festivities and some more of that Jazz that has captivated me for the last 50 years. It`s going to be fun to watch Bernie as the shenanigans develop on a Sat. night in the French quarter.  Then we`ll slowly meander around the Gulf to arrive in S. Texas by middle Nov.  From there?????????????

I hope you're having a great summer wherever you are and please leave us a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

The Birds Are Singing, Spring Is In The Air

 I guess you can tell from the pictures I like the birds

You just gotta love spring.  We have our feeders up and American Finch are everywhere, along with the odd "fat little Sparrow," as seen in the bottom picture.  He's just to the right of and below the feeder.

The last few days have been warm and dry and you can finally feel "Spring in the air."  It's so nice to go outside in a Tshirt and shorts.  The neighbours are big golfers and are finally getting the sun burns they pay for each year.  Are you there D & D?  All but one of the "Arrowhead RV Park" regulars are back and we had our first Happy Hour" yesterday.  Life is returning to summer normal for everyone.

A couple of hours West people are still in a huge fight with the flood.  All of these things are controversial and this one is no exception.  Everyone coulda or shoulda done something different but didn't.  The people hurting the most are the farm families, many of whom are loosing an entire growing season.  Not a nice situation to be in when the government decided to flood your land to protect others.

Bernie has been able to get back on her regular schedule at the gym.  As I mentioned before I love the result and she has my support 24/7/365 to get down there.  She enjoys the program and over the last five + years has developed a circle of friends there that help keep it enjoyable.

From the picture below you'll see I've set myself up with a new summer gig.  The plan is to keep busy and to keep me from driving Bernie around the bend.  Everything is in place and the prospecting and advertising are underway.  The hardest part is always getting the phone to ring those first few times.  I've done it before and this time is no different, just a matter of plugging away at it.  As the saying goes, slow and steady, although I think "Steady" is more appropriate.  Slow doesn't work too well for me.

We took our truck in to have some new brackets made to hold the car ramps.  Lifting them on and off of the deck became a pain so we figured out a way to hang them from the frame just behind the rear axles on the truck.  A fellow just down the street, who has a welding shop in Ile des Chenes, offered to build them for me and of course I said yes.  I'm old but not dumb, (at least that's my opinion.)

Have a great weekend coming up doing some child care for a granddaughter.  At almost 14 there isn't much to do except enjoy her company.

That's it for today, stay well, and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal

Cold and Wet in Manitoba

Greetings from flooded and cold Manitoba.

We got back to Arrowhead (RV Park) last week and are getting settled in for the summer.  The problem is - no summer.  The nighttime temperatures are running in the 2 or 3 degree range (low 30's F) and in the daytime we get to  7 or 8 (mid 40's F). 

We're not close to it but the Province is pretty well consumed by the flood fight.  We drove through some of it but the worst is West of here where they are fighting a flood unlike anything we've had in the last 300 years.  It's ugly and getting worse.  They're to a point now where they are having to break a dike, which will flood a couple of hundred homes and thousands of acres of farmland, in order to prevent an uncontrolled breach of another dike, that would flood 800 to 900 homes and tens of thousands of acres of farmland.  Tough decisions but they have to make them.



The highway is acting as a dike



Right up to the bottom of the bridge



As far as you can see, just water

  The trip North from Salina to Winnipeg was VERY enventful.  We had an electrical problem in Oklahoma City that delayed us by a day.  They diagnosed the problem and told us we needed to replace 2 of the 4 batteries on the truck.  We weren't happy but did what we had to do and the next day we were off.  Things were good the next day and remained good until we fired up to leave Salina KS.  The truck was dead, wouldn't even turn over.  There was a Freightliner dealer a couple of miles away so I called and he recommended a mobile service guy from another company to fix it up.  Well -- $375 later he had replaced a starter solenoid and repaired a faulty ground.  We were on our way - ahhhhh - life is good  - NOT.  We did ok for another day or so but now it was time to cross the Canadian Border.  This story needs a new paragraph

We get to the border, wait our turn, pull under the canopy where the Customs Official gives me the kill it (shut it down) signal.  I shut it down and we answered all of the questions  He very kindly gave us the go ahead, I hit the starter,  -- NOTHING.  Absolutely dead, we're stalled right under the Canada Customs canopy.  Let me tell you - this is embarrassing.  The Canada Customs people were great, they directed me to a telephone and a couple of them even came out to chat with us. 

At this time I would like to recommend CAA where we have an RV Plus membership.  They sent out a heavy duty truck from Winkler MB to get us going.  They tried and tried but finally, about 5 hours later, gave up.  They hooked us up and very slowly towed us to Steinbach MB.  In Steinbach, our always helpful (Darcy from Integrity Diesel Ventures) diesel shop gave us a place to park for the night.

Darcy had his man Alex on it in the AM and 15 minutes later told me what the problem had been all along.  It was simply a bad ground connection from the battery box, that had been improperly repaired in Salina.  They also found that a connection between two of the batteries was faulty.  These two things combined to give us the problems.  If the battery guy in Oklahoma City had caught the faulty connection we would have eliminated one problem and if the mobile technician in Salina had fixed the ground properly we wouldn't have had the issue at the border.

So you can see why I called the trip EVENTFUL, it was certainly one we'll remember

All in all it could have been worse and in hindsight it will be another memory.  You don't forget being stalled under the Canada Customs canopy for hours on end.

So that's about it for now, more later.

I noticed from the reports this blog gives me that people from all over the world are stopping by from time to time.  Europe, S. America, USA, Russia, Spain, far East, and more, thank you all for stopping by and please do come back often.

Stay warm and healthy and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Heaven For An Old Farm Kid

Good afternoon,

We're staying in Salina Kansas with a little truck problem that kept us here a day longer than we planned.  So with a good part of an afternoon on my hands a visit to the museum across the road was a no brainer.

It's called the Central Kansas Flywheels Museum and was it ever worth the trip.  You can visit their webpage at http://yesteryearmuseum.com/default.aspx

Bernie and I wandered around the outside exhibits yesterday but today I got to spend some time inside.  For anyone with an agricultural heritage it's an unbelievable exhibit.  To a "City Kid" it's a bunch of old iron and steel that should be melted down for some new I Pods or computer cases.

The highlight of their exhibit is an old old old Reeves steam tractor that dates to the early 1900's and still runs.  They have a show here in the fall where they fire up the Reeves along with other old equipment and actually thrash grain with it.  The pictures don't do it justice but to give you an idea of scale I have to reach as hard as I can to touch the top of the drive wheels.  My grandfather had one of these and although I can't confirm the make, I know it was the same size.  After he homesteaded his land he bought one of these and used it to "break" (the original plowing of the land) his land and the land of many of his neighbours at Birsay Sakatchewan.

The displays cover everything from the old steam tractors, to old switchboards some of us remember in the 40's or 50's.  There are old trucks, a bit of old construction equipment, a fabulous selection of old wash machines, old printing presses, ribbon typewriters that have to date to the 1930's, and it goes on and on.  I'm going to post a few pictures here just for fun.  If you're one of the aforementioned "City Kids" forgive me. 

And finally, two pictures to challenge our grandchildren.



Did you recognize them?  I did, in fact I can remember strapping them on.

For the construction guys that may be here, that "Yellow Iron" is a fully restored Model 22 Cat.  Boy I wanted to fire that baby up - real bad.

You can tell I really enjoyed my visit here, and I hope that one day you may stop in on your way through Salina Kansas.

Tomorrow we head N. again and into Winnipeg in a couple of days.  This trip has been just a great experience, we visited friends, saw some great things, had some fun, got the ________ scared out of us with the tornado, had a bit of truck trouble, but nothing we couldn't handle, met some really neat new people, but most of all we just enjoyed being together.  We are so blessed and so happy to be living our dream.

Thanks for stopping by, stay well, stay HAPPY, and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

General Robert E. Lee, Gruene TX, and a tornado

First of all it’s Easter Sunday – Happy Easter Everyone.

Things have been interesting since our last post and you’re likely wondering what General Robert E. Lee, Gruene TX, and a tornado could possibly have in common.

Well, it goes like this.

We took a day trip to Rio Grande City last Monday for lunch in a great old hotel place we know out there. It has a rather chequered history dating back to the early 1900’s but its fun to visit and the food is great. While we were in Rio Grande City we went to an ex military base and found the home that General Lee used to live in. Unfortunately, due to a renovation we couldn’t get inside. It was nice to stand beside it though. Sort of a way to touch history and of course I took pictures. So here it is folks, the long awaited picture of General Lee’s personal residence.

Then last Wed. we packed it up and left the Rio Grande Valley. It’s hard to leave the valley every year because of friends and how much we love it there. This year we left much later than usual and although it wasn’t nice to say goodbye to our friends it was very nice to get out of the heat. Things are so hot and dry there it really is hard to handle.

The first stop was just N. of San Antonio at New Braunfels where we found the Hill Country RV Resort. It was a very nice clean spot so we hung our hats there for a few days while we explored the area and that’s where Gruene Texas comes into this.

Just a few miles North of San Antonio you’ll find Gruene TX which has history dating back to the late 1800’s. We had a great lunch at a wonderful place called the Gristmill which is actually an old cotton plant. Great food, in a unique dining environment. From there we went to explore the Gruene Dance Hall which was a real treat. It dates back to the 30’s and has been playing and dancing every since. Hank Williams used to play there before he made it big and so did George Strait. It was fun to explore the place. When you get there pictures of Gerry Lee Lewis, John Travolta, and dozens of others who have played or danced there are hanging everywhere. Standing at the same bar, where all of these legends once stood, was kind of neat. Bernie and I were trying to figure out how many beverages have been served at that old bar in the last 80 or 90 years. Considering it holds 800 people we figured it was quite a few.

We walked all over town and found some really unique shops and a great antiques store. A very fun day but the heat took a toll and we headed back to the RV.

Here are a couple of pictures of the dance hall.

Like all good things it had to end and we got back on the road where the above mentioned tornado comes into play. Our plan was an easy ride to Denton north of Fort Worth for a night in a campground we found. After an uneventful trip to Denton things changed kind of fast.

We couldn’t fit into the park at Denton so we decided to go on the Gainsville TX which is only a few miles down the freeway and no problem. We found a nice place to set up and were ready to kick back when all hell broke loose. The weather clouded in and for an hour we stood outside watching a funnel cloud forming overhead. If you’ve ever experienced it you know what I’m talking about. We got ready to move fast if we had to and waited. The hail, fortunately small, was pounding down the lightning was nonstop and this ominous cloud, rotating in a circular motion to the right, hung about a mile West of us drifting our way. We didn’t have TV but the radio said “ALL CAMPERS PACK UP AND MOVE – NOW.” All the while the town tornado sirens were blaring which really isn’t very calming. The storms were moving to the N.E. The radio told us the first twister had touched down just a few miles S.W. of us and that more and worse storms were coming. When we found out the TV show “Storm Chasers” were parked a couple of miles S. of – that was enough, we hit the road. The folks parked beside us went S. to see if they could get in behind the storm line but we decided to go N. to see if we could outrun it. I had absolutely no intention of driving through that line of storms unless I had to.

We did manage to get N. of it but we drove all the way to Oklahoma City to do so. The drive was an experience, with pouring rain, heavy wind, a bit of hail, dark black cloud and lightning that never ended. We certainly didn’t set any speed records but we made it safely to Oklahoma City where we’re going to ride out the rest of this mess. The storms are pretty bad but there are no tornados to deal with. It’s 1pm but it looks like it’s 9pm, the clouds are extremely dark and heavy.

So now you know what General Lee, Gruene TX, and a tornado have in common. Aren’t you glad you stopped in? :-)

More, hopefully from someplace dry, when we can.

Thanks for coming by, stay well, stay safe, and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

San Antonio and North

Greetings from New Braunfels Texas, just North of San Antonio.

After a rather HOT but nice trip from Pharr we arrived in New Braunfels on Wed. for a couple of days of exploring.  It sure was nice to be back behind the wheel of my truck. I parked her in Pharr more than 5 months ago and other than a couple of warm up laps around S. Texas she's seen no action.  "My Way" performed like a champ without a hiccup.  Love those 475 horses kicking in when we come to the hills.

We have been to San Antonio and New Braunfels before but we wanted to come back to have lunch on the famous San Antonio River Walk, http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/ and then spend a day visiting a couple of the wineries we have heard so much about.

Yesterday we were able to spend a couple of hours on the River Walk and exploring downtown San Antonio.  It was all good and of course it was complete after we got hit on for a time share presentation.  We've become pretty good at telling them NO without being rude.  The Alamo, the River Walk, the Missions, are all worth the trip.  If you haven't seen San Antonio as a tourist try to get it on your bucket list.  It's worth the trip.

We found a really nice RV Park here called Hill Country RV Resort.  http://www.hillcountryrvresortnb.com/  Nice clean, safe and freindly place, close to everything.  As a Canadian I appreciated their exit sign.  The owner saw me taking this picture and asked if something was wrong.  She didn't understand why I would bother with a y'all sign.  An American reading this won't understand either but Canadian readers might.

Today we're going to explore a historic town called Gruene, pronounced Green down here.  Apparently it has some interesting history going way way back.  It claims to have the "Oldest" dance hall in Texas dating back to Hank Williams days.  They say he used to play there, and you'll remember he was country "When Country Wasn't Cool."  Splitting the day between Gruene and the wineries should mean we come home exhausted with a smile on our faces.

More later, thanks for stopping by, stay well, be happy, and please do leave a comment when you can.  We love to hear from you

Neal & Bernie

Warmed Up

We're back In Texas with our friends at Tropic Star and enjoying the warmth.

The heat is wonderful, supposed to be just under a hundred F. today and it might get into triple digits on Sunday.  We plan to go to the pool and tough it out.

It's so nice to be back, spending time with friends here and tonight we're off to a dance.  Other than a couple of very awkward dance lessons last fall we haven't really danced for about a year.  Trying to remember all of those moves should be a hoot.  I tend to just go for it and Bernie tends to be a little more concerned with doing it right.  Let's hope she doesn't murder me about half way through the night.  It's going to be fun.

Planning to get back to S. Padre early next week to eat that shrimp I love so much.  Next week we have to get a bit of work done to the truck for the home trip and find a way to wash the RV.  It's hard to do in this heat.

More later, thanks for stopping by, stay well, stay happy, and please leave a comment when you can.

Back To Texas

Just a few more days and we're headed back to Texas and 85 degrees...........

The tests are done, the results are in, and everyone has agreed there was no stroke.  It has been diagnosed, re diagnosed, tested, and retested, but I have it in writing and we're good to go.

The only hold out now seems to be the insurance company.  They have told me, and I quote "they won't pay the claim until they can be certain I was truthful in the way I answered the questions."  She is referring to the way we answered the questions when we applied for our insurance.  A friend recently said, "it's hard to handle someone challenging your integrity," and they are soooooo right.  If they refuse to pay the bill we have to, which would really hurt.  So we still have this hurdle to clear but my health issue was the main priority and it's behind us now.

So we're busy planning our trip back to Texas in early April so we can get our RV and get back on the road.  Some of our friends live there year round and some others are still there so we plan to spend a couple of weeks before heading back North.  Some of the return trip will be dependant on the floods up here and it looks like it might be pretty bad.

So - very soon now - I'll be able to get back to posting things on here as it was intended.  I never dreamt I would have to devote three months to discussing a health issue.  It was to be about fun, sights, sounds, and the things we saw and did.  If you believe as we do that "everything happens for a reason" we have to accept that this was all preordained by a higher power (no not an insurance company) and meant to be.  I'm just glad it's over and now we can get back to regularly scheduled programing.

Have fun, stay warm, stay well, thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment when you can.

Could The Diagnosis Be Wrong?

The TIA that wasn't, now that's a relief.

Fact - did you know that fully 30% of the stroke diagnosis made at Dr. offices and emergency rooms aren't really strokes.  That certainly surprised us last week.

When we visited the Heart and Stroke Clinic last Friday is was a real eye opener.  They asked what seemed like a few hundred questions and reviewed all of the test results they had obtained from the hospital and my Dr.  They are going to do one more test to be absolutely certain but they have already sent a letter to my Dr. saying that, subject to confirmation by this last test, I didn't have a stroke.

So what happened?  I had a migraine attack, in other words a severe migraine with no pain.  The telltale sign was the length of time this went on for.  Apparently, according to the clinic, a TIA is fast and usually accompanied by sharp pain.  Mine lasted for hours and hours and did not involve any pain.  They have a whole bunch of other determining factors but those two were the tip off.  A web search of TIA + Migraine yields a lot of data.  As you can likely imagine I have spent a lot of time doing that search since last Friday and I'm getting more comfortable with the new diagnosis every day.  Apparently migraines, which are pretty common in my family, can do this.

Emergency rooms, especially American ones, have to diagnose and treat on a "worst case" scenario for liability reasons.  Canadian ones don't have the same type of liability issues but they to must treat based on a "worst case" basis.  That's what happened in this case.  To their credit they gave me excellent care and did the job exactly the way it should have been done.  It's no ones fault it's gone this way, but we're more than a little happy it has.

Bernie and I have taken to calling it the "$35,000 Painless Headache."  One could say the $35000 pain in the _____ but we won't go there.

So what now?  Well the diagnosis is on file and all insurance companies will have access to that from now on which makes medical insurance a bit tough to get.  On the other side, once I have this last test finished, the Heart and stroke Clinic will give me a document saying that I had a migraine event, not a stroke.  That will certainly help.  If I can get coverage that excludes migraine events we'll be OK.  If it were to happen again, with no insurance, I know now what it could cost us.  If I can't get that and we're forced to go with no coverage for cardiovascular events, we're toast.  There is no way, at this age one, could leave Canada without coverage for cardiovascular/stroke events.

We took a trip to Steinbach Man. yesterday.  As some of you may know Steinbach is home to some huge trucking companies and I figured that all those commercial drivers needed to have travel insurance.  It was a correct assumption and we got some really good help.  Once again thanks to Darcy from Integrity Ventures (diesel repair.)

As it stands now I need to get this last test and then we can move forward.  They told me it could take a month to six weeks to get it done.  I have an appointment with my Dr next week at which time we're going to see if we can speed it up a bit,

All in all - another blessing.  If a person was so inclined you could look at this as a headache that screwed up a winter.  We don't, we believe we're back here for a reason and everything is working out as it should be.  We're spending time with friends and family and this is just another part of our "Excellent Adventure."  We'll be back on the road soon and someplace out there we'll have a toast to the "$35,000 Painless Headache," after all it made the winter of 10/11 much more memorable.

Stay well, stay warm, be happy, and please leave us a note when you can.

Next Hurdle Cleared

One of our big concerns has been "Will My Drivers Licence Be Affected?"  Visits with my doctors and the local licensing people has confirmed that I do not have any problems with my drivers licence.  This is a huge relief for us.  We had a fall back position figured out in case it had gone the other way.  It was going to be expensive and we didn't want to do it unless we had to.  WE DON'T.

Our next step is to get cleared by the Heart and Stroke Clinic, Feb 11th, and then we can try to find travel insurance.  Hopefully we'll get it together in time to have at least a few more days days in Texas this spring.

I'm pretty well glued tight to the TV right now watching the situation develop in Egypt.  It's exciting to watch history unfold in front of our eyes.  At the same time it's not as much fun watching that turbulence drive the price of diesel fuel into the stratosphere.  We may have to do a fund raiser to fuel our truck....it holds 240 gallons (900 liters) of fuel.  At this rate, in Canada, we're close to $1000 to fill er up.

So we're hunkered down in Winnipeg riding out a cold cold winter.  For our friends in S. Texas, it was -45 here this morning.  I know you have a bit of cold coming but I'd trade you for this any time you want.  Our friends condo is treating us really well and are so happy to have it.

We just had a great weekend looking after two of our Grandchildren.  Huge fun and HUGE tired.  At our age the kids certainly have more energy than we do and Bernie was fighting with a bad cold all weekend..  We enjoyed every minute of it and, of course, can't wait for next time.  This grandparent stuff is fun, you know, "spoil the ______ out of them and leave."  Mom and Dad can clean up the mess  :-)

I really don't want to bore you with all the wonderful things we're seeing and doing outdoors right now, so I'll say adios amigos.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

When Life Throws You A Lemon - Make Lemonade

Or - in our case make a "Snowman."

On New Years Eve we caught a lemon in the form of a TIA (mini stroke) that put me in the hospital for a couple of days in McAllen TX.  Three days later the insurance company called to exercise their "prior conditions" clause and told me I had no insurance if another one was to happen.  They offered to fly us home as long as we got out of the US within 48 hrs.  Apparently once you have one of these you can be susceptible to a second one, in the first month or two, and we couldn't take that chance.  So it was a hectic couple of days but thanks to huge support from our friends at Tropic Star we got out in just over 48 hrs.

The help we were got down there was amazing.  From the moment we got home from the hospital, even in the hospital, there was a steady stream of people coming by with offers of help.  We even had three couples offer us the use of their homes, one of which we ended up in.  A nearly new, very clean, well decorated condo here in Winnipeg, with a heated underground parking stall.  Bernie and I were overwhelmed by the support we were offered and given.  Do you remember the old saying "you find out who your friends are when the chips are down."  We knew we liked Tropic Star and especially the people there but we had no idea how many friends we have in the park.  To any of you that may read this "Thank You, we'll see you back there ASAP."

So now - making lemonade. 

We were so blessed in this for many reasons.  1) Friends, 2) It wasn't a major stroke, 3) There was no long term damage, 4) It could have been fatal, 5) The support we got, 6) We had family to come home to, 7) We're in a nice warm condo, and I could go on and on.  So Bernie and I do feel we were blessed.  I got a wake up call with no ongoing effects and it just doesn't get any better than that.

My GP here is a super lady who has taken the lead on it.  She has me into The Heart and Stroke Clinic in a couple of weeks, she's done all the tests, and now she gets to sort through the data collected.  We meet with her next week to get the results.  Of course this pinched nerve that has caused me all kinds of trouble still has to be dealt with.  Our ex neighbour is a physiotherapist who has worked miracles on it already.  He has achieved more in two visits that we could have ever hoped for.  He`ll have me back on the dance floor in no time.  His name is Charles - another blessing.

Of course we have been able to spend some time with our kids and grandchildren  -  another blessing.

As you can imagine we didn't envision this as part of our ``Full Time RV Adventure.``  A friend of mine always says "Just Another Bump In Life's Road."  That's how Bernie and I are feeling about this.  We'll get our RV back in about three months and we'll be on our way once again.  Not a wall, just a bump.

Sorry I can't post pictures of all the warm and exciting things we're seeing.  I will post some winter shots when I can -- but at -35 and colder, I am NOT going outside to take them.

Stay well, stay warm, be happy, and please leave a comment when you can.

Goodbye 2010, Here's To 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010 has moved off into the sunset as the sun rises on 2011.  Many many folks are glad to see that one fade off into history.  For us we're sort of sad to see it go because 2010 was "The Year" we started on our "Excellent Adventure."  It had it's hurdles but we are truly blessed to be able to do this.

Posts to our blog have been a little scarce for the last couple of months because we haven't been on the road.  We're enjoying S. Texas and the warmth of it's climate and people.  Bernie actually had a person (another customer in a cashier line up) thank her for coming to spend our winter in the valley.

We're pretty sure there are fewer people down here this winter and the merchants are feeling it.  The Christmas madhouse was the same as every other year.  Getting to a mall is impossible from mid December to Christmas because the Mexican rush is just overwhelming.  We were listening to a Mexican businessman doing a presentation last week here in our park.  He owns businesses on both sides of the border but lives in Mexico.  He told us that the La Plaza Mall, about 10 minutes from us, is the highest grossing (per sq ft) mall in N. America.  I wasn't sure I bought that but I can tell you from experience it's not Texans or Snowbirds that make it that busy.  The place is just packed solid with Mexican plates and some places do not have any English speaking staff.  The airport is next door so the private planes come and go by the dozen and they certainly aren't coming from this side of the border.  Singles, twins, business jets, all lined up and gone shopping at the mall.  It's actually quite amazing.  Simply stepping into some of those shops causes our Visa Card to go into cardiac arrest.  Yet as as you walk the mall you'll see ladies with bags and bags of stuff from those stores.  Mexico may be a third world country, and they do have their problems, but we certainly see the other side of that coin in December every year.  Some say it's all drug money, who knows, I just know there lots of it.

Friends Ken and Doreen Broughton (each end of the table in the picture) invited us to their home for Christmas dinner.  There were 15 Canucks there and we had a wonderful time.  The guys did their normal guy stuff, while the ladies teared up for the kids we were all missing so very much.  After eating way tooooo much we had some fun at the card table and went home to figure out how to loose these extra Christmas pounds.

New Years Eve was supposed to be spent at the park clubhouse with a top notch country & western band.  Unfortunatley I was under the weather and we had to miss it.

In my last post I mentioned a pinched nerve that was causing me some trouble and it still is.   Things are improving and hopefully we'll get to do a little dancing before we hit the road on March 1st.  Bernie is doing a great job of looking after me (read as - putting up with me) and although I'm going stir crazy we're doing ok.

January looks like a pretty busy month.  We have so much to do and so many people to see that there just doesn't seem to be enought time.  This happens every year.  We were with some friends, in Mexico, yesterday and he said to me " you leave in just two months."  It seems amazing but our winter is already half over and we've got sooooo much left to do.  This retirement thing is just too much work  :-)  :-)  :-)

We're working on our route for the Texas to BC trip now.  I can't figure our how to do all the things we want so we're modifying the plan to do a bit less and enjoy the ride.  It's a work in progress but at this time it looks like a couple of days around the Big Bend National Park here in Texas http://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=slv8-hptb6&va=big+bend+national+park

Then we'll move on to Roswell area of New Mexico.  This is a serious "must do" for me as a UFO lovin kind of guy.  I rode the UFO highway a few years ago on a motorcycle trip but I want to go back and stay awhile.  You know - once again walk the sacred ground of the UFO World Headquarters, the only place on earth they have done autopsies on real life (dead) aliens.  Bernie and the kids all think I've completely lost my marbles, and now you do to, but I run with it and have fun bringing UFO's up at every possible opportunity.  :-)   http://www.roswellufofestival.com/

From there over to Arizona for a few days, then Nevada for a week around Vegas, Hoover Dam, Death Valley, and they a nice long slow ride to Vancouver, Calgary, and back to Winnipeg by ???????????  I just found out the Heavy Duty Truck/RV Rally is in Nebraska on Oct. 16th and Bernie really wants to be there.  http://hdtrally.com/  Now -- if you believe Bernie wants to be at a HD Truck Rally, I have a great piece of land down in Florida you might want to consider.  There just isn't enough time and since we don't want to overstay our welcome in the US of A we have to do some more planning.

Speaking of time, I think I need to close this one, Bernie is headed for the gym and I have work to do.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

South Texas, Great Month

We're now at three weeks in the Rio Grande Valley and it couldn't be better.  Of course the weather is the best part with daytime temperatures reaching into the high 80's, even low 90's, and nights down in the 60's or high 50's.  How could we ask for more, there hasn't been a drop of rain since we got here, and Amber, no SNOW either.

Most of our friends are here now in fact some are already leaving.  Many of our American friends leave to go home for Thanksgiving, next weekend, and stay there for Christmas.  So this week the Winter Texan crowd thins a bit until after next weekend and then there is a big influx.  After Christmas and New Years everyone arrives in force.  All 1.3 million of us are here for a couple of months and then it thins out again until the end of March when it's pretty well done for another year.  The locals like that time best, they get their valley back, the lineups are gone, the prices come back down and life is good again.

We're having fun with the birds this year.  I bought a cheap bag of bird seed and hung a feeder out back, along with a clear plastic plant pot holder (water catcher) that I filled with a few small rocks and fresh water.  We have birds like crazy and they seem to love to bathe in the plastic pot holder.  Ever seen a woodpecker take a bath?  We hadn't either but he did a couple of days ago.  I think it's the same one I wanted to execute a couple of winters back when he was eating our house.  He survived that winter and paid us back this winter by taking a bath in our little bird bath.  Of course we get sparrows grabbing a free meal but they have to eat to.  There are some pretty neat birds showing up that we don't see at home and I certainly can't name.  Bernie and I were walking a week or so ago and came across a flock of wild parrots.  We have been told they're here from time to time but that was our first sighting.

The picture is from S. Padre Island.  Kind of a nice beach.

A pinched nerve in my back and the consequnces of it are keeping me off of the dance floor and even walking is a chore.  Bernie is having to go at that all alone.  I think it's improving but it is turning into quite an ordeal.

Monday we'll be taking our first trip into Mexico.  There only seems to be one safe place anymore, which happens to be Progresso, our favourite anyway.  We're going down, with Bob and Lynn, for our favourite lunch at The Red Snapper and doing a couple of touristy things.  Things are pretty ugly along the border these days so we'll be sticking to the busy streets and main street shops.  I don't think there is a day goes by that the local paper doesn't have a story about Mexican violence.  We had a guy from U.S. Boarder patrol at our meeting on Thursday morning.  He went to great lengths to explain to us the W5 of this whole mess.  He certainly didn't have the answers.  Since we're only 5 miles form the border and an International Bridge/crossing point it is on everyone's mind quite a bit.  Since it's all drug and drug cartel related it doesn't have much effect on anyone local.  It just keeps us from enjoying Mexico the way we should be able to.

We have to go early tomorrow so we can get back in time for "Dancing with the Stars."  I give in, and force myself, to watch it with Bernie every week.  I just detest :-) having to watch those female dancers and their terrible costumes, but you know how it is, "Happy Wife, Happy Life."  Speaking of this, how about that Bristol Palin?  Can that girl dance or what......   :-)    Do you think politics might be involved here ????????????  I love it.  Since I plan to spend about 7 hours watching two CFL games tomorrow I can hardly complain.

We had our truck into Freightliner last week to run a couple of test.  It looks like we need a new throttle position sensor which I'll install myself.  I have no idea what a throttle position sensor is or where it sits in the truck, but Darcy our from Integrity Diesel in Steinbach is once again coaching me through the process.  I'd be sooooo lost without him.  I'll post the results here, you'll be the first to know.

I broke the signal light lever on the Smart car a week ago tonight.  Mercedes Benz has offered to tow it to San Antonio ($600+) so we can have a new one installed.  The problem is the nearest new one is in Germany (so they say) and can't be here until Dec. 28th or later.  Interesting........tow the car, sit on it for 6 weeks, hope the part comes in, leave the customer hung out to dry.  Great service, great warranty, just no parts.  Seems to me that if they really gave a _______ about their customer that part would have been on an a plane to Texas a few days ago.  In the interim we're strengthening our left arm and it works out OK.   

We're off to the McAllen Concert Hall tonight to watch a brass and strings band from Dallas.  They come highly recommended so it should be fun.

Thanks for stopping by and do leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Settled in for the winter

http://picasaweb.google.com/fisherneal1/Winter20102011PharrTX#

Greetings from Pharr, TX., where we HAVE to run the air conditioner every day :-)

We've been here a week now and have things pretty well organized.  It took a few days to wash the trailer, car, and truck, to refill the fridge, and rest up a bit.  Now it's time to get down to the serious business of happy hours, dinners with friends, exercising,  going to the pool, stained glass class, gym, shopping, (Bernie's all alone on that one) going to the ocean, and on and on.  We're already back to trying to figure out how to fit it all into our schedule.

I have inserted a link (above) that will take you to some pictures if you're interested.  The picture I inserted here is to show where we set up our 5r for the winter.  We picked out this lot last fall and planned to be here if the 5r would fit and it did.  That tree to the left is an orange tree that provides me a with a nice fresh, sweet, orange for my breakfast every day.  I only pick them in the AM so they can fresh and cool for breakfast.  Sucks to be us...... :-)

We have had a great week although the  first few days were all catch up.  You wouldn't believe the road grime we had to take off of the 5r from two weeks on the road.  We didn't have any rain at all on the way down but we sure did have tons of road grime to wash off.  We got the fridge stocked, the flowers planted, the grass seeded, the stretch mat down, the bird feeder up, the bird bath down, and now we get to start all of the fun things.

Today we start our dance classes once again.  Friends/dance teachers Bob and Lynn (picture in the link above) are ready to take us on for the fourth straight year so we're good to go.  We haven't danced a step in 7 months so it will take a couple of lessons to get our legs back.  Bernie has been going to the gym, we've been walking, I have my bicycle all tuned up, so we plan to leave here in better shape than we are now.

Last Sunday Bob and Lynn took us to the "Shrimp Festival" in Brownsville/Port Isabelle.  It's quite an experience.  Imagine a huge area fenced in by a few dozen booths and inside each booth some restaurant or company is trying to get you to try their "Best Shrimp Dish."  In the center is a huge tent, holding a few hundred people, with a really good band blasting music from the 50's, 60's, 70's (they know the target market down here), the beverages are very cold, the sun is very hot, and nobody even mentions the swear word "calories."  Following way too many samples we went to a local eatery for some of the best shrimp Bernie and I have ever found.  This place uses some kind of spice in the batter of their butterfly shrimp that makes me drool, I could go back every day.  Fortunatelyy it's an hour away and we only go twice each winter.  Of course we have to follow it up with Italian Ice Cream from the shop on S. Padre Island.

From the restaurant we drove to S. Padre Island, for the previously mentioned ice cream.  There was a kite competition going on with every imaginable kind of kite in the air.  The wind here makes it a great spot for the sport.  Friends of Bob and Lynn just won a "World Championship" for precision flying.  They, along with three others, compete with small kites and fly them (8 of them) in precision maneuvers.  Teams come from Canada, Australia, and Europe to compete.  There are kites as big as cars, (see picture of fish kite in the link) kites of all shapes (see dog and bone in the link) and hundreds more.  It's an experience.

So that's about it for today.  I have to go and pick that fresh orange for breakfast, put on a pot of coffee, and wake my bride.  She likes to wake up to the smell of fresh coffee and I like to make it for her.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by, and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal

Black Hills SD, Oklahoma City OK, Pharr TX

Greetings from Texas, we made it.........  Almost exactly two weeks on the road and we're suffering with 90+ degree Texas heat.  Oh well, we'll just have to tough it out.

It's nice to be settled down for a few months after a really amazing trip.  As I mentioned before we really enjoyed SD's Badlands and the Black Hills were beautiful.  We only stayed in the area for five days but we'll certainly be back and hopefully for a couple of weeks.  We had no idea what was there and were just awe struck with what we found.  I'd bet next weeks food budget we'll be slowly riding The Needles Highway on next summer's motorcycle tour.  If you've been there you know what I mean, if you haven't seen it get going.

We left SD for Oklahoma City for a few days of sight seeing and visiting with our friends Jim and Lois McDowell.  They treated us like royalty and we had a great time.  Thank you both so much.

We spent almost an entire afternoon at The Cowboy Museum.  We went there expecting to see lots of hats, boots, and shiney buckles.  NOT.  It would be easy to spend a couple of days in the museum, and it could be a very educational experience.  The history one can see and learn there is unbelievable.  I really enjoyed looking at the clothing, and weapons used by the US Army/Calvary dating back to the early 1800's.  They have all kinds of original eqipment, no reproductions, saddles, rifles, clothing, and on and on.  From there it moves forward through history right up to the current rodeo stars.

There is one entire section dedicated to movie equipment and the stars that used wore it.  As an example, I really enjoyed the movie "Quigley Down Under" and now Tom Selleck has donated a huge amount of the gear he used shooting the movie to the museum.  Yes - I did get to see a pair of Roy Rogers cowboy boots :-).
 
There is a ton of Native American history in there as well.  Bernie and I were blown away when we looked at a giant map of N. America that showed the dozens and dozens of different tribes that inhabited our entire continent and the general areas they lived on. 

There's a bunch of information on the buffalo herds and how they were hunted to the verge of etinction.  One comment that stuck in my head was an interview a Eastern newspaper did with a buffalo hunter who claimed to have shot 18000 (yes) buffalo by himself that week.  Just that one hunter.  The whole thing is mind blowing when taken in todays context.

Jim and Lois took us the the Oklahoma Memorial which is another amazing experience.  You stand there, on the very spot where 168 people died, in a split second, 15 years ago, and try to comprehend the magnitude of the event.  The memorial itself is an almost difficult experience.  It's beautiful, it's humbling, it's overwhelming, you can't help being touched when you see it.  For those that haven't seen it; they have set it up with brass and glass illuminated chairs, one chair for each victim.  To see 168 chairs lined up by the floor of the building they were on that terrible morning is tough enough, then you realize that the wee little chairs are for the children that died that day.  Will we go back? No, it's a tough one.  Are we glad we saw it? Yes.

So here we are at Tropic Star in Pharr for the fourth winter.  We were able to get on a lot we had picked out last spring and it's really nice.  We have a couple of palm trees out front, an orange tree at the front door, and a couple of huge __?__ trees out back.  Some of our friends are here and more are arriving all the time so it should be a fun winter.  Our neighbour to the back has been coming here for 33 years, is 86 years old, and just as spry as can be.  I was hanging a bird feeder tonight and he was out there telling me what kind of seed I should be using, before he invited us over for a drink.  Neat people.  The good news is I finally found someone that is more deaf than I am.  Ya, ya, ya, I know he's 86.

We talked to Bob and Lynn, our friends and dance instructors, tonight and it looks like we'll be "Dancing Wth The Stars" (in my dreams) in a few days.

Gotta go, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Bad Lands and Black Hills

Our first visit to the badlands and Black Hills of S. Dakota.  What a mistake we've made having all of this so close to our home and never visiting it until after we retired. 

Winnipeg and Canada faded off in the rear view mirror last Sat. and we've been doing the "Tourist Thing" for a few days now.  We started off with a couple of nights of no services camping in Fargo ND, and Pierrre SD, to see if we could manage fully self contained.  Everything went perfectly so we know now we can easily survive for 2 or 3 days without services.  It was much easier than either of us anticiated.

What could easily have been a one day drive in the car took us three and we're now set up just outside of Rapid City S. Dakota.  Over the next few days we're  going to see all of the things we came here to see, especially Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  We spent a few hours yesterday driving the Badlands and did the obligatory "Wall Drug" visit.  The Badlands are pretty neat.  Of course we've all seen pictures but they really are more impressive than the pictures can ever show.

We unloaded the car for the first time, on the road by ourselves, last night.  It was fun,  Some people from Alaska are parked next to us with their teenage son.  The father and son were all over it.  Some hunters parked down at the other end brought beverages and, to quote them, "came down for the entertainment."  People across the lane got out their chairs and a table and sat down to watch.  Happily everything worked flawlessly.

I read another "full timer's" blog and they use his 222 rule in their travels.  I'm starting to think I like it.  222 means 2 people, travel 2 hours, and stay 2 days.  :-)  I must be getting old or maybe it's lazy, either way I like it.  So we're here for at least 2 days before we head to Oklahoma City for Monday/Tues. next week.

We'll post a bunch of pictures on Picasa once we leave here but for now I thought you might enjoy "Bernie and the singing Gorilla" from Wall Drug.

Gotta go, thanks for keeping tabs on us and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Smart car goes on

Yesterday was the big day, we did our first "test" load of "Little Squirt" on the back of "My Way."

Yes we have named the Freightliner "My Way." Seems a few people think I have a stubborn streak in me and "My Way" seemed appropriate. So it's a done deal. My sister in law, Norma, suggested Samu because the truck reminds her of a big white whale but "My Way" won out.

On our travels I'll be watching for one of those charcoal artists. When I find one I like we're going to have him/her do a charcoal sketch of a semi with smoke pouring off of oversize tires etc. I'll use that to make a big decal with "My way" incorpoated into it for the back of the sleeper. Just a bit of fun. Bernie thinks I've completely lost it. She's probably right.

For the first loading we winched the car up and it worked fine but it's a slow process. I decided to drive it off and then drove it back on again to see if that was a viable solution. Turns out that driving it on worked just fine although it is a bit nerve wracking. Once I work out a couple of bugs I think the normal course of action will be to use the winch.  The winch has to he mounted higher and further out for ongoing use.  Once we had it up there we realized the angles were too sharp (down,) because the winch was mounted low to the deck.  A minor hitch we plan to correct on Wed.

Darcy Brown, the owner of Integrity Venture (diesel) in Steinbach, MB, has put his heart into making this work, and making it something we would be proud of.  We Are.  He and his technician "Alex" have worked tirelessly to make it happen.  Darcy put Integrity into his business name to represent the style of work and business he wanted to own.  He's achieved it and I happily recommend them for any kind of diesel mechanic work you may need.

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada we're on hold until Tuesday morning. We have an appointment for some decals on Tuesday morning. Wed afternoon we're going back to the builders for a couple of touch ups, Thursday is a "wash em up" day, Friday is "pack em up," for a Sat departure to the Black Hills of South Dakota and South.

It's been seven months since Bernie and I decided to do this and we'll be on the road a week from today. If you're the praying type please think about us on Sat morning.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Little Squirt meets Big Brother

Don't they look happy... :-)

"Little Squirt" the Smart Car has arrived

It's Sunday morning and the temperature is -2 (C) which is about 28 for all of our American friends. I have a hot cup of tea and decided to announce the arrival of "Little Squirt," our little white Smart Car.

The picture shows her just before we took her outside for her maiden trip from Regina to Winnipeg. Standing beside her is Len Halgerson of Dilawri Acura in Regina. Len has just started his new career in automobile sales and based on the great job he did for us I suspect he will enjoy a ton of success.

I drove Little Squirt, back from Regina to Winnipeg in howling winds and pouring rain. She handles much better than anticipated. The transmission takes a bit of getting used to but overall I was very impressed. With her huge 1000cc (61 cubic inch), 70 HP, three cylinder engine, :-) I didn't expect much in terms of power or performance. It surprised me, and a few other people, on the highway as we drove home. Admittedly we won't be setting any land speed records but she is competent at highway speeds with far far better handling than a couple of other small cars I have owned. Bernie has had a few experiences with it now and she's getting the hang of it quickly.

We expect to have a ton of fun with Little Squirt. She will likely see more of N. America than the average Smart Car, but most of those miles will be while she rides around on her big brothers back. Speaking of which we need a name for her big brother and your suggestions would be appreciated. So far we're just calling it The Freightliner which really doesn't cut it.

We have another appointment Tuesday with our bed builder and expect to be able to load Squirt on the Freightliner around the end of this coming week.

With nighttime temperatures now hovering around the freezing mark we may be headed South sooner than we planned. It may be old age but whatever it is I just don't like this weather. If we had the truck finished we'd be "GONE."

We picked up Squirt on our way back from Vancouver to Winnipeg. We were gone for just over two weeks and had a great trip. The family time was awesome and there is nothing, anywhere, more impressive than the drive from Vancouver to Calgary. I've driven the road a few times starting in 1964 and although the road has improved, a lot, the Rockies are unchanged and majestic as ever. If you haven't made that drive yet make sure it gets on your "bucket" list. People come from around the world to drive the Canadian Rockies and "it's worth the trip."

That's all we have for now, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal

PS: Don't forget, and don't be shy, naming suggestions for Squirt's big brother would be appreciated.