MARSHA IS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER TODAY

Monday, November 5 – It's been a year since we were “HOME” in Livingston, TX. Rainbow's End Escapee's Park is the national headquarters for the Escapee RV Club and is our official mailing address. We have all our mail sent here, where it is sorted and forwarded to us upon request. We are very satisfied with our mail service here at Escapees.

Boy, is this place packed! Many are here to vote, or snowbirds on their way South, or arrivals for the Boot Camp seminar coming up later this week. Glad we are only going to be here one night. We want to vote, pick-up our mail, and get the 5^th wheel weighed. We should get that all taken care of by noon, and we'll be on our way to Houston.

Site #114 – pull through for overnight stays.

We are parked right across the street from the office.

Looking right.

Looking left.

We had a catastrophe today! When Marsha went in to set-up the 5^th wheel, she was greeted with dishes smashed all over the floor. Two cupboards flew open during our travel and dumped the contents on the floor. She felt so bad. Several of these dishes were her grandma's and others were wedding gifts we received when we got married. She said she traveled three years fulltime in the motor home and never had this happen.

In talking with one of the neighbors here in the campground, we learned we need to bungee those cupboard doors closed. Wish we had been told that earlier. So we ran out to Walmart to get the necessary supplies to secure the cabinet doors that have breakable dishes in them. Sort of like locking the barn doors after the cows got out..... :<((

Thanks to a suggestion from Donna and Karen, we tried Bella in her kitty carrier today. She still is an unhappy kitty while traveling. She rode for about an hour in it and then stuck her head right through the darn thing. The zipper is broken and of course Bella jumped right out. We purchased a new one at Walmart. Sure hope this one works.

A very unhappy kitty.

"Mom, why are you doing this to me?"

"Now this is much better. I knew I would get my way sooner or later."

Siesta time. How does she sleep like that?

One thing we both noticed today was the absence of any sway on the 5^th wheel/truck combination when large trucks wiz by on the road. We traveled on I-30 today. It was filled with trucks. Even with the motor home, we experience an occasional “hair raising moment” when trucks flew-by. We seem very stable driving the Ford 350 dually and towing the Cameo. Could it be a result of the DUALLY tires on the Ford? Hope it rides as well in windy conditions.

Get out there and vote!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

DAY 2 ON THE ROAD!

Sunday, November 4 – We again pulled out of our campsite at first light. We switch to Central Time Zone and dropped Daylight Savings Time yesterday so that was a two-hour time change for us. To say we were up early and ready to go is no surprise.

We are in a “sprint mode” having left our home base a month later than we intended and wanting to get to Houston to catch-up with our daughter. We normally try only to drive 3-5 hours per day or about 300 miles. Our first day on the road we covered about 400 miles.

Today we drove 475 miles in about nine hours.....way to long!  But we arrived in Benton, Arkansas with no problems and in pretty good moods – Paul didn't find anything to get all riled-up about... :<)

Our drive was uneventful. We noticed that the leaves haven't all changed colors and dropped off the trees, like up in Ohio.

The Ford F350 on board computer did let us know it was “Cleaning the Exhaust Filter” during our trip.

Paul had read about this and was expecting it. It has to do with the DFT and Ultra Low Sulfur diesel fuel required in today's diesel engines. Periodically, the engine runs at a higher temperature to burn the pollutants rather than exhaust them to the air. We didn't notice any change in the engine running but we imagine our MPG decreased slightly, but we don't even want to look at those figures.... :<(

We are at J.B.'s RV Park and Campground in Benton, AR. A very nice campground. The owners are wonderful, friendly people. The area is wooded, very long gravel sites, full-hookups for $23/night. A little over our target of $20.

Marsha is standing at the end of our Site #14. It is huge.

A little closer look.

From the back. The motor home next to us looks close, but it isn't.

Looking right.

Looking left.

After arriving and getting set-up (We're getting experienced at setting up...only took about 15 minutes.), Paul sanitized our water system. The 5^th wheel was winterized when we took delivery, and we didn't want to change that until we got to a warmer climate. We did run water through the system last night but didn't drink any of the water. We'll leave the bleach solution in the fresh water holding tank while traveling tomorrow to sanitize everything. Then we should be good to go!

Bella was a little fussy again this morning. She never meows. She's very quiet! But the last two mornings, she meows for about two hours until she tiers herself out, then she settles down and crashes (sleeps like a drunk kitty) for the remainder of the trip. Crazy!

By-the-way.....this time change is killing us. Here we are at 6:30 p.m. and it feels like bedtime. It gets dark before supper, and it's hard to stay awake till 10 p.m....but come 5 a.m. guess who's up and ready to roll....LOL

Tomorrow we will arrive in Livingston, TX – our “official” home. We want to get the 5^th wheel weighed, pick-up our mail, and on Tuesday we want to cast our ballots. So glad this election business will be over.

Stop back and check our progress. Everyone be SAFE out there!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

DAY ONE UNDER OUR BELTS

Saturday, November 3 – We pulled out of the driveway at first light this morning (7:30 am) heading South. This is our first experience towing a 5^th wheel trailer. We've towed utility trailers, travel trailers, and cars behind the motor home, but this is a new experience for us...EXCITING!

Getting out of our skinny driveway onto our skinny neighborhood street was our first challenge. A little “hairy,” but we pulled it off on the first try with no problems and headed down the road.

Our only mishap – or was it just the bone-headed driver – was when we pulled out of the pump area at Flying J. We must have turned too sharp because the emergency break-away cord pulled out and locked the trailer brakes. It was nice that the Ford instrument panel lit up, “wiring fault on trailer.”

After resetting the break-away plug, the instrument panel continued to warn of a wiring problem. After several attempts of unplugging the main plug and re-inserting it with no success (and surprisingly Paul swearing didn't help either), Paul finally shut the truck off, unplugged, and pulled the emergency break-away plug out. After refastening everything, the instrument panel code was cleared, and we continued on our merry way. Guess we learned something new today!

Poor little Bella. It took her several hours before she finally settled down and enjoyed the ride.

She was so tired after meowing off and on for several hours, she feel asleep in the strangest positions.

Sleeping on Marsha's lap lying against the door.

We hit rain in Louisville, KY as we neared our destination of Cave City, KY. We are at the Singing Hills RV Park. We've stayed here a total of three times now. It is a Passport America park meaning we paid $16 for a 50-amp full hookup site. The sites are gravel and pretty level. We are only about two miles off I-65. The owners are wonderful people. So helpful and friendly. We are in the same site we were in a year ago. Free WIFI to boot!

Site #42

Looking right.

Looking left.

Our backyard where the deer and the chipmunks play.

As we ate supper, the skies darkened with dangerous looking black clouds. We thought we got out of the rain when we left Ohio.....hummph!

Our reflections of switching from a motor home to a 5th wheel.  Paul feels it is much easier to drive the truck towing a 5th wheel compared to driving a motor home.  He just doesn't have the overwhelming feeling of being so big.  Getting in and out of the gas station was easier and maneuvering in traffic felt more comfortable.  Even pulling into the campground, Paul felt more at ease. 

The gas mileage (diesel fuel actually) was better with the truck and 5th wheel too!  Although, we'll pay more when sightseeing in a big truck compared to the Honda CRV.

It was nice for Marsha to be able to stand up and move around in the motor home.  She'll miss being able to run back to the bathroom, make coffee while going down the road, or dig out her crafting projects without stopping.

Our first reaction is it is easier to set-up and level the motor home – especially since it had an automatic leveling system.  We assume the same will hold true for preparing to pull-out of the campsite in the morning

The 5th wheel feels more "homey" sitting here this evening watching TV.  It's nice not to have the driving compartment in your living room and the big screen TV across the room instead of above the windshield is wonderful. 

All-in-all, we are happy with our switch to a fifth wheel.  The consensus that you can't beat a motor home while moving down the road and you can't beat a 5th wheel when parked may be true.  We certainly felt comfortable driving today and love sitting in our little home on wheels tonight! Well see if we feel the same in the future.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a wonderful day!