Our new view
Through our Newell user group website (Newell Gurus) we have met a number of Newell owners who have at some point invited us to visit them on our travels. One such couple are Jeff and Pam who own a beautiful 1996 Newell 45' coach, and live near Muskogee, OK on 5 acres. Since Jeff's parents also fulltime, like us, they have constructed a long concrete pad with full hookups including 50 amp electrical service and is about 20' from their back yard swimming pool and patio. If only most RV park owners would construct a single site within their park like this one.....no I don't mean 20' from the pool....I mean a level concrete pad with the hookups exactly where anyone, regardless of RV length, could easily access all three hookups (electric, water and sewer). Too often the sewer connection ends up being 25-30' away from the RV sewer connection, which has been the case for us 90% of the time. OK, I apologize for the rant!
Hookups in just the right position!
Of course, as usual, I get way ahead of myself. We got up around 7am on Monday and began preparations to depart from Riverview RV Park in Sand Springs and meander down the road 67 miles to Muskogee, OK to visit Jeff and Pam. I did my usual walk around of the coach and trailer and took time to inspect that left rear trailer tire that has been looking sketchy for the last 500 miles. I decided to jack it up and take it off to get a better look.....well, once I could look at the tread head on it was obvious to me the tread was separating.....not as bad as the one I replaced in Forks, WA, but it well was on it's way. Once I saw the true condition of the tire I went in and told TLE I was taking it over to the local Firestone store, about 2 miles away, and getting it replaced before we moved another inch.....no point in rolling the dice one more time. The guys at Firestone jumped on the job immediately and I was back in my car on my way home within 15 minutes of my arrival and it only cost me $125 for a lot of peace of mind. I quickly re-installed the wheel on the trailer, and used my torque wrench to apply 90 foot pounds of torque to the lugs.
We easily backed out of our spot and made a beeline for the propane station where Ray, the owner, put in 41 gallons of propane at $2.52/gallon.....one of the cheapest prices we have paid on our journey. Now we're set until after our Amazon gig for propane.
After settling up with Ray we headed back down to US412 and began our southeast trek to Muskogee......in retrospect, I am really glad we didn't drive this section at the end of a travel day. The drive through and around Tulsa was modestly harrowing as we changed freeways no less than 7 times wending our way around this large town, and passed through several construction zones. Finally we found ourselves on the Muskogee Expressway, aka: toll road. We ended up paying $3.25 in tolls for about 35 miles of marginally maintained toll road. Before we knew it we were exiting the toll road at Peak. As we neared our hosts home we saw balloons on a sign post with a special sign just for us informing us that the Newell Rally required a right turn at that street, and then a second set of balloons and sign welcomed "Clarke and Elaine"......we immediately felt welcome.
After meeting our hosts for the first time in person we got our coach parked and hooked up for our two day stay. After doing some insurance work I decided to wash half the coach....the part in the shade, and then do the rest Tuesday. We have suddenly entered into a more HUMID zone again....I've been spoiled with the dry air the past few weeks.....while it is not very hot, it is noticeably more humid.
The clean side of the coach.....
Great country view!
We spent a pleasant evening talking before, during and after a wonderful meal prepared by Pam and eventually retired to our sleeping quarters (our "home") around 10:30. We love our view change, and getting to know Jeff and Pam.
That was our Monday! Thanks for stopping by!
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