Ride, Captain, Ride......

What a ride we had Tuesday from Lincoln to North Platte.....partly cloudy, 15 mile an hour tale wind and smooth roads.......I mean smooooooth roads!  All I did was set the cruise control and hold on to the steering wheel for 236 miles.

We stopped at 3 Rest Areas along the way......we had breakfast at the first one about 65 miles out from Lincoln, then took a mile walk at each of the last two before arriving in North Platte around 4 pm.  The last Rest Area (19 miles east of North Platte) is one of our favorite Rest Areas on the Interstate system, and we have been to a lot of them.  It is like a park.....one lap around the park is about 1/2 mile.

 Stainless steel sculpture on the pond next to the Rest Area

 Parkland!

 Granite sculpture at the Rest Area

Holding on to the steering wheel

Straight, smooth I-80

We parked in our usual spot in the Super Walmart, just as we have done 2 times previously.  The shot below was taken from the third floor of Bailey's American Cuisine which we visited for dinner around 6 pm.....we loved this restaurant so much the last time we were here we had to come back for more.  We didn't know they had an upstairs extension of the ground floor restaurant with full bar, and a nice view so we decided to eat upstairs this time.  You can just see the Newell peeking out from behind a tree in the Walmart parking lot.

TLE opted for a glass of their "house" Cabernet and I tried a pint of their Peach Wheat Ale......I'm not big on "see through" brews, but this one was very good.   We added some Cajun Shrimp and split a Chicken Caesar Salad.  The Shrimp was to die for.....loved their sauce.

After a lovely dinner we walked a couple of blocks over to the local Goodwill, which we visited on our last pass through North Platte.....this time TLE scored big time with two pairs of shorts, a skirt, and 3 shirts, including a Caribbean Joe shirt for a total of $18.

We arrived "home" around 7:30 and while TLE did some reading I watched some more NBA playoff basketball.....the Heat trounced the Nets, and the Spurs did likewise to the Trailblazers in the late game.  We watched NCIS at 10 pm (West Coast feed) and then went to bed at 11 with the intent of getting an early start on Wednesday's drive into Cheyenne, WY where the forecast shows thunder showers early afternoon and into the evening.  We hope to get there before the rain starts.

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Hello Mr. Lincoln....

Without much fanfare we departed the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds around 10:12 am heading south on I-29.  There was not a breath of wind in the air...such a nice change! Our destination for first Saturday was Lincoln, NE....about 228 miles away.  We were last in Lincoln, NE back in May of 2012....in fact almost exactly 24 months ago to the day.  I remember sitting in the bar at Granite City Brewery watching the Kentucky Derby back then, and this year's running of the Derby was just a few days ago!

The drive south on I-29 was new territory for us all the way to Omaha where we exited the Interstate for about 30 minutes to fuel up......yep, time to pay the rent one more time.  I had found a Sinclair just a couple blocks off the Interstate with diesel for $3.69....it was an easy in and out station with not much traffic mid afternoon.  There were still 60 gallons of diesel left, but this will be the best price we see until Wyoming, which is beyond the range of our remaining fuel, so we took on 120 gallons at a cost of just under $450.  This tank will get us to Salt Lake City this Friday, but we will more than likely have add fuel for the final 600 miles into South Lake Tahoe as it is just over 1,400 miles and our range is about 1,200 miles.

By the time we merged on to I-80 west bound the forecast winds out of the east had made their presence known, but now they were pushing us westward, which is a good thing.  It appears the forecast for 2nd Saturday (Tuesday) will be more of the same....suhweet!

 Our travel day was completely uneventful, and went pretty much according to our plan.  At our first Rest Area we took a mile walk by circling the Rest Area 4 times....was nice to walk with no wind.  At our second rest stop we had lunch, and our third was the fuel stop.

We arrived at a Walmart on the outskirts of Lincoln around 4 pm, found a quiet corner of the parking lot to rest for the night, and headed in to do some shopping as we always do.......we needed some chips, salsa and Margarita's for our Newell Cinco de Mayo celebration....as well as a few other minor items (D cell batteries, a water filter for the coach, and more Kleenex.....I have depleted our supply in just 6 days....:D).  This Walmart is 5 miles off the Interstate.....we don't normally venture that far off the Interstate when we are moving every day, but the Walmart that is close to the Interstate does not allow overnight parking, so there you go.

I watched some NBA playoff basketball and saw the L.A. Clippers dismantle the OKC Thunder by 17 points....it was not even that close.  Did I see that coming?  Nope.

TLE and I have been looking forward for some months now to the return of "24", and Monday night was the two hour premier, which we thoroughly enjoyed.....everybody needs a Jack Bauer, right?  We were so "wired" after watching "24" that we stayed up to watch "Castle" not getting to bed until after 1 am.....very unusual for us.

The night was peaceful.....no disturbances, and we have awoken to another beautiful day....there are no heaters humming in the background....we are back in "shorts and t-shirts" weather.....YAY!

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Last Dance.....

Sunday we began our "last dance" here at Sioux Empire Fairgrounds for Monday we will be "gone with the wind".....I mean that literally.....we will be gone, and the wind will be gone.  I was thinking the other night about how it must have been living a couple hundred years ago on the prairie with the seemingly constant wind month after month, year after year.  Here I am after just 9 days wishing it would end.....well, finally, it has ended.....at least for a few days....and just in time as the other thing I do not want to do anymore is drive into a headwind or with a side wind.

When I opened the front curtains of the coach Sunday morning I saw that some sort of vintage car show and/or swap meet was in progress, so after finishing my daily blog entry I put on some warm clothes to walk over and see what was what.  It looked cold out the window, but was even colder than it looked.  The 39 degrees at 10:30 am combined with high humidity made it seem like it was in the 20's.

Most of the cars there were "been there, seen that" kind of cars, but this 1935 Lincoln Zephyr (I could be wrong on the year) really intrigued me.  I love the almost futuristic looking grill, and the fast back....what an elegant looking car!

Looks like the remnants of an old midget racer.....

After about 20 minutes I had walked up and down the various isles, seen what was what, and was ready to be back inside the warm coach.  

Finally, around Noon the outside air temps were warm enough for me to begin the departure process of filling the fresh water tank up to maximum for our 1600+mile trip from here to South Lake Tahoe over the next 12 days......I know, huh?  That sounds like a lot of miles for us in 12 days, and you are right.....it is.  Other than a 3-4 day stop over at my brother's home near Salt Lake City we'll be moving every day for 8-9 of those days....we'll cover the first 1,000 miles to Salt Lake City by this Friday, which will give us a more leisurely jaunt from there to South Lake Tahoe over the next 5, or 6 days......more our style.  

Once the fresh water tank was filled I started up the 6V92 DD so we could back up 5 feet and drop the trailer on the hitch once again.  Once that was accomplished, and I had re-leveled the coach I began the task of putting stuff away inside the trailer so we can re-insert the VW on Monday morning.  I'll wait until Monday morning to dump and flush the black tank, and then we will be on our way!

While TLE read I watched two more NBA game 7 matchups........the Toronto Raptors vs. the Brooklyn Nets, and then the late afternoon game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks.  It seems very strange not to see my L.A. Lakers playing this year.....it is rare they do not make the playoffs, and even more rare is the L.A. Clippers not only making the playoffs, but advancing to the second round.  Ultimately the Nets won a close game by one point, and the Spurs trounced the Mavericks.....so now it is on to the second round!

Around 5:30 we headed for our last time this trip over to Todd and Dawn's lovely home for our last meal with them, and one of my least favorite things.....saying our "until next times".  It never gets easier, and why should it?  We didn't get everything done on our two coaches that we had planned to do as a result of the mostly bad weather, but one thing we did do is become closer as friends.  Todd and I were talking the other day while working on his front bumper how except for us both buying Classic Newell coaches we would never have met and become friends.  We both agreed that with, or without the Newell connection we would be friends if.....and it is a big if......we both lived in Sioux Falls.  Todd is an insurance guy just like I was for decades, and we have a lot in common that connects us even if there was no such thing as a Newell.

We arrived back "home" around 8:30 kind of excited that we will be moving once again, and kind of sad that we will not see Todd and Dawn for another year.....how do I know it will be just a year?  Well there are plans afoot for another meetup on the road somewhere in the west whose details shall have to wait until another time.

"Until next time" Flickema family!!

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Head Case

For the second time in two months I find myself with a head cold.....or at least that's what I think it is.......what is it about this time of year, huh?  At least this year I've only had head colds.....last year at this time within 60 days I had the flue twice.  With the head colds I am not bed ridden......just slightly miserable.  I guess if you are going to get a cold it is better to get it during the winter when you don't feel like being outside.....nothing much worse than a head cold in the summer.

Saturday was one of the nicest days since we arrived 8 days ago, and we had wanted to go for a bike ride........."wanted" is the key word here......once I had determined that I did indeed have a head cold (with a slight cough), or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof, I decided the better part of valor would be to stay at home and rest.  Another thing I wanted to accomplish Saturday (nice weather an all) was to install my 5 new red marker lights on the top of the rear cap, but once again it did not seem wise to be out in the cold morning air at the top of a ladder for a few hours. My good friend Todd was going to help me with the job, but once I decided I was going to take the day off to rest he opted to go ahead and move his 1984 Newell over to his mechanic's shop (Interstate Power Systems) to have them check on an air leak he has in his air suspension.  I followed Todd in his Suburban over to the shop, and then he drove me back to the fairgrounds.

Once back I decided to drive over to the local Verizon Wireless store on 41st to find out what was wrong with my phone charger......when I first got my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 it would charge in about an hour.....now it wouldn't charge up fully overnight.  As it has always been over my 20+ years with Verizon they took care of me quickly.....within minutes I was walking back out the door with a new charger.....at no cost.....no argument...no fuss.

While I was in the neighborhood I decided to take a walk around Menards......a chain of "we've got everything" stores here in the midwest.....and they do have everything.....they are mostly a DIY store, but they also carry clothing, general household items, and some groceries.  

By the time I got back home TLE had left with Dawn to go to a local farmer's market, and to Costco....time to stock up on a few things as we begin our run west to Lake Tahoe for the summer.

I did manage to complete one more small project which took me outside for about 20 minutes......I installed the new windshield wipers I had shipped here ahead of our arrival.  After that I spent the rest of the day napping, and watching three NBA playoff games.....all three were game 7's, which is a rarity.  Ironically, Sunday will see two more NBA game 7's.....five game 7's in two days......it has never happened.  The L.A. Clippers managed to outlast the Golden State Warrior to win by 5......their game ended just after midnight.

That was our Saturday.....by the way, I am feeling much better this morning (Sunday).....that's the other thing about these last two head colds.....they don't seem to last long......maybe in my old age I'm getting allergies.....that's what TLE thinks.  Of course, being a lifetime allergy sufferer I think she'd like to have company.  Nevertheless, I'm beginning to lean more in her direction......the "cold" I had while in Wittmann, AZ came during a very windy stretch of days.....once the wind abated the symptoms seemed to abate also.  The same thing here in Sioux Falls.......now that the winds have abated I seem to be feeling much better.

By the way, I had an interesting comment to my insinuation yesterday that there are only two seasons in South Dakota.....July and Winter.  MH Moore retorted,  "Clarke, you are wrong...South Dakota has 4 seasons...Hot, Cold, Damn Cold.....and road construction"....that made me laugh!

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Final projects...

Our time here in Sioux Falls is fast coming to an end, and while it has been quite wintery most of our stay, we have gotten a lot done.  Friday it was time to help Todd with another of his projects.....install his new front bumper pieces.  Just as it is with our coach, Todd has a 3 piece front bumper.  This is made necessary by the need to be able to pull the generator out for service.  On my coach this is done manually, and requires that the middle piece of the bumper be first removed before pulling out the generator which is mounted on a slide.  In Todd's 2 year new coach he simply pushes a button and the air actuated slide moves out on its own.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the two new bumper pieces Todd got are polished aluminum whereas the existing pieces, just like mine, are unpolished.  We both thought it would look a little odd to have two highly polished bumper pieces and a third not, so we decided to just install the new middle section, and attempt to straighten the left front piece.  The resultant effect at least gives the front a symmetrical look, and I think it turned out well.

The old center piece was damaged, and as a result did not have a flush fit, but with the new piece installed the front end looks much, much better.   Of course, it took most of the afternoon to get this done with most of the time spent on the "fit and finish" aspect.  Finally around 5:30 we called it quits for the day and decided to meet up down town around 7 pm at Monks House of "Ale" Repute for appetizers and some brews.  Monks is our kind of funky, divey drop in place with a good draft beer selection.  They have a large outdoor seating area, but it was still a little windy when we arrived, so we sat inside.  TLE and I ordered a couple of pints of their Vanilla Porter which lived up to our expectations.  We also ordered a plate of their Green Bean Fries, and another plate of their Spring Rolls.  Both were very yummy!

As it turned out Todd's wife, Dawn, couldn't join us immediately as one of her lady patients (Dawn is a Family Practice MD) had gone into labor earlier in the afternoon, and she needed to stay with her, so it was just the three of us initially.  Monks gets 4 stars from Yelp and they are well earned.

Eventually we decided to take a walk over to a local eatery called Wild Sage Grille for some more appetizers and beer.  Their selection of draft beer was quite limited so I tried a Crow Peak "Pile -O- Dirt" Porter.....for a canned beer it was excellent!

Wild Sage Grille

To go along with the beer we ordered a plate of Walnut and Bleu Bruschsetta and a plate of Hot Artichoke Parmesan Dip.  Around 9:30 Todd got a call from Dawn saying the baby boy had been delivered, and she was on her way.  Within a few minutes Dawn arrived and we decided to move over to yet a third eatery, Parker's Bistro, for coffee and dessert....I had their Americano coffee, which was excellent.  We ended up closing down Parker's heading for our cars about 11:30.  It was a great evening full of good food, beer and conversation with good friends.  If the winters weren't so severe here in the land of two seasons (July and Winter) I could see myself living here in Sioux Falls.....it is a very cool town!

Parker's Bistro

It was an evening that just kind of evolved, and in retrospect I cannot imagine doing it any differently than we did.

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A day does make a difference!

Thursday was a little warmer and dryer than the prior 5 days, but there was still that persistent cold wind.  I decided about 10:30 to brave the wind and finish my rear bumper project which had been on hold since last Sunday when it began to rain, and get very cold.  Before I could attach and secure the replacement bumper I needed to install the two pieces of diamond plate I had shaped last Sunday.  First I applied a liberal amount of silicone caulking to the side that would face the aluminum skin of the Newell, then drilled 12 holes in each for the 24 rivets that will keep each of them securely affixed.

Before

After

Ever since that fateful moment back in July of 2012 when my ego led to the resultant damage I have been thinking of how to fix it.  Had I chosen to have it professionally fixed the cost, after my $500 deductible would have been thousands of dollars.  My actual costs were $62.50 for the bumper (eBay), and $24 for the single piece of 12" x 24" diamond plate......that's it.....$86.50.....less than 1/5th of my deductible, and I don't have the accident on my insurance record.  As long as six months ago I began collecting the materials to fix it.  Even though I believed my solution would work, and not only work, but look good, there was this element of doubt in my mind.  It's a wonderful thing when your vision actually matches up to reality.  I think it all came out quite well.....what about you?  Although you cannot see it in this picture, there is an identical piece of diamond plate attached to the left rear corner, too, providing the necessary symmetry.....all visual evidence of  my male bravado at its worst has been covered over.  The bumper fit perfectly, and actually took me less time to re-install than to remove the old damaged one.

Most people never noticed the damage, but I did.......over the 22 months since my mistake it has served as a daily reminder to me to be humble and accept help when offered, but Thursday it was time to cover up the boo boo and restore our baby to the picture of grace and elegance she so richly deserves.

Once the 6 bolts attaching the aluminum bumper to the frame were tight I re-installed the license plate and the 7 pin plug for the trailer.  The large hole just to the right of where the license plate is attached was for a 7 pin plug.  My goal is to utilize that hole, but I will need to buy a new 7 pin plug that will fit that space, so for now I will jut cover it with a piece of aluminum sheet metal cut to fit.

While I was outside toiling in the wind and cold TLE was doing a few loads of wash in our "splendid" Splendide......I am also very thankful for our Splendide washer/dryer combo.....it makes our life easier.

I was completely finished with my project by 2:30 and headed back inside to warm up, and take nap.  We had a dinner date at Todd and Dawn's home at 7 pm, so around 5:30 I decided to take a long, hot shower, which worked wonders for my cold disposition.

We had a lovely time again with Todd and Dawn, and actually sat outside on the patio for about 20 minutes before dinner was served.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch.....there was no wind, and you could see blue sky peeking out from behind the clouds.

This morning as I write we are being bathed in pure, delicious sunlight....

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Come on!

Wednesday was the fifth consecutive day of wind......the only change?  It is no longer from the east.....it is now from the north/northwest....but the wind continues here in Sioux Falls unabated.  On a positive note the rain has mostly stopped....we get a few sprinkles here and there, but it is beginning to dry out.  The forecast still shows warmer temps by Friday, and only partly cloudy, but it appears the wind will be with us for the duration.

TLE and I both wanted to get out of the coach for a few hours so we drove the VW into town to check out the local Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores.  We  love the St. Vincent de Paul (Catholic) thrift stores wherever we have come across them, and have often found very good deals, and Wednesday was no exception.  

At Goodwill I found two more pairs of shorts, one pair with the tags still on them, and two long sleeve, button down collar shirts (Brooks Bros. and Hunt Club) for $3.75 each.  TLE found a t-shirt.  At St. Vincent de Paul's I found a brand new Rugby shirt to add to my collection.....I love Rugby shirts!  But, the big score of the day was yet to come.  For a couple of weeks we have been talking about the need to have some sort of outdoor stove to use this summer while we are in Lake Tahoe.  We used to carry a large 3 burner CampChef Tahoe stove around with us, but we never used it unless we were going to be in an area for an extended time, and the weather was conducive to outdoor cooking.....that was rarely the case our first year on the road.  Ultimately we stored it in my sister's basement in Spokane back in 2012, and finally just gave it to my sister and brother-in-law this past summer when we were back in Spokane.  This day I found a cosmetically roughed up Coleman 2 burner propane camp stove for $4.00, but it works, and has all the parts!  A Coleman  2 burner stove would cost close to $50 new.

The old CampChef Tahoe we carried around unused

The new Coleman 2 burner stove

Now we have an easy to stow outdoor stove that will take up 1/10th the space of the CampChef stove.

The next stop for us was Josiah's Coffee House and Cafe in downtown Sioux Falls.  We visited Josiah's on our last pass through Sioux Falls back in June of 2013 while on a 20 mile bike ride on the bike path that encircles the city.  It was just the kind of cold, blustery day where you needed a large cup of coffee and a hot bowl of soup.  I had the Cream of Asparagus and TLE had the Ham and Mushroom Chowder.  Yelp gives Josiah's 4 solid stars on 11 reviews, and we would have to agree.

We got back home around 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon reading.....just too cold to do anything out side.....well to do most things outside.....eventually I had to face the fact it was time to dump the black tank.....it had been 9 days since we last did that, so I went outside around 4 and did the deed.

Two items I ordered from Amazon Prime came in as expected....a new DirecTV remote, and some water filters for our Zero Water Purifier.....we love Amazon Prime....free 2 day shipping!

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