May 4 to May 21: San Jose, CA, to Red Bay, AL

Monday, May 4, we left our older daughter, Jill, her husband, Bob, and our sweet little granddaughter Lauren in San Jose, CA, to head east.  Three months after we left our RV park in Anacortes, WA, we felt like we were finally beginning our first RV adventure!  Driving our 37' motorhome, pulling our Chevy pickup through the Bay Area freeways was no problem for Jerry!  I thought we looked like the circus coming to town and couldn't get out of the high population areas soon enough.

Monday evening we used our "Good Sam's Guide" and found an RV park with a rating of 10/10/10, and ranked third in the nation.  Wow!!!  The RV park was associated with Jackson Rancheria Resort and Casino and quite a lovely place.  The Good Sam's rating system is based on the (1) completeness of the facilities, such as interior roads, hookups, recreation in the park, security etc.; (2) the cleanliness and physical characteristics of restrooms and showers; and (3) the visual appeal and environmental quality of the park.  From the photo, you can see we sat outside and watched the "patio" TV!  Yep, a tough life!

We are always interested in the "roads less travelled", aka the blue roads, so Tuesday, May 5, we followed US 88 over the Sierra Nevada and on to US 50 near Carson City, NV.  This mountainous route was our first real test of Abe's pulling power and we were quite pleased as we conquered Carson Pass at 8573 feet.  US 50 has quite a reputation and justly deserved.  We had the highway to ourselves as we drove east through Nevada.  

As we travelled through the semi-arid terrain east of Fallon, NV, we crossed salt flats and passed many miles of creative messages written in stones on the roadsides.  Out in the middle of nowhere!

Tuesday evening we found an obscure RV park, attached to the Baptist Church, in Austin NV.  We later learned that when the Baptist congregation was looking for a church building, the largest house in town was purchased.  Along with the house came an RV park and a turquoise processing facility!  The congregation kept the RV park and eventually converted the processing rooms to a fellowship hall.  Very creative!  This little park was not on Good Sam's radar, but we were happy to find 50 AMP service and good water.

Not only did we find a decent place to spend the night, but we found a concert and a free dinner!  The very evening we arrived this little Baptist Church hosted Ernie and Jason Couch, a singing father and son duo, who gave an upbeat gospel concert to about 14 folks, us included.  We learned that they were from Nashville, TN, and travelled the US giving concerts.  While we enjoyed a yummy enchilada dinner afterward, we visited with Ernie, the dad, and had a delightful conversation.  The moral of this story is that if one is offered a free concert and dinner, it might be worth it to go!  We had a delightful time.

I would be remiss if I didn't share a little Woodall folklore.  In the 70's Jerry and my brother, Roger, rode their motorcycles through Austin, NV, headed east.  They had been incorrectly advised  that there was a truck stop up the hill on the east side of Austin.  Of course, there was no truck stop and Jerry ran out of gas.  So, they coasted back down the hill and into town in the middle of the night!  They spend the rest of the night sleeping on the ground in the parking lot of the post office, pictured above.  Seems like there should be a shrine or a plaque there!

Wednesday, May 6, we continued east across Nevada, and spent the day dodging thunderstorms.  It was quite dramatic to watch this storm as we skirted its southern edge.  We watched storms pass around us all day long, and, fortunately, did not experience any really severe weather.  The end of the trail for this day of travel was Delta, UT, Antelope Valley RV Park.  Good Sam's listed this one so I used the GPS to take us to the address given.  Wrong!  Good Sam's had the RV park in the wrong location and if it weren't for Jerry's eagle eyes, we would have driven by entirely.  The park manager acknowledged the bad info, but didn't seem to be to interested in correcting the problem.  This was one of those places where we pulled off to have dinner and sleep...no amenities here.  The best part of this little meager place was that we did not have to unhook the pickup to fit in the site.

Thursday, May 7, we remained on 50 east until we reached I-70 at Scipio, UT.  We've travelled this way many times, both by car and motorcycle over the years and it's always interesting to see how the interstate has changed.  It's wild, rugged terrain and usually very windy.  As we drove through this desolate country, we tried to imagine what January would look like.  Yikes!  Cold, blowing snow, I'm sure.  We wished we had more time to stop and enjoy Utah's beautiful parks:  Zion, Bryce, Arches, and Canyonlands.  Maybe next time...

As we were cruising through this uninhabited country the "Check Engine" light came on!  We had just hit 7500 miles and, since the dashboard data didn't show any problems, we hoped it was some sort of built-in maintenance issue.  I pulled a few of the manuals out of the cupboard (we have about 20 pounds of manuals!) and couldn't find anything relevant.  The Tiffin manual basically said if this light appears, go to a service center and get it evaluated.  Not easy in the wilds of Utah.  Eventually I had enough cell service (yep, that's another issue) to call Cummins Engines and got some solid reassurance that nothing was wrong.  Ahhhhh, the life of a newbie!

May 7 we made it all the way to Grand Junction, CO, and this beautiful KOA campground on the SE side of the city.  It was a warm, sunny afternoon and we took advantage of the patio, table and BBQ that came with the site.  We cooked fish on the grill, watched Smokey explore the site, and had a beautiful evening. We would heartily recommend this RV stop!

Friday, May 8, we were excited to take US 50 through Gunnison Canyon and expected some beautiful scenery.  We weren't disappointed.  We drove for miles with Blue Mesa Reservoir off the driver's side of the bus.  The reservoir (elevation 7,519 feet) is the largest body of water entirely in Colorado. Created by Blue Mesa Dam, Blue Mesa Reservoir is 20 miles (32 km) long, has 96 miles (154 km) of shoreline, and is the largest lake trout and Kokanee salmon fishery in the United States. Blue Mesa Dam was completed in 1965 and was the first large dam built along the Gunnison River.  The annual snowfall in this area is 54 inches!  Again, imaging January gave me the creeps!

After climbing Monarch Pass at 11,300 feet, we had a long 10 mile 6% downgrade.  The scenery was beautiful and we saw many snow-capped peaks with ski resorts at the top of the pass.  Friday night's stop was at Royal Gorge RV park.  They had just opened for business the week before and the park was still pretty quiet.  The photo above shows our scenery looking forward and it's actually raining in this shot.  At about 8:30 PM we had a brief hail storm.  Thankfully, the hail was small but came down for quite awhile.  In fact, the next morning when we looked outside, we still had small "drifts" of hail beside the bus.  To counteract the shock of ice on the ground, we awoke to beautiful sunshine.  Yippee!

As we were sipping our coffee Saturday morning, May 9, we noticed a camping neighbor near us.  The dad crawled out from under an old motorhome, covered hands to elbows in oil.  We watched as he used gasoline to clean his forearms and wondered what could be the problem.  We also saw several children of various sizes scurrying between the old motorhome and a tent trailer parked next to it.  Our curiosity was piqued!  After breakfast Jerry walked over to offer assistance.  The "oily" man said he had had a power steering line break and was trying to clean up all of the oil underneath the coach.  The family was from Chambersburg, PA, and had been to the west coast.  The dad said they wanted to give the entire family one big road trip before the oldest children left home.  They had eleven children, from perhaps age 20 down to age 2, and somehow managed to find sleeping accommodations for everyone between the two campers.  The dad declined assistance, saying he thought he could find a new hose and be on his way!  Just takes determination folks!

Saturday was a transition day.  We went from the mountains of Colorado to the grasslands of western Kansas.  Have you ever driven through here?  It's well worth the trip.  The east side of the Rockies quickly falls to the plains.  We stopped in Pueblo, CO, at a Walmart for supplies.  Say what you will about Walmart, but these stores are easy for us to get in and out of.  Jerry needed DEF for our diesel engine and I needed groceries.  

Saturday afternoon found us taking KS 156 NE out of Garden City, KS, and off the beaten path.  We had decided we would not worry about a stopping place ahead of us but would "find something" along the way.  Although we used to do this with our boat all the time, this was a first with Abe.  Just outside Larned, KS, I found Camp Pawnee, a Boy Scout camp and small RV park on the Internet.  This pretty little park was built in 1930 and was full of mature cottonwoods.  As you can see, we are the only ones there!  This was Mother's Day weekend and I guess the Kansans were not interested in a camping experience.  We paid $12 for power and water and the rustle of the breeze through the cottonwoods.  Lovely!

Sunday, May 10, we jumped on I-70 headed east to Manhattan, KS, where our friends Dave and Kathy Carpenter live.  The weather was quite unsettled as we proceeded and, at one point, we wondered if we were chasing a tornado!  We saw many cars in the median and on the banks off to the north.  We drove through hard, pounding rain and could not have seen a funnel cloud if our lives depended on it.

We have known the Carpenters since the 70's, Dave and Jerry have shared many motorcycle trips, and they have the same birthday, although several years apart.  We always stop and see them as we are traveling through.  Usually we stay with them, but this time we were headed to Tuttle Creek State Park, north of town, to park Abe.  Once again we had bad info and struggled to find our reserved site at the park.  We eventually found it, though, and discovered that we were at the very back of the park, under the trees.  Trees are an issue for Abe.  We are about 13 feet tall and those low-hanging branches scrape our roof and all of the stuff up there.  Yikes!

Once again, we had the area to ourselves and our only company were the frogs and the birds. Tuttle Creek, not too far from out campsite, seemed like a good place to explore, but the trail was flooded due to all the heavy rain that had fallen in the past few days.  Wikipedia gave a good description of the area:  Tuttle Creek Lake is a reservoir on the Big Blue River 5 miles (8 km) north of Manhattan, in the Flint Hills region of northeast Kansas. It was built and is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers for the purpose of flood control.  The lake is bordered by Tuttle Creek State Park, which features 1,200 acres of recreational areas, including nature trails, camping sites, and an artificial beach.

We spent Sunday, May 10, and Monday, May 11, at Tuttle Creek, allowing us to complete some chores around the bus and completing some errands, besides visiting with the Carpenters.  Our drives in to Manhattan took us past the amazing outflow turbulence below the dam.  Lots of water moving through here and Dave said the gates were probably open about 35%!

Since Manhattan is the home to Kansas State University, sports are a big deal for young and old alike.  Dave and Kathy's older grandson Will is learning the fine art of baseball.  We accompanied them to Will's game on Monday night where their baseball poster was proudly displayed. Will is in the first row, fifth from the left.  Can you see the "attitude"?  He's small but mighty!

Tuesday, May 12, it was time to pull up the jacks and continue further east.  We drove north out of Manhattan, KS, and eventually intersected US 36.  We drove through Kansas' flint hills, enjoying the green grasslands, rolling hills, and small towns with many buildings made of native limestone.  The Flint Hills is still largely native prairie grassland, one of the last great preserves of tallgrass prairie in the country.  The tall grasses in this region are mostly big and little bluestem, switch grass, and Indian grass. Except along stream and river bottoms, trees are rare. 

Our route through eastern Kansas and into Missouri followed the old Pony Express Route and the Oregon Trail Route.  We had seen signs for the Pony Express all along our journey eastward on US 50.  The Oregon Trail signs, common as we have travelled through Oregon, were a surprise in Missouri.  We learned that the starting point of this arduous route was St.Joseph, MO, on the Missouri River.  Taking a covered wagon across the grasslands of Missouri and Kansas would have been difficult enough, but I cannot imagine what those weary travelers thought when they tackled the Rockies!

Tuesday evening we found a pristine campground, Mark Twain Landing, on the banks of the Mark Twain Reservoir, 50 or so miles west of St. Jo.  As we have found all along our route, this park wasn't busy and we had a delightful spot to park.  We learned that avid fisherman bring their campers and motorhomes to this park early in the spring and leave them all summer long, giving themselves a place to stay when they come to fish in the reservoir.

Wednesday, May 13, we were eager to make that night's destination:  Fairview, IL, and a chance to visit with family and friends.  We crossed the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri, and three hours later we were settled in the Schleich's driveway in Fairview, IL.  The water tower was even happy to see us:  "Fairview Welcomes You!"

Getting settled in this driveway took a bit of jockeying around.  Backing down the long driveway was one thing, but positioning so that the slides opened around the basketball hoop was something else again!  I think we had about 6 inches of clearance all the way around.

We enjoyed visiting lots of family and friends while we were there and made several trips to "the farm", a small farm with a very old farmhouse, where Jerry's parents, Jim and Maxine love to spend time.  This is a great photo of them outside the backdoor. 

Fred and Kathy Schleich purchased an old GMC motorhome (from the 70's) and drove it over one evening for a BBQ from their home about 3 blocks away!  The only thing missing from that lovely yellow coach are a few psychedelic flowers.

Our last evening in Fairview we were once again at the folks and enjoyed grilled pork steak, a Woodall speciality!  Maxine and Jerry's sister, Becky, have the grilling technique down pat.  My brother and sister-in-law, Charlie and Suzanne came for dinner too and after which we had several games of pitch.  What fun!!!

Tuesday, May 19, we left for Fairview with an eventual destination of Red Bay, Alabama, where Abe was built.  Since we've had so many problems, we thought we should get the rest of the warranty work done where Tiffin motorhomes are manufactured.  Our first stop was at the home of Jerry's brother and sister-in-law Don and Sally, in Sparta, IL, SE of St. Louis.  In the photo Jerry and Don are surveying the property and talking about the logistics of mowing a considerable yard.  Do you want to ride your mower across this little bridge???

A quick visit, a wonderful dinner with Don and Sally, a good night's sleep and we were ready to continue on our way on Wednesday, May 20.  Jerry's final walk around the bus before departing turned up a driver's front tire that was not holding pressure.  RATS!!  Fortunately, Don knew just where to go to for a repair and, once that ugly screw was removed, the hole was plugged and we were pointed south.

We had a rainy day of travel, but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm for this new route.  We took IL 3, part of the Great River Road, south along the east side of the Mississippi to Cairo, IL, where we crossed the Ohio River.  The steel truss bridge over the Ohio carried the Illinois Central Railroad, making it the first railroad linking Chicago and New Orleans, changing travel along Mississippi River. The 52 truss steel span bridge had a total length of 10,560 feet, making it the world's longest metal bridge.  It was completed in 1937 and rehabilitated in 1979, but the builders did not anticipate modern vehicle width.  It seemed we barely cleared the railing on one side and the oncoming trucks on the other.

Wednesday night's stop was in Jackson, TN, where I thought I had identified a perfect little RV campground.  Once again I was reminded that I cannot "hit it out of the ballpark" every time!  The campground was small, unlovely, and the manager was the crabbiest man I've met in awhile.  Fortunately, it was only $25 and put us about 100 miles from Red Bay, Alabama.  We arrived at the Allegro Campground in Red Bay just before noon on Thursday, May 21, and realized we were in "Tiffin Land"!  The campground next to service center has 93 full hook-up sites plus room for dry camping for many more.  There are probably 70 Tiffin motor homes here right now.  The service center has 49 bays where work is done...this place is busy!!!

We turned in a 3-page list of warranty items, questions, and requested upgrades to the service department.  Friday morning, May 22, we met with Norris who reviewed the list with us and made a few clarifications.  He explained how this all works, outlined our responsibilities, and said we had about a 3-week wait!  Yikes.  Gonna be here awhile...June 12 is three weeks from today.  We will be able to sightsee in the area and are already planning to partake of the local Memorial Day events.  Not all bad!  

As a point of interest, we have travelled 4,702 miles so far, since leaving Anacortes, WA, last February.

Stay tuned, I'll have an Alabama report in a couple of weeks!