Sunday, September 28, 2008

Enjoying FAMILY !!!! in Lincoln, Nebraska.

We had a GREAT time at the TETON rally at Hart Ranch near Rapid City, SD. It was great seeing so many old Teton friends and meeting new ones. There were at least 60 Teton's there....WE sold a bunch of PressurePro systems, a PowerTank and some Dri-Wash &Guard. All in all, it was a very successful Rally


This is our corner spot in Hart Ranch and it gave us a lot of exposure....It is truly one of the nicest RV parks we have ever had the privilege of staying at. If you're ever in the area, stop and take a look.




This is some of the Tetons and Trucks just down from us.




Here we are Thursday morning leaving Hart Ranch, proceeding on to Lincoln, Nebr. It was a beautiful day. By the next afternoon,(Friday) at 3pm we were all set up in our usual spot at the activities center in Lincoln, just a couple miles from our daughter in law, Ann's place. Ann is always such a gracious host and this time was no exception. After a few hugs and a few tears and more hugs,,,we carried on. We knew Scott would want that.

Soon our Granddaughter Shala and her friend Ryan joined us. Shala is a junior at the University of Nebr. Shortly thereafter, Terri our daughter drove in from Omaha where she is working.

After a few words of prayer in remembrance of Scott, we all sat down to another one of Ann's superb meals......It sure was great being with family and I could feel Scott's presence,,,,,,right there with us, not in body but definitely in spirit....he loved Ann's good cooking as much as we do and he wouldn't miss a meal like that :-)

Saturday was GAME DAY,,,,,,,,,,FSU played Colorado in Florida and won, Nebraska played Virgina Tech right here in Lincoln and lost, but both games were on ABC--TV....Good games, good company and very enjoyable.

Patrick, our Grandson and his friend Krista came over and watched the Nebraska game with us. Patrick just graduated from the University of Nebr with a Masters degree and now works for a large accounting firm in Omaha. Terri also drove back over from Omaha after work to be with us for the evening. Another memorable, very enjoyable time......Time goes so FAST !!

Monday we will head on to Hutchinson, KS for the MDT (medium duty truck) and the HDT (heavy duty truck) rallies..........It will be an easy one day trip.. 262 miles. We will be there greeting old and new friends until Oct 11TH. Then we will head towards Florida.....with a few days stop in Little Rock, AR. to visit our Good Friends Louis and Janette Hughes....

See you next Sunday from the State Fair Grounds in Hutchinson, KS. Thanks for stopping by. Stay in touch and travel safe!!!
God Bless You all !!

It was a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog published every Sunday morning.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

On the ROAD again!!!



Yesterday (Saturday) it was time to leave our beautiful little spot on a hill in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Another summer gone and time to make our move. We enjoy it so much here that it's always a little sad when we leave. Things are all closed up and winterized and we are headed out.


We made a LONG trip (50 miles) to HART RANCH RV RESORT just south of Rapid City. Upon arrival we were met by many of our good friends with the TETON rally being held there. We are presenting a PressurePro seminar on Tuesday. We have already sold dozens of these fine folks a system, but several others have expressed a desire to have one.






Our last week in the hills was very BUSY and SHORT. There is an unbelievable amount of things to do to get ready to take off and leave a place for 8 months. We managed to get in a few more good hikes, one being the Stockade Lake trail which is my favorite. We also were able to work in one more Motorcycle ride in the park. We took the bike around the "Wildlife Loop" and made a big circle of 45 miles. It was an extra nice afternoon and we really enjoyed the ride. Sure makes one HAPPY to be able to enjoy such a life, at our age........(-:



The next day, Thursday, we loaded the Bike on the back of the Volvo truck and secured it for the trip. Then, all tires were properly aired up and double checked. That night Pat prepared a BIG FISH dinner for some of our best friends, the Hughes and Stewarts. It was delicious!! Walleye with Cheese Grits, Hush Puppies, Salad and Watermelon.......I love that 'southern" cookin!!!! We all had a great time....Plus we enjoyed catching the fish during the summer!

We will be here at HART RANCH RESORT until Thursday morning and then we will proceed on to Lincoln, Nebraska where we will spend a few days with Ann, our daughter-in-law. It's about 600 miles to Lincoln from here so it will be an easy 2 day trip. Next week at this time we should be in Lincoln....Good Lord willin!!!!

Plus, we get a SPECIAL treat...we get to see Terri, our traveling medical technician daughter. Her team just happens to be working in Omaha about 40 miles from Lincoln. What a wonderful coincidence. Terri works for the Center for Disease Control, traveling all over the USA with ALL expenses paid and a paycheck!! What a wonderful way to see this beautiful country!!!

Meanwhile, we are just enjoying this Beautiful Hart Ranch Resort, reminding ourselves of the last time we stayed here. Way back in 1995, we workkamped here for a month. At that time we were in our 32' Airstream, pulling it with a 3/4 T Ford pickup. Gosh, that was a LONG time ago!! We have come a LONG way since then. Here we sit now in a 45' Teton 5TH wheel pulling with a Volvo semi truck. There is more room in our truck than there was in that Airstream!!! LOL


Thanks for stopping by, glad to have you. Check back, I'll try to get some pictures and insert them in the next couple days......(I always forget to take pictures:-( )


See ya next week.......



It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Mike


This Blog published every Sunday AM.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Time Marches on !!!!!

Here it is the middle of September already!!!! Whats the ole' saying,,,,,"Spring has SPRUNG, Fall has FELL and it's cold as HECK",,,,,,,,,,,Well, it doesn't go quite like that, but you get the picture. We only have ONE WEEK until we depart the Hills. We are rounding things up and preparing to depart. Next Sunday at this time we will be hooking up and heading out. We've been here right at 3 months already!!! It was a joyous summer,,,,fast, but fun. Now it's time to do what we do and HIT the ROAD!!!!

First call of business last week, after returning from my Class Reunion, was an email that was waiting for me when I got home Sunday evening. It was from Dave and Darlene Sommer asking if we would drop over to a local campground and help them install a new PressurePro System for their Country Coach Motorhome....
(click on picture to enlarge)


This is Dave and Darlene Sommer and their beautiful Country Coach motorhome. Dave is originally from South Dakota and was here attending his 50TH high School Reunion. The installation went smoothly as expected and these fine folks are now happy PressurePro owners and can see the pressure in any one of their tires any time they want, even while driving down the road. They also know that in the event they should get a leak in one of those tires while driving (or stationary) they will get an ALARM from the Monitor on the dash. Soon they will discover what a comforting feeling that is, especially when you tow a car and can't see the tires on it or feel it if you should have a tire go low. It's always enjoyable for Pat and I to meet these fellow RV'ers and help them get this superb safety Device........Happy travels Dave & Darlene and we'll see you again down the road!

Well, we FINALLY did it!!!! All summer I've been contemplating switching from our HughesNet Satellite Internet hook up to one of the Verizion Air Cards and Router. Friday it arrived and we made the switch!!! We had a little trouble getting all 3 of our Computers to accept this new mode of Internet connection, but with help from the 3G store techs, Ms Pat got them up and running!!! I was worried and nervous during the entire process. We MUST have an Internet connection and for a while I'll admit I wanted to scrub the entire idea and go back to the ole' familiar Dish!!! We've had the HughesNet tripod setup for a LONG time (years) and I was very comfortable with it,,,,,and this system was GREEK to both of us. I'm happy to say it's been up and working fine day and night since. We are only a mile from the cell tower and can see it from our place. I expected to get a better signal, but for some reason this new tower is 1x and not EVDO. We barely get 2 bars so I have an antenna cord ordered,,,hopefully that will help. It's running about the same speed as the Satellite system did, which isn't great, but OK. I just expected a little better, maybe that will happen later. (I hope) It sure is a lot less equipment to drag around. However, I believe I'll hang on to the dish system for a while :-)!! (just in case)

Next Sunday, when we leave here, we are headed to Hart Ranch RV Resort near Rapid City for a few days to present a PressurePro seminar to the Teton group and meet a lot of old friends. This will be an interesting rally. I'm sure most of you have heard the news that Teton is among the ranks of the RV Companies that have met hard times. Unofficial word has it that they are CLOSED......Maybe we will get some official word at the Rally.

Then we proceed on to Lincoln, Nebraska to see Ann. We're anxious to spend some time with her. This will be the first time we have been to Lincoln when Scott hasn't been there to greet us. It's going to be tough,,,,,,we all miss him so much and we especially know how hard it is for Ann. I hope you don't mind but I would like to share a picture with you that Ann sent us recently:

(click on picture to enlarge)

This is Scott's Headstone that Ann designed. They just got it set. This is the largest stone that the Cemetery would allow, but we think it is Beautiful. Good job Ann!! I can't wait to see it in person. Scott would be so PROUD!!!! He had this same image on the back window of his truck.

It was 32 deg at sunrise here this morning and the OLD truck has FROST all over it. That's telling us and giving us the encouragement to "hang it up" for this year and leave these Beautiful Hills that both Pat and I love and enjoy so much......

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a note in the shoutbox above or send me an email to let me know you're reading this. Sometimes you feel like you're talking to yourself on these Blogs. Those of you that do write and ask me how to do a blog like this,,,,,,,,,,,,rest assured it's EASY! Look on upper right corner of this blog somewhere and it will say "Create Blog". Just click on that and follow the simple directions. That's the way I did, and believe me, if I can do it, you can!!!!!!
Later, I found Chris Guld's web site "TWO GEEKS ON TOUR" and she has several nice videos on how to do this very Blog.

See ya all next week!!!
It's been a GREAT WEEK!!!!!

Mike


This Blog Published every Sunday Morning............











Sunday, September 7, 2008

North Platte, Nebraska

We got on the road just as the sun was coming up Friday morning headed for my class reunion in North Platte, Nebraska. It was a pretty morning and day!! We took a little different route so we could see some country that I hadn't seen for years........my old home where I was born and raised ,,,,,,,, (=: The SANDHILLS of the PANHANDLE of NEBRASKA. We went through the Indian Reservation and down to Pine Ridge, SD and then south to Rushville, NE. East to Gordon, NE., then south to Ellsworth, NE. 55 miles of nice 2 lane road with hardly any traffic whatsoever. No towns or stops, just Sandhills, a few Cattle, many Windmills. It was a very pleasant drive. Now this is the kind of traveling I like,,,seemed like old times, WIDE open COUNTRY!!! I was born and raised in this country..............Too many years ago!!! Hard to believe there is this much beautiful wide open space in this country. It was fun and like a time back to the beginning.

We arrived at the Ouality Inn Convention Center in North Platte about 1pm. With the change to Central time it was now 2pm..... It wasn't long until I started seeing old classmates and the FUN began!

----------------------(interruption)----------------------

Time for our Farewell Breakfast,,,,,,,then head back home.........have to leave. Will continue with this when we get back to Custer,,,,,,,,this eve or in the morning.

Happy trails!!!!

It was GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,,,drop back later....

Mike

MONDAY AM....................I spent over 1/2 hour writing on this this morning, only to have the satellite go down and LOSE the ENTIRE thing!!!! @#$&%*&%!!, I hate it when that happens!
Internet service was Bad last night and I couldn't finish this when we got home, so I thought I would do it this morning early......Now I lost it all,,,,,how discouraging!!!!! I've about had it with this satellite Hughesnet. TODAY, we will order the Verizon Air card. This certainly inspires me to make the switch. I've been putting it off for quite a while. Lots of our friends have the Air Cards and LOVE them. We will see, I'm ordering it TODAY................Guess I'll give this weeks Blog up for this week.... :-(

We sure Had a WONDERFUL Reunion !!!!!! Many thanks to those of you that keep making this happen!!!!

Stop back next week,,,,,,and leave a note in the "shout-box" above......

Meanwhile,,,,,Stay Safe!!!!!

Mike