Wishy, washy, wishy, washy!

Today's adventure was with the washer repairman.  Our combo washer/dryer has not worked for three or four months now.  We had communicated with the service techs in the state of Oregon when our problem first began, and they agreed with our assessment of the problem. Over the phone, they had given directions on how to take the machine apart to find out for sure what the problem was.  When they got to the task of turning the machine on its side in our tiny bathroom, we decided it was beyond our capabilities and we'd head to the laundromat.  Several months later the tech in Indiana quickly diagnosed the problem (exactly what we had suspected) and said it would cost close to $700 to repair and only a couple hundred more for a whole new machine.  Considering that the machine was 10 years old, very well used and has had several other repairs in the last three years we decided to spring for a new one.  It supposedly has a few better features including a faster drying time.  It took about an hour to install and another hour for us to put the cupboard and doors all back together!  So, off we headed to Michigan where we have another service appointment....and are parked without water and sewer hookups...so can't even use the new machine for a while.

Rain, rain, go away!

Good things about being in Indiana.......acres and acres of green things growing, friendly service people
Bad things........rain and more rain,  thunder and lightning, power outages, puddles, construction traffic

But, our door latch has been fixed and we don't need to worry about being locked in or out of the coach, and we have a new floor vent so we don't cut our feet when walking into the bedroom, and a repaired blind that will now cover the window once again.   It felt good to be in a familiar neighborhood in Nappanee and we always enjoy seeing the acres and acres of crops growing and the many neat and tidy Amish and Mennonite farms.  Of course that also means we have to be careful driving among horses and buggies and bicycles.

Checking things off our "to do" list, we've moved up to Elkhart in hopes of getting our washer/dryer repaired after quite a few months of treking to the laudromat.  Time will tell.

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam!

We went for a walk last night around the property of the Downstream Casino which is operated by the Quapaw Indian Tribe.  A large fenced area along the main drive has beautiful flower gardens and five (that we saw) Buffalo roaming around.  Several sat in a big pond - no doubt trying to keep cool in the 98* heat.  We didn't even go inside the casino, but enjoyed our walk and retreated to the RV for the evening, thanking the Indians for their free hospitality and hook-ups.  Today we had a pleasant drive across I-44 through the Ozarks and were happy to see that there was very little traffic through St. Louis...so we kept going!

O-o-o-o-klahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' cross the plains....

We spent two nights at the Fire Lake Grand Casino east of Oklahoma City near Shawnee.  Driving up from Texas, we chose state and US routes and avoided the toll road and were on I-35 only a short distance near Ardmore.  It was a pleasant drive on rolling highways and it was nice to see more and more green fields as we got further north.  Curiosity would have had us drive straight up I-35 through Moore as we have done in the past, but we decided to avoid city traffic and gawkers along the recent tornado route.  As it turned out, it was the one-month-anniversary of the devastating storm and the TV stations all had on-the-scene reports.  They said clean-up is about 40% accomplished.  As we approached Shawnee we did see places where there was much damage as it also touched down in that area briefly.  The reason for a 2-night stay was to break up the drive and we drove into Shawnee on Thursday and to Midwest City on Friday to run some errands.  The Casino has water and electric hookups and we took advantage of that to run our A/C as the temperature hovered in the high 90s.  Typical of Indian casinos, we took advantage of the free soft drink stations and this one also has free soft ice cream…yummy on a hot and quite windy day.             We headed on east again on Saturday morning (missing the opportunity to attend the Elvis impersonation contest that night!) and drove on the I-44 toll road to our next stop at the Downstream Casino at Exit 1 in Missouri.  The casino itself is actually in Oklahoma, the hotel in Missouri and the RV parking lot is in Kansas…how’s that for a Tri-State stop?

On the Road once again....

The travelers returned from Peru and Merrick returned from camp...all about the same time last Saturday afternoon.  They were all tired.  Close and Ann managed to bring home food poisining or some sort of bug and had quite an adventure on the three plane flights and 24 hours it took them to get home.  We retreated to the RV until Monday.  The next two days were busy with errands and running the three granddaughters to dance, horseback riding and school projects and doing a little "lifeguarding" around the pool, fixing meals and doing laundry.  Today Mary had her checkup with Dr. Rocky and he was pleased with the progress of Mary's eyelid surgery and cleared us for travel.  So....we hit the road...not planning to do much driving each day...and heading first to Newmar in Indiana to pick up some parts.  We came through some heavy rain and wind, but luckily it didn't last long and by the time we got to Wichita Falls it had stopped.  Hopefully we're headed to sun and cooler temperatures!

Have bags will travel!

But this time, we're not the travelers.  Last Friday, our daughter and two oldest granddaughters drove to Dallas and from there flew to Peru with the Spanish Club from the high school.  We are getting daily updates via Facebook and Skype of their adventures.  It is winter there, so they have escaped the Texas heat, and they are finding the high altutude somewhat of a challenge.

Our granddaughters are a couple of those dots at the top of Machu Picchu.

On Sunday, we tagged along as our son-in-law drove the youngest granddaughter to YMCA Camp.  She was excited to stop at Culver's for lunch (a favorite from their time in Illinois and a rare find in this part of the country) and then to get to camp where she will be riding horses all week.  The camp also posts on Facebook and Twitter daily and also puts several hundred photos online daily!

Residents of the "Eskimo Cabin" at YMCA Camp
Merrick is at the rear.

Meanwhile we are keeping busy with a few chores and enjoying a slightly slower pace for the week.

Rocky on the road

We've been keeping busy here in Abilene doing all the same stuff....driving the girls around to their various activities and keeping up with their last week of school schedules.  They're Free!  So let the summer activities begin!  Close and her friends like to go to "The Doghouse" which is the fitness center at the high school which is open to all the athletes to keep up with their conditioning over the summer.  Since the coaches aren't allowed to coach the kids, there is a "trainer" on board to delp them do what the coaches prescribe.  Merrick lives for her horseback riding lessons and spends a lot of time in the swimming pool (happy that grandparents are on hand to be lifeguards.)  Coffey, with her learner's permit in hand, will drive us anywhere we want to go!  We've enjoyed hanging out with the family, doing some chores around the house and cooking hot dogs and S'mores at the fire-pit.

Today we met Rocky.  He is an opthomologist, and was the second doctor we'd met today.  The first was a dermatologist who performed a MOHS procedure, removing basal cell cancer from Mary's eyelid.  After doing that procedure he decided that his buddy, Rocky, should finish the job, so he sent us down the road to another office.  He introduced himself as Rocky, and from all the diplomas on the wall, we think that's his real name.  Both doctors were great guys with efficient and friendly staff and we feel so far, that they did an excellent job.  Time will tell, I guess.  Meanwhile we're dealing with one of those "rocks in the road."