Summer Journey - Home Again!

This last leg was a bummer ... we left Coushatta in the rain and it rained very heavily through most of the leg. In Winnie, Texas, an hour from home we were in the right lane and came over a rise at about 55 mph in moderate rain and Donna advised the traffic was slowing. I started slowing and suddenly she warned that a car(s) had stopped ahead. I slammed on the brakes but was hemmed in by a disabled truck on the shoulder being hooked up to a wrecker and traffic in the left lane. There was no place to go! The resultant collision wrecked the black car ahead of me which in turn hit the lead car. The occupants in both vehicles were injured; but, not life threatening and were taken off by ambulance. We found out later the woman in the lead car suffered a broken wrist and the man in the second car sustained cuts on his head. Donna and I were not injured. The rig didn't fair too well. The front plastic section was torn away as well as the right light and turn signal. There are scrapes along the right side.The steps are trapped closed by bent metal, the dash air is inoperative, there is damage to the jack system and generator (it still runs). Both windshields leak at the top. Although I was cited for failing to control speed, looking back on all of it, it was absolutely unavoidable. We will just have to see how it plays out. Thankfully, everyone came out of it; it could have been far worse. When you look at the second vehicle it is a miracle.

We were able to rope the front end together and drive home. Here are some pics:

A sad ending to a really wonderful summer trip.

Summer Journey - Coushatta Casino

Last day on our journey  ... we are in the Red Shoes RV Park which is part of the Coushatta Casino complex. We stayed here on the first day of our trip. We started out with a battery problem on our tow car ... only a year old too. Fortunately we were able to drive to a nearby Nissan dealer and they relieved our worries and lightened our wallet a bit and got  us underway in short order. It rained most of the way to Kinder ... sometimes pretty hard. It looks like we will have to deal with ugly weather from here to home.

Last night we hit the casino ... lost a few bucks and had nice meal. So here we are getting ready for the short trip to League City.

Wrap-up later ...

Summer Journal - Bowling Green, KY and Grenada, MS

We spent the night yesterday in Bowling Green, KY. Great trip down but it was a super long day of  driving. There were a number of detours due to construction ... sadly, they either have little money for signs or little interest in putting them out; ...the detours seem to be poorly marked and trail off into nowhere. At one point we gave it up and selected an alternate route on our own. Fortunately we had a fairly good feel for the routes involved.  There was a bit of rain when we arrived. The KOA is one we have stayed at for a number of trips to and from Ohio and have always found it a nice stop ... the site has a concrete pad, table and four chairs and a bench. The full hookups include cable and WiFi. Beckett really likes the large dog run!

The trip to our next stop, Frog Hollow Campground, MS, was interesting. The drive honed my "driving through heavy rain" skills ... folks with no lights on and  slowing to 30 MPH in serious rain on an interstate adds an interesting dimension. Neverless, we got through Nashville and Memphis and headed south.

Frog Hollow is a great campground located at Exit 211 onn I-55! Not too big ... concrete pads ... good service ... would be ideal for a small rally (they have a fully equipped, but not too large rally hall). The campground is owned and operated by Beth and Larry Muschinski, who really give you personalized service. Beth is a frog geek as evidenced by the following pics:

                                                               This the place!

                                                                  Frog stuff outside

                                                             More frog stuff outside

                                                           Even more frog stuff outside

                                                               Some frog stuff inside!

                                                               More frog stuff inside!

We had hoped to get into Coushatta Casino in Kinder. LA  tomorrow night, but, alas they are having a grand opening of a new hotel and the place is packed. Hopefully, we will try again tomorrow; but, consider L'auberge de Lac (sp?) in Lake Charles as a back up. It is another casino ... we saw Regis Philbin and his wife Joy there a number of years ago and had a great time. They have a dynamite buffet!

More when we get a chance ...

Summer Journey - Ohio

It is sweltering today ... almost 100 degrees ... parked in the open, the A/Cs are working hard to keep it comfortable ... we even had to break out a fan!

Yesterday we joined our nephew Scott Donaldson and his family at Leota's place in Sebring --  96 degrees out! -- His wife Tracy, sons David, Cody and Cole plus David's special squeeze, Jenn, who is starting Vet's school at Ohio State next month. David, a professional golf course groundskeeper, got a job in Columbus where they will share a townhouse while she is in school. We all enjoyed a feast of chicken, pizza, several salads plus melon for dessert. Here are several pics:

Cody, the aspiring photographer, a high school junior

                         
                                                               Watermelon? Too late!

                                                        Scott, Cole and David

                                                          Tracy, Leota and Jenn

Tonight we plan to join an old college chum, Donna Jean Ermlick, for dinner.

More later .....

Summer Journey - Ohio on the Fourth

You know you are in the mid-west when it is the 4th of July ... flags flying ... bands playing ... guns firing ... parades on the march ... Here at Cutty's it is a BIG DEAL! The Marlboro Police led the parade through the campground, followed by the colors, Army trucks ... then old cars ... a "Tiger Cage" full of kids ... decorated golf carts ... and decorated bicycles. Here are some pics:

                                                                   Army trucks

                                                           Pat, Leota and Donna

                                                                         
                                                                  Neat car!

                                                                 Decorated carts!

                                                              Cars in Parade

                                                                           Tiger Cage

There were all kinds of things going on ... mostly for the kids ... face painting ... hat making ...

Tonight we plan to grill some steak with baked potatoes, corn and salad ... a perfect ending for a 95 degree day.

More to come ....

Summer Journey - Ohio

The trip to Cutty's Sunset RV Resort in Louisville, Ohio was pretty uneventful once we got going. I place my car braking supplement (Brake Buddy) in a plastic box I keep in the back of the car. I had removed it at Deb's to put some other stuff in the car and forgot to reload it into the car ... left it in Deb's garage. Sooooo..... when we were all ready to leave, no box. Luckily a quick call to Deb let to her bringing it out to us. An hour later, we were on our way. Enroute we lost most of our fresh water ... I suspect the one way valve in the water line failed so when we turned on the water pump, it pumped the water overboard.

I had forgotten how curvy the Pennsylvania Turnpike was! Seems like you are in a constant left or right turn for the whole $40 ride. It was in the 90's the whole way.

Cutty's is a really nice campground that caters to mostly weekenders who have an assortment of Park Models, trailers, 5th wheels and motor homes parked there on a permanent basis. A nasty storm has just moved through dropping some much needed rain ... not enough says the locals; they in a serious drought. Our sister-in-law, Leota Donaldson, has dropped in to visit and stay for dinner.

Summer Journey - Northern Virginia

We were hit with a huge storm on Friday night ... about 10:30 the rig started rocking ... stuff was hitting the roof ... lots of thunder and lightning ... the electricity cut out for just a few seconds and came back on and stayed on. There were millions of folks losing power in the greater Washington DC area ... several people killed by falling trees ... a real mess. Many are still without power here on Sunday. We stayed in the RV on Saturday because our daughter had no electricity until late on Saturday. There were lots of trees down in the campground and debris everywhere.

Today we all went out for a late breakfast and are now getting the rig ready for the trip to Ohio.

Will get back to you later ....