Another Adventure Comes to a Close......

We spent Friday out on the lake again.  No strenuous activities, just floating and trying to stay cool.  And if we weren't on the water, we'd just be sitting back in our trailers as it has been WAAAAY to hot this week to spend much time outside unless it is on the water.  

And then Friday evening, we started taking down all the "stuff" we had setup outside the trailer.  How much can that be, you ask?  Well, we seem to be accumulating a lot!  Canopy with screen, table cloth, holiday decorations, lighting for the canopy, lighting "just because", dog pen and toys, ice maker, cooler, outside trash can, BIG outdoor area rug, lawn chairs, end table..... well, you get the idea!  At least we got all of it stowed.  So this morning it was a matter of buttoning things up inside (no small task either), having breakfast, dumping the RV tanks (ugh, what a process!), and getting on the road.

We took off about 9am this morning and rolled into the driveway a little before 4pm.  That is about my limit for riding in one day anymore.  

Along the way home, we discovered that vacation can be grueling..... as this pic of Gabi shows......

At one point, on the drive home today, I looked back at the girls and saw this.  Good lord, that girl is wiped out!  They both slept most of the way home and are sleeping some more even now.

We did have a bit of excitement at the end of the journey.  Earlier in the week, when we were having dinner at our trailer one evening, Colton discovered a bulge in the hydraulic lines on one of the slides.  We're thinking, "Great.  Another trip to Abilene to get that fixed."  As Max was backing the trailer into the driveway, the line burst.  We got the front jacks down and the trailer off the truck, but I can't run out the slides and therefore, can't easily unpack the trailer.  Besides, it is still 95 degrees in the dang thing! 

Fortunately, we were able to get ahold of the guys in Abilene and will hopefully get the trailer in next week to be all fixed up.

Ah the joys of owning toys!

Cheers,

Dr J

Water Skiing?? And Fireworks!

Shell Knob does a pretty good job of putting on a fireworks display for a small town. We watched them from the boat and it was awesome. There were hundreds of boats out there watching fireworks last night. This pic doesn't do it justice. The flotilla was amazing. And no, I didn't get any fireworks pics. Just can't do them justice.

Today Max decided to try his hand at waterskiing. Interesting. This is a pic when he first got in the water. Looking pretty happy and relaxed.

And here he is on his last attempt...... Almost there! But no, he didn't get up today. Wasn't as easy as when he was sixteen, I guess. Grin. Maybe tomorrow he will have better luck!

Of course, Ron is an old hand at skiing. He did great on his run!

More water fun tomorrow. If only it would dip below 100 during the dang day. Ah well.

Cheers,

Dr J

Happy Fourth! And Lake Fun

Happy Independence Day! I always think of my friend in the UK on the Fourth. When I was still working, we were coming up on a Fourth of July holiday and he kept trying to schedule a meeting with me for that day. When I reminded him that we would be on holiday over here, he said, "Oh yeah, you DO still celebrate that little fracas". Guess it all depends on one's perspective and country of origin, eh?!? Grin.

Some of you have wondered what we do all day long at the lake. Well, here's a sample from yesterday. First, here I am all suited up and ready to play.

Yesterday we took about an hour and a half to get to our destination. Did I mention that this is a HUGE lake? 'Course it also took that long because we were towing kids around on Big Mable. When you do that, it involves a lot of high speed zigzagging, donuts, and then stopping to pick up kids that have been dumped in the water.

Also along the way, we stopped at the Tablerock version of Hawaiian cliff diving. Here's Brianna as she was in mid-leap. The kids had a blast climbing and then jumping.

We motored until we crossed the border into Arkansas. We finally arrived in Beaver, AR. It is basically a wide spot in the road. But it has this beautiful old suspension bridge leading into town. Believe it or not, it is a wood plank bridge! Vehicles make quite a clatter as they cross. We anchored in the shade below the bridge and had lunch.

And then we float! It has been in the 100s here (about 15 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year), so once I got over the shock of the cold water, it felt pretty dangled good. Not a bad way to spend the day!

Cheers,

Dr J

Food and Games

If you know us at all, then you know that traveling for us when we are with the Os, is all about the food! As in.... We are planning our next meal while we are eating the current meal. Seriously. The last two nights have had some awesome food. Last night was kabobs and tonight was crock pot fajitas. Yummy. Somehow food always seems to taste better when you eat outside. Particularly if you have spent the day on the water or out shopping.

Yesterday we went to Branson and spent some serious time at the outlet mall. Then today we boated all day. I'll have pics of that tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a pic of Jaden, Brianna, and Judy after dinner last night.

And here are Max and Judy after another delicious meal.

And then, of course, David, Ron, and Colton.....

After dinner is always a good time for a game. Colton and David take their turn at bocce ball while Brianna supervises.

Then Jaden and Keaton take their turn.

And a new game to us is Flickin' Chicken. You throw a frisbee like disk out and then try to flick your rubber chicken closest to it. You can imagine with three teenage and preteen boys in the mix, well let's just say the chickens were flying everywhere. Grin.

You can imagine that by the end of the day we are all exhausted. Unfortunately, this campground doesn't have water hookup, so we have to use the showerhouse. So when the day is over, we troop down for showers to finally wrap up the day. Ah well, it IS camping after all. At least that is what everyone reminds me of when I complain. Grin.

Cheers,

Dr J

Big Mable

The last two days have been all about the lake and being in the water. As I've posted in the past, our friends Ron and Judy O, have an awesome Cobalt boat. So we have spent the last two days out on the water.

Along with the Os, we are also camping with Ron's sister and her family. They also have a boat, so we've been zooming all over the lake. In addition to skiing, and of course, floating, the big attraction is riding on Big Mable as Cap'n Ron tows her back and forth thru the wake and waves. It is amazing what kind of air time one can get on Mable.

Here are Max, Brianna, and Judy out for a ride. Ron took it easy on them. He only tossed Brianna and Max off once. Max was grinning like a big kid the whole time. And today is Judy's birthday -- what better way to celebrate that being flung around the lake?!?!

And here are Keaton, Colton, and Jaden on Big Mable. Ron really tossed them around the lake, but they managed to stay on .... Mostly. Grin. He did manage to flip them off, quite spectacularly, once. They were grinning from ear to ear the whole time.

And finally, here is Cap'n Ron with what I like to call his "alternate hair". Grin. He is an excellent skipper.

And no, I didn't ride Mable. Seriously, did you think that I would?!?!

Cheers,

Dr J

The adventure continues.....

This next adventure actually started yesterday (Thursday)...... We had a few warranty items that needed to be taken care of at the dealer, so we loaded up yesterday (really freakin' early) and drove to Abilene.

We actually had only 3 things to be fixed.... The seals on the basement storage needed to be replaced, the kitchen drain seals needed to be fixed, and the countertop on the island had to be replaced. When they originally shipped our fifth wheel, they had used scrap pieces of carpet to protect between the lounge chairs and the island. Unfortunately, they had the rough underside of the carpet scraps wedged against the edge of the island countertop. So, as the delivery guy drove it about a 1000 miles to our rv dealer, the carpet managed to rub a really deep gouge in the island counter.

We were there when they opened at 9 am.... Hoping that we would be done and back on the road home by noon. No such luck! About 2.30, they finally asked us to come back to the shop and take a look at the new counter before they buttoned up the unit. When we came inside, I realized that they had already covered up the island and put it back in its shipping position. So I proceeded to pull it out. After some "what the heck" and explanations..... Well they replaced the wrong countertop. Apparently, the manufacturer had sent a new kitchen countertop instead of an island one. Keep in mind that this is a big l-shaped counter with a double sink and faucet in it. No wonder it took about 2 hours longer than we expected! However, I DID get a new sink out of the deal so I'm not complaining too much.

Unfortunately we didn't get home til about 4pm. Then we had to go to El Dorado to pick up the girls. Then we had to come home and pack the fifth wheel. We finally got done with that about 9.30. What a day!

We started the day, today, with a 4.30am alarm. Ugh. But by 7am, we had met up with the Oelkers and were headed to Tablerock Lake. After many, many stops along the way....well, like this one......

Mom has told us in the past that she and Don used to love to stop at this place whenever they were down this way. And now I understand why. Holy cow! These folks sell everything. Like Camping World but on steroids. They sell new and used RVs, salvage RVs, sell new and used parts. After some wandering around, we settled on an electrical adapter for the campground.

We finally made it to our campground at Table Rock about 4 this afternoon. Lord it was hot as we were trying to maneuver into our campsite. But we are in and mostly setup and finally have the trailer down to an acceptable coolness level inside.

We are spending the next week here so more on our campground, the lake, and our continuing adventure in the coming days.

Cheers,

Dr J

Home Again

The bad part of coming home from a trip is that you have to undo all the loading that was done to get the trip started. And of course, there is the cleaning......

On the inside, I got most of the cleaning done before we left the lake yesterday. But I still had to finish dusting and then sweep and mop. Did I mention that the fifth wheel has a central vac system? Sweet!

And then there is the outside cleaning. When we got back from Texas, Max had cleaned the front of the trailer to get off the worst of the bugs, road grime, and sea spray.

But after living 5 days under the trees at the lake, you can't believe how much tree sap covered the darn thing. Heck, I left my phone laying on the picnic table for a bit. And when I picked it up, the darned screen was covered in specks of tree sap!

So we spent the morning washing and hand drying the outside, starting at the top. You can see how high up Max is when he climbs up there!

And now the trailer is safely stowed in storage.... Awaiting our next adventure. (here's a hint--we are headed out again for the fourth of July).

Already looking forward to the next trip!

Cheers,

Dr J