Can't share any pictures today of where we are or what we saw so I'll just share a picture of Maggie and Tess in the motorhome! Pictures through the windshield just don't do things justice! I will say though, the fall colors are evident everywhere! Our trip from Nebraska through Iowa and down through Missouri was uneventful. Just got to enjoy the leaves, trees and bushes with their vibrant coloring! Even with our GPS we kind of made a wrong turn, but that's the beauty of this lifestyle...we just took it in stride and kept going! A few more miles, but no stress! We thought about stopping at the Corporate offices of Don's old employer, but after calling, the few people he would have wanted to see weren't even in the office today! As we got closer, it was evident that he really did want to go by, so the decision was made that hey, we were this close...we were going to stop! Located a campground, but didn't exactly find it. Saw a roadside sign for a campground and decided to "go for it". Wasn't quite as easy to find as some! Pulled into a older park...lots of permanents, but plenty of room for us. It's a family owned park and they are very friendly - that counts for a lot! One guy stopped by and asked about our satellite! They were "almost" full-timers. I told him that I love it and would have another! It's so easy to use! Just give me a view of the southern sky! So that's it for now. Enjoying the evening temps...it was rather warm when we pulled in, but it has cooled down to about 70 this evening! Will attempt to get by the Corporate office and/or the Kansas office (much like Fontana) and then head on our way. Hope to at least make the border of Arkansas!

Don on the back of a caboose in Iron Park, part of the
Haymarket District in Lincoln, NE. Walked through some
of the shops, but mostly enjoyed a beer and margarita on the patio enjoying a sun-shiny day! This was just after finding out that our radiator, that was supposed to be drop-shipped to us today, had a three week delay! So, instead of waiting for three weeks in Lincoln or Omaha, NE...we will try to make it to Little Rock (Cabot), AR where we had originally planned on being at until after Thanksgiving anyway! Had to find a Detroit Diesel repair facility in that area instead! Being retired makes it soooo much easier to "just go with the flow"! :-) After our trip to the Haymarket, it was time for a quick trip to the Walmart Super Center to get some distilled water for our trip and then I had enough time to give one stinky dog a bath! (I have to say...she wasn't too happy about that!)

This is a picture of one of the domes inside the capitol building in Lincoln. I wish you could see the detail! The entire tour that we had was absolutely amazing! The history behind all the murals and depictions was wonderful! The original cost of this building was $10 million dollars! It's undergoing renovations...year 10 of a 9 year plan! I can't remember what our guide said that the value was today but it was staggering!

 

Here we are on the next step of our journey! It's kind of twisted from what we expected, but I guess that's to be expected in this kind of lifestyle! So, we leave Harrisburg, OR and as we are ready to leave our low coolant light flashes and buzzes. Monaco checks it, adds more coolant and off we go. I hate to say "I told you so", but I even said..."We need to have them check the radiator!" It's been a known problem that the radiators in the '04 and '05 Executives and Signatures have had a problem. We picked up our coach on June 28...July 12 they changed the radiator. Anyhow, didn't notice any overheating and stayed a few days in our next location. Started up and again our low coolant light comes on and the buzzer buzzes! Don checks the coolant and everything appeared o.k. Same thing a few days later. In Cheyenne we stopped and bought a $12.00 jug of coolant - just in case! This morning as we are leaving the Windmill State Recreation area in Gibbon, NE same drill. Don checked and notices a small puddle under the radiator and the tray underneath has some moisture. Called Monaco and the roadside service. The roadside people call back first...there's a Detroit Dealer in New Brunswick (about 128 miles east of Lincoln) that can help us. New Brunswick? I'm looking at the map and trying to figure out why New Brunswick. Then I ask...is there something in Kansas City, Kansas? We finally figured out that the first person I talked to didn't know their correct abbreviations for states and put in NB for Nebraska instead of NE! Yikes! So after getting that straightened out...there's a new shop in Lincoln. We call and talk to them and they are waiting for us...we're less than 1/2 away. Get there and now we really do have a leak! Now the biggest problem is not getting the radiator...Monaco has already called back and they will drop ship one out on Monday a.m., but in getting the old radiator OUT of the motorhome! It has to be put on a lift so they have room to drop it out! Yikes! Our home lifted up in the air! Anyhow, the Lincoln shop isn't that big so we have to take it to the "main" shop in Omaha! So now we are scheduled to do that on Tuesday, or Wednesday depending on when the radiator arrives!

Our original plan was not to spend a lot of time in Nebraska. It was going to be an overnight stop...that's it. In Cheyenne, we stopped at a newly opened train depot museum. It was the original home of Cheyenne's Union Pacific train depot. The heyday was in the early 1900's when there were lots of steam engines. At one time there were over 5,000 employees. Once the steam engines were replaced with oil burners...around 10! We found out that one of the original (Big Boy...one of the largest) steam engines was in Omaha, Nebraska so we thought about stopping to see it. We had also talked to one of our Nebraska/now California friends, Sue and Robb and they said to make sure we stopped at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland. (BTW Robb...remember the bugs we talked about? I think our windshield is as buggy now as it was coming through North and South Dakota!) Checked online to find out "where" this "Big Boy" was and found out that it had been at a museum but in March it was moved to another location. Looked up this "new" location and found out that they were having a "special" dedication ceremony THIS weekend! After that it's closed for about another month while they finish construction! On Saturday it's being sponsored by Union Pacific and Sunday by a private sponsor! Won't get there today after our extra "stop", but hopefully tomorrow! Until Tuesday will be staying here: "www.campaway.com".

Another stop we made while in Cheyenne was the Capitol building. Wow! It was one of the first to have "electric" lights and while it's been restored (1980), a lot of it is as it was in 1887! It has some beautiful stained glass and the dome in the rotunda is stunning!

We have a LOT of Nebraska/now California friends so we can finally find out either: 1) why they left here, or 2) why they are so proud to be FROM Nebraska! :-) They always seem to talk about Runza's so we'll be sure to have a few of them while we're here! :-) **Update** I've decided that while I knew Nebraskans were serious about their football...THEY ARE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT THIER FOOTBALL! Went to the grocery store today...the game was on over the PA system! The store was decorated Huskers throughout! The checkers and boxers were in red (Nebraska color)! And if that's not enough, I noticed that several things were closed during home football games! Now that's SERIOUS! :-)

Weather has warmed up here too! The snow was beautiful as we were pulling into Cheyenne, but it's nice to have warm feet when you get into bed! I hadn't put the electric blanket on the bed until we got into Evanston, WY! It will be nice to enjoy the Indian Summer weather along with some of the beautiful fall colors that abound on so many of the trees and bushes!

Don wanted me to share some other pictures with you...these are some of Don and Tess climbing the dunes in Idaho! (Yes, he did end up crawling to the very top...it was very, very steep and as you got closer to the top, you'd take one step up, three down!) Tess ran up to the top, over, around and down and then she was shot!!!

Well, we've joined the age of Blog! Seen it, read it, and thought it would be a great way to keep our family and friends up-to-date with our full-time adventure! :-)

So....

Arrived in Cheyenne, WY after a long driving day! It's hard to sleep late (yes, even Don these days) and get on/off the road at a decent hour! We've both decided that there's a WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING in Wyoming! For being one of the largest states (it ranks 9th according to our AAA book) there aren't a lot of people (again, referenced from our AAA - less than 500,000)!

We did see lots of snow for this early in the year as we got closer to Cheyenne! I took pictures (through the glass/windshield) to show! Before we left our previous campspot (Evanston, WY) I checked out Weather Bug...we had a 30% chance of snow showers after midnight. Never got anything that we were aware of. As we drove farther east, the clouds and such looked nasty but nothing that ever affected us!

Stopped at Terry Bison Ranch (not sure why it's not Terry's). It's a working Bison Ranch with cabins, bunkhouse and an RV park. http://www.terrybisonranch.com/ Before it got dark I took Tess for a walk. She had a close encounter with some goat and a couple of the horses. If given free rein, she would have loved to have played with the goats! Most of the goats would shy away from her, but there was a brave one or two of them who decided that she was after all, on the other side of the fence! On our way back to the motorhome, she spotted a cute bunny that was running away from her! She would have loved to have chased it...she was chomping at the bit to be let go! Certainly don't know what she would have done if she had caught it...and didn't want to find out!

Certainly hard to relate to the weather in So. Calif. when tonight it's 39 degrees! I think the high was around 60 degrees...if that!

Well with this, it's time to sign off! I'm hoping to post "pre" blogs so "I" can keep track of where we've been and what we've done! :-)