Ain't Life Grand
"Grandpa, can you teach me how to jump rope?"
Well, I certainly tried. Due to a motorcycle injury it was difficult but I did give it a try. My 6 year old granddaughter was not too pleased. Finally, she came to the conclusion, "if I believe I can, it will happen".
Well, take a look. Marci Claire is jumping rope.
It has been a real comfort to me that 2 of my grandkids have been able to spend time with me while Teri is away in Alaska. they keep my mind off of missing my best friend. Teri will be home a week from this coming Wednesday.
This coming Friday my 7 yr. old grandson, Colsyn, and I are taking a trip in the GMC. We will hook the vdub on behind and head to Effingham, Il. early Friday morning. Last year Teri and I attended one of the largest VW gathings in the midwest. There were over 800 volkswagens in one place. That is a bunch of old cars. I would not attend this event alone so I am thankful to my daughter and son in law for allowing Colsyn to go. Colsyn is grounded so he does not get to spend nights with grandpa. Who is being punished here? But, our trip was planned before the glass fell out of the sliding door at their home. Whew.
I recall being grounded once for 2 weeks, seemed like an eternity. I had much rather have a belt and get it over with. I remebered that while raising kids and we just "things" over with. Life seemed better that way.
We will be drycamping in the GMC. that is nothing in a coach prepared for it like our's. The fun part is going to be teaching Colsyn how to use the shower in the coach. We carry 35-40 gallons with a full tank. I like to travel with much less water on board. Its a weight issue. I will let you know how this turns out.
It is funny how wisdom can come with age. I think we could do a btter job of raising future generations if we had kids at 50 and grandkids at 75-80. Then we live to 150 years of age to see how they all turn out. Oh well, I am not in charge so I do the best I can within my time constraints.
Hang with us and check in with Colsyn and me this weekend. Should be lots of pictures. Our GMC provides us with comfort on the road. We see so many things because of an old refurbished coach.
Dan
Which Way Do We Go?
This truck keeps winning best of show around here.
After looking it over real good it is not hard to see why. It is a beauty.
Whew, weather everywhere. Late last month Teri and I rolled up the Mississippi River. We came from as far south as you can go in La. to Cairo. This has been a disaster area with all of the flooding. I am sure the place we stayed in Patterson, La. will be completely flooded this week as the water rolls that way.
Last night tornadoes invaded Southwestern Mo. Joplin was hard hit and according to the news close to 100 fatalities there already known. Joplin is 250 miles due west of Dexter. I noticed we got nearly 1/2 inch of rain here over night but no bad storms. At least no sign and none that woke me from my sleep.
Bad weather everywhere. Colsyn and I have a trip planned in the GMC next weekend. I have to wonder what might be in store for us. We will be staying in an open field just to the north and west of Effingham. There will be at least 800 vdubs there. Many of them will be buses camped around our coach. I think once we arrive I will be looking for a safe place to head should we have high winds. One never knows what nature might have in store.
Teri has been in the Portland area visiting family. Her dad and she will fly to Sitka tomorrow. I think they will be in Alaska for about 8 days and then fly back to Portland. We look for her back here during the second week of June. So far the house looks good, except the kitchen. I have two ice makers scattered all over the kitchen. Been trying to make one run. Not much luck so far. Seems there is some kind of timing issue with our big one after I fixed a gear. The small one lost it's freon in a year. Yesterday Target had a small one for 119. 00 and free shipping. I grabbed one. Life is not good when the ice maker is not functioning.
Hope everyone has a great week. Come on back later to see what I get into without Teri here.
Dan
PS
I am sure that you can believe this. Teri cooked up enough food to last me 3 weeks. Its all in the freezer. Is that love or what?
Our GMC Motorhome Visitors
Here they come.
Look close at the fuzzy picture in the rearview camera monitor in my vdub. That is a GMC on my bumper.
And, up the driveway they come.
Tuesday we got a call form a GMCer traveling the USA. He and his wife were in Louisville, Ky. They had a split cv joint boot and were slinging grease. Paul and Alana were heading west and thought they would come through Dexter if I had a place for them to work on the coach. We are on the GMC Black List, named after Roger Black who started it. Many many GMCers are on this list and will offer assistance to traveling folks in GMC coaches. It is a great tool to have. I never leave home without it. Anyway, Paul said he had grease getting out of one of his boots and need a place to replace it. I told him to come on. We will be here Wednesday but Thursday Teri leaves for Alaska and I must take her to the airport. Check the tracker for wd0afq-1. I made it to Lambert and back this afternoon. So, Paul says he will be there at noon on Wednesday. He called me from Sikeston and I told him I would be waiting at the 2nd Dexter exit to bring him in.
We raised the frontend right away and got started.
I am the supervisor. That has always been my best talent.
My buddy, the mail man, comes up and makes a smart remark about my supervising abilities. I told him just for that I would make him famous.
He brought me a neat dash magnet button from the Button Bandit. This is for the vdub rally Colsyn and I are heading to in 2 weeks. He thrives on sending us vdub guys buttons with pictures of us or our vdub on them. We do not know who he is. What a guy.
Back to buisness. Paul wanted to try this split boot so we did not have to pull the axle. Tiny screws hold it together. I must admit, I was impressed. I had two band clamp tools and we almost did not figure out how to use one of them. It had been 3 years since I had used one. Finally got it and pulled the band tight. I got an email from Paul tonight and the boot has worked fine for 100 miles. We will see.
Our overnighters Paul and Alana. They left Oakland, Ca. in early January traveling the entire year, across the USA and Canada. This is how to do it, when young. Work can wait. Life is good. They slept in our driveway and were off today when Teri and I pulled out for the airport. Great couple. We hope to see more of these guys. Teri and I love visiting the Bay area. We will wait til they get back to work and stop by to see them.
Well, Teri is in the air for Seattle. She will then fly into Portland. Tuesday she and her father will fly to Sitka, Alaska. Won't be home for 3 weeks. Teri cooked up enough food to last me until she gets home. That girl takes great care of me.
Our 4 year old grandson wants to keep grandpa from being lonely. So, I drove the coach over and picked him up for the night.
Enjoy the weekend.
Dan
Just a Little Fun
These grandkids love staying all night with grandpa. so, I think they should learn a few things while here. Marci Claire is learning the proper art of polishing a wheel. Looks like she is learning pretty fast. The kids love riding in the bug so why not help keep it clean?
Marci Claire is interested in learning to play the guitar like grandpa. I have an old Harmony that she drags out of it's case when she stays all night. It won't be long.
One of the things we did today, after having ice cream at the local drug store, was check our geocaches. With all the rain we have had I was concerned.
We have a cache here so folks can see this natural spring. Lots of locals get drinking water here, including us. This was a gathering place for the cofederate army and there is a nice plaque here.
Look close and you will spot the cache. It is the only wet one of the bunch. I will fix that tomorrow.
Marci Claire loves playing with the camera and thought her grandpa should get his picture taken. Tonight we have 4 grandchildren here. I think 3 of them will go home before bed time. With Teri leaving Thursday, for Alaska, she just has to see them as much as possible. Will be three weeks before she returns. I am taking her to the St. Louis airport Thursday.
This morning I got a call from our GMC Black List. A fella traveling through here tomorrow needs a place to work on his coach. I assured him we have the space and he is welcome to come on by. So, we may have company for a day or two. He knows he is on his own Thursday as we will be on the road. One of the GMC folks in St. Louis picked up a window for me over near Knoxville last week. I will pick that up Thursday after I drop Teri off. He lives fairly close to Lambert Field so it won't take long to grab it and head home. Owning a GMC motorhome is much more than just having one. We are part of a large group of friends who are always helping each other out. The Black List is a list of us owners who are willing to help each other out while traveling and being in need. That is how the fella got my phone number that will stop by tomorrow.
Have a great week.
Dan
Oh Yea, Life Is Good
Colsyn spent Friday night with us. We got up and headed to the Malden Car Show. It was nippy out and we were not really dressed for the weather.
There are some very nice old cars and hotrods that live in Southeast Mo.
Of course you can tell that this one is nothing like it was when built. All new car.
When I was a drag racing kid these were all over the tracks, and fast.
This t bird belongs to a friend of mine. He has owned it for a long time now.
Always a lot of old tractors here.
Nice daily driver. I like the 17 inch wheels. May do that to our Mustang.
The only other bug present, 79 Super.
Colsyn loves these old Mustangs. There were a couple of 66 s there. My 65 was this color from the factory. Will be a deep blue when we paint it.
Oh yea. Saturday afternoon we had an End of School Party. Here is one of our granddaughters from Nashville, Tn. She is a cutie and works hard to overcome some physical disabilities that she was born with. Alexis was not born into our family but became one of us a couple of days after her birth. She is a precious soul and loves her grandparents.
Here are two of grandpa's boys. They will go anywhere and do about anything as long as they can hang with grandpa.
This is Essie. She too lives in Nashville and is our son's oldest at 9, going to be 10 in August, and going on 15. She loves riding in grandpa's bug.
All of these kids are home schooled and are finished for the summer. It was a big party and we had a great time.
So, just as we settle into being home again, after wintering in the GMC, Teri readies herself to head out again. She is leaving Thursday for Alaska. Her father lived and worked there for 20 years. This is a father daughter trip. Never even a hint of me tagging along. That's ok with me. I don't really care about seeing Alaska. We have way too many places left in the 48 to explore. Teri will be gone for 3 weeks. The grandkids have promised to take care of grandpa and spend the nights here. Colsyn and I have a trip planned in the motorhome, dragging the bug, to Effingham, Il, in a couple of weeks. Big vdub show. That will be lots of fun.
We are now out of flood problems around here. Now the cleaning up for many begins. Ms. and La. will be dealing with it now.
Dan
Fun At Home
What takes one day in the GMC to make a good blog entry takes a week at home. See, we have so much fun in that old motorhome I just have to share it with you daily.
This week has been busy. Check out that Road Closed sign. 3 times this week I have come to one of these signs and then stopped at the last house, not under water, to fix their tv. This flooding in SEMO has been unbelievable. We will never live through anything like this again.
The door to this 5th wheel is around that corner. There was 6 inches of water from me to that door. It was all the way around the thing. My mission, fix the fella's tv. He was not home. I called him to let him know I was not wading that water and was moving on to another job 10 miles away. He had his workers build me a walkway. When we returned, I got in and we took care of the job. Did 6 tv jobs in 3 days. Got 4 waiting for parts now. Told Teri I hope 3-4 more folks lose their tv this weekend so I have something to do next week. She did not think that was too nice. I need gas money. HAve been doing warranty work on new flat screens for almost a year now. My brother in La. helped me get into it. Great job and I can do it wherever we are going to be for a few weeks.
You see this bad boy? He was running from a mole that I flipped out of the ground with a shovel yesterday. Teri has a good eye for working moles. She spotted 2 this week and I flipped and murdered them, burying them back in the hole they dug for their buddies to see. Hope they had a nice funeral.
One reason we are home. this is Larsyn. He is always happy when grandpa is around.
Rylan, with his spiked hair at Thursday School graduation this week. He told me to stop calling him Spike. "You can call me Homeboy". Today when he came over that doo was gone and he knew grandpa was happy when he asked, " you like it now grandpa?".
Grana, mom, and the 4 kids. We had a great time this evening with them coming over for Mother's Day. Life is good with 16 grandchildren. We had 7 year old Colsyn spend the night with us last night. We worked on the m&m candy along with a box of Moosetrax. Of course we had chocolate syrip along with it. Oh, we also devoured a few peanuts last night while watching Ax Men.
Even grandpa got his picture taken. These 4 are almost always smiling and fight to spend the night with grana and grandpa.
Hope all of the mothers out there have a very special day tomorrow.
Dan
"Grandpa, can you teach me how to jump rope?"
