RV-ing in the Kram-a-lot-Inn: July 2008

Monday July 28 - Budget-Accounting

Finally I took the time to complete our expense log for our 48 night travel/vacation time. (7 weeks)

Keep in mind that if we were normal fulltime RVer’s we would have traveled less then ½ the miles in the same time frame. Therefore our yearly budget would be just about $30,000. Insurance would add another 8,000 per year. Using these numbers it would come to 38,000 per year.

Jesse and I think we could live comfortably on 32,000 per year. If we workamp 6 months of the year we can reduce that amount.

We spent a total of $5,038.17

We traveled 4,872 miles - 3,352 towing and 1,520 non- towing –
Average total miles per gallon 11.55

We were in the following states:

Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota

Food-Eat out $ 618.81

Food-Groceries $ 623.50
Average per person per day $ 12.94

Camp Site Rental $ 826.73 Average $17.22 (This includes 5 nights of free camping during our stay at the Casino)

Fuel $ 1,966.82

Tolls/Parking $ 41.25

Entertainment $ 229.25

Repair & Maintenance $ 13.00 Tire Repair

Personal/Medicine $ 32.23

License & Registration $ 517.29

Miscellaneous $ 104.79 Post cards, postage, water filers, Brita

Laundry $ 64.50

We can hardly wait to get back out there and see if we know what we are talking about.

See ya down the road.

Sunday July 27 - Just a Lazy Sunday

Just like old times. Old times being before our short lived retirement in May. We just hung out around the house all day watching TV and playing around on the PC’s although Ginger did make breakfast and dinner and managed to get the laundry done in between. Maybe it was just a lazy day for me.

We have been having a problem with the Direct TV HI-DEF receiver in the family room since our return. Because it was off electricity for more than 30 days I had to call Direct TV to have it reactivated which was no problem but it kept dropping the signal. Sometimes it would do this 4 or 5 times in an hour and each time you have to reset the receiver and let it boot up taking 3 or 4 minutes; makes it hard to concentrate on a mindless program.

Some days this would not happen at all but this past weekend it seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. I have called Direct TV 3 times for this. First time I had already reset the receiver when I called and the service rep said I would have to call back when the problem was occurring. It did not take long for that to happen. This time the lack of service rep could not detect a problem and said there were 2 options to remedy this. # 1 was an $80 service call to fix the problem and would guarantee the fix for 90 days or #2 a $20 service call and I would have to sign up for their service plan for $5.95 per month.

I informed the rep there was a 3rd option….Dish TV. She kind of stammered a bit and said she would note it in my file. I just hung up feeling I was being held ransomed. I had Comcast Cable in Maryland for many years with many problems but they never charged me anything for a repair and I did not feel I should have to pay anything for this.

I tried diagnosing the problem myself. Nothing seemed out of wack on the dish or cabling and the other regular receivers were OK. I did notice the problem receiver was very hot so I removed the access card and it was so hot it had a burned spot. I looked up some service issues on DTV forums and figured the receiver is most likely the problem. I called them a 3rd time and the rep agreed this is most likely the problem and is sending me a new receiver via Fed Ex but I have to pay shipping. I caved and agreed, we should have it in 2 days.

Well if you have been following this blog you know I am now employed by Wal*Mart. If you have not been following the blog you now know. I was hired as an assembler. I mostly assemble bicycles, grills, furniture, or anything else that might need to be put together. Not too bad a gig. I consider this my 1st workamping position. Hopefully it won't be for too long.

Everyone knows Wal*Mart is the #1 retailer in the world but to give you an idea of just how big they have grown since Sam Walton's opened his first store in 1962. They did $300 billion in sales last year and have more than 1.8 million employees.

I worked for Cintas Corp; the largest uniform Co. in the U.S. and Wal*Mart’s sales in 1 week was Cintas’s sales for the year. WOW!

Well Ginger just called to tell me we have a showing for the house today so I have to get moving. Maybe this will be it.

See ya down the road

Saturday July 26 - No title

Well Jesse has finished his 1st full week of employment at Wal*Mart. He is off for the next two days - Sunday and Monday. He mostly put bikes together and a few grills. He seems to be okay with it, says it’s good that he works at his own pace in the back and nobody bothers him.

I have had the last few days off to myself. I rarely get time to myself so it’s been nice, but I don’t want a steady diet of it. He got his schedule for the 4th week and he works 10am-7pm and off Thursday and Friday. Yuck :~(

Nothing much new here, same old stuff. Get up go to work, come home make dinner, relax in front of the tube, then off to bed, to start again tomorrow.

We had an open house yesterday, but no one came. I want to thank all our friends out there that are keeping good thoughts for us to sell. I try to keep positive, but it’s hard, so
THANKS A BUNCH!

After Jesse got home today we had our dinner and watched TV for a while. Our exciting Saturday night was making a trip to Dairy Queen for a blizzard.

Until tomorrow

See ya down the road.

Wednesday July 23 - Just Another Day

Jesse has been doing orientation for the last two days as part of his employment with Wal*Mart. He seems to like it okay, although he will not start doing the job he was hired for as an “assembler” until Thursday. He gets his schedule 3 weeks in advance. He is scheduled for day work 7-4 or 8-5 Tuesday through Saturday, having Sunday and Monday off, so it’s not too bad.

When we were in Howard had made plans to arrange a lunch with Ed & Marilyn and Bob & Lynda at a restaurant in Old Colorado City soon. I have been waiting for Jesse to get his schedule before we did that. Now we have to check because I think they said the restaurant is closed on Monday’s which would be the only weekday we could go.

On Tuesday I received a call from the realtor that someone wanted to see the house between 5:30 – 7:30pm. My first thought was how they dare want to come during the dinner hours, but of course I said okay. My second thought was “what are we going to do with the boys for two hours in this heat, it was 100 degrees.

Then It came to me, I called Adam our son and asked if he wanted some company for awhile this evening. He said sure so that is what we did. As soon as Jesse walked in the door I said go change we need to be out of the house by 5:30 and it was now 5:15.

We had a very nice visit with Adam. We ordered a pasta dish from Pizza Hut and they delivered and we enjoyed a meal together.

We talked about a fireman friend that is very young and is dying of cancer. There was a big auction/fund raiser for his family this past Saturday and they were very pleased to raise $20,000 for his daughter’s education.

Once home Jesse and I watched Big Brother 10 and relaxed in front of the TV. Jesse was also catching up on blogs with the laptop.

Today was a typical day nothing very interesting happened and we still have no offers.

Many are making plans to have a reunion at Buckhorn Lake Resort, Kerrville, TX in March 2009, but Jesse and I will have to wait to see what happens.

For now have a great weekend!

See ya down the road.

Monday July 21 - Day with Grandchildren

I had left it up in the air as to weather I would go to work today and I decided not to. This was to be Jesse last day of his 1st retirement and I decided to spend it with him. Me and our two grandchildren; Ryan and Kacie. We had invited them to spend the day with us and go to the movies to see the new Batman movie.

Our daughter brought them with her to work at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center and Jesse went to get them. While he was gone I prepared breakfast of turkey sausage and Belgian waffles with strawberries.

After breakfast we talked and got caught up on their summer so far and then I went to get dressed, while Jesse was showing them the pictures from our trip.

Once Jesse and I were dressed we talked about taking them on a geocaching adventure. Kacie was all for it but Ryan was a little reserve about the whole idea. (Remember he is a 14 year old boy).

Jesse looked some up on line, but then we chose to skip it this time as it was really hot outside.

I had taken some snacks for the movie and we purchased drinks. Everyone liked the movie, but I did think it was a little long, although it kept my interest. It was 3:00 and we were all hungry.

We went to Cracker Barrel for linner and then took them to get haircuts. Beth met us there as she got out of work a little early. The children got a trim so they would be ready for school to start in 3 weeks, and then they headed home and so did we.

I fed the boys their dinner and we relaxed for the evening until time for bed.

It was a fun day spent with two people we really love. Having grandchildren are such a blessing.

Until tomorrow

See ya down the road.

Sunday July 20 - Another Hot Day

It’s Sunday morning and we just finished pulling weeds. We have been doing this every morning for a week now and we can finally see the end.

Before

After

It is hot already today and getting hotter. “But it’s a dry hot” this is true "but hot is hot"!

I made us some breakfast and then Jesse moved the Kram-a-lot to the side of the house I did some laundry and straighten the house.

We wanted to spruce up our curb appeal, so we decided to go to Lowes for some flowering plants, but it is too late in the summer because they do not have anything worth purchasing.

Once we were back to the house I made pasta and shrimp for dinner and we relaxed for the rest of the day. We watched Big Brother 10 and Design Star on TV, then off to bed.

Not a very exciting.

See ya down the road.

Saturday July 20 - Another Saturday

Today started like most Saturdays. We got up let (not walked) the boys out and had our coffee while reading and writing.

After a short time we went out to pull weeds. It seems that there is no end.

I made breakfast and then Jesse tried to take a nap. Something woke him at 3am and he was not able to get back to sleep. So when I got up at 5am he was in the family room.

It was suppose to be very hot here today 100 degrees, so we decided to go to see Hancock at the movies. I thought it was good; the story line was not what I expected.

After the movies we went to Chili’s for dinner (we are still use gift cards so it only cost us $5.00 for a tip and we had really good chicken and shrimp fajitas) and then on to Wal*Mart for groceries.

When all the groceries were put away and the boys were fed, we retired to the family room for an evening of HGTV until time for bed.

See ya down the road.

Friday July 18 - A Day with Friends

Thursday Jesse had an interview with Wal*Mart and was hired as an assembler. He thinks he will be putting things together and setting up displays. He has an orientation on Tuesday from 8-5pm.

My day was like most Thursday’s, doing payroll and paying bills. The best part this day was I have off tomorrow.

When I got home we were back to bagel Thursdays for dinner, and then relaxed in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

Today was a really wonderful day.

We had planned a visit with Bob and Lynda .

They are staying in Howard, CO Pleasant Valley RV Park which is 1 ½ hours west of Pueblo. I have followed their travels since their beginning and we met them while in Branson. They are very nice and interesting people and we are happy to call them friends.

They also invited Ed and Marilyn

who are staying at Mountain Dale Campground . Ed and Marilyn are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. Ed never meets a stranger. We also met them in Branson and I have read their journal from the start.

Also joining the gathering were Dan & Karon

who are also staying at Pleasant Valley. We also met them in Branson and they were in Custer while we were there, but we were not able to meet with them, so I was glad to see them again.

Bob had emailed us not to bring anything that they were going to get a pizza, but for those who know me that doesn’t happen. I made brownies and brought a bottle of the wine we purchased from Prairie Berry Winery, the winery we visited (twice) while in South Dakota.

We left our house around 10am and headed west on Highway 50. The drive is really beautiful as you follow upstream along the Arkansas River. I only took one picture as Jesse said “we already have pictures of the rafters and river from last year”, when we made a trip to Salida, but then I could not find them this morning when writing.

When we arrived we were greeted by Ed and Bob. I gave and received hugs then went inside with Lynda and Marilyn and Karon.

Lynda was preparing a big salad for lunch. When she said she had never prepared a meal for 8 people before I was shocked. You would never have known it the salad was made with greens, chicken, apples, raisins, grapes, nuts, artichoke hearts, and eggs with a raspberry dressing and olive oil – it was delicious.

We carried everything up to the community room and sat outside under a covered patio area. We had salad, wine, water, crackers, plates, forks, watermelon, and brownies.

A picture of all eight of us taken by Ginger the owner of the Park (Thanks Ginger)

Here's Ginger with Bob and Lynda

We ate and drank and were having a wonder time getting to know each other, better and before we knew it, it was 4:00pm. "Where does the time go". We needed to get back to the house to let our boys outside.
So we gathered everything up and took a walk around the park, and then with hugs and handshakes (Mostly hugs) we said our “see you soon”.

A river runs through it :~)

Jesse is walking back from the car with my water and you can see Bob & Lynda's Carrie-Lite home in the back ground.

You see Bob and Lynda are moving to Woodland Park, CO next week and Ed and Marilyn and Karon and Dan will be staying where they are until after Labor Day. So we made a date to meet again soon at Henri the Mexican restaurant in Old Colorado City Ed had mentioned in his blog.
It was a very good day and we enjoyed our mini rally very much.

See ya down the road.

Wednesday July 16th - Pictures posted

I posted the pictures from Saturday.

Wednesday July 16 - Getting Everyone Caught up

We have been busy getting things unloaded in the Kram-a-lot and getting back to the routine of working.

Well I am working; Jesse is putting applications in around town. If we have to stay here awhile we are going to make some money!

Jesse and I enjoyed our weeks away very much and were very sad that we had to come back to Pueblo. We wanted to see the children and grandchildren, but that was it.

On Saturday we went to our Daughters for a family gathering to celebrate all the events that happened while we were gone for 7 weeks. The weather was beautiful the highs were in the upper 70’s, which is unheard of for this part of the state.

Colt getting to ride one of the horses

And Another

Kacie getting ready go swimming

Tyler the graduate and his new girl friend

Some of the guests

Jesse acting like a kid

The real kids playing basketball

The moon

Sunday was spent just relaxing and getting things ready for me to go to work on Monday. It was hot again and suppose to get hotter as the week goes on. I had planned to work on the budget from our 7 weeks out, but couldn’t get into it. As soon as I get it done I will give everyone the scoop on our expenses.

I made up some Mexican food for dinner. I also made guacamole. (Remember we discovered while we were in Branson that we liked it). I did good because we both ate it up. :~) After dinner we relaxed in front of the TV and watched the new series of Big Brother 10.

Monday I went to work; another hot day. I had a lot to get caught up on. The guys did an okay job on keeping up with the things that had to get done, but left a lot of things for me to do. I had two months worth of bank reconciliation’s to do and get out quarterly reports for payroll.

Jesse worked around the house trying to get the weeds under control, and put applications around town. He applied at Target, Wal*Mart, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Home Depot, and Lowes; there may be a few that I missed.

We had leftovers for dinner and we relaxed for the evening.

Tuesday I worked and Jesse got more things done around the house. He washed the truck which took him 2 hours to get all the bugs off the front. He worked on the weeds some more and went to the grocery store.

I had made a meatloaf for dinner, so all Jesse had to do was put it in the oven. He also put in some potatoes and I made a salad when I got home.

After dinner we did our usual relax and watch TV.

Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday. Jesse washed the RV and it took him a long time to clean the bugs off that also.

We had leftovers for dinner and called it a night. I only have one more day this week as I am only going to work 3-4 day a week. I will be off on Fridays.

Jesse has an interview with Wal*Mart tomorrow for the automotive department. I will let you know how it turns out.

See ya down the road

Monday July 14 - Just a Note

Just a note to let everyone know we are doing okay.

I am back to work and very busy getting caught up.

Hope everyone will bear with me while I make this transition. I will update you on our activities soon.

See ya down the road

Friday July 11 - Back to stick and stucco - DJ's Birthday

I have posted the pictures from our last day in the Black Mountains, so go back as I have entered more text also.

Today is DJ's Birthday our son-in-law

Hope you have a Great Day!!

Well we are back in Pueblo. We arrived on Thursday about 1pm. This is what our front driveway looked like. I guess we have been getting storms every night for about a week and the weeds went crazy.

It was very hot here, the 1st thing we did was to dust and vacuum the house. Then we only unloaded a few items from the Kram-a-lot. Then took a ride to the Post Office to pick up our mail they had been holding for us. I wish I had taken a picture of how much mail we had gotten in the 7 weeks. It was a lot; mostly junk mail. Jesse also rented some movies.

I made us some leftovers for linner and we took showers and relaxed. If I missed anything from the stick and stucco house it would be the shower. We watched Vantage Point and started 10,000 BC, but were just too tired to finish.

Today Friday we were still up early; only the boys would have stayed in bed longer. It’s hard to tell if they are glad to be back in the house. They went right back to the routines of being in the house as if they never left.

We had our coffee and talked about new options to sell the house. We called our realtor, but we was out of town (in Pagosa Springs) until Monday.

We unloaded more items from the Kram-a-lot then got cleaned up.

I had made an appointment for the boys to be groomed at 10:30am and I wanted to stop by my work place to say hello. - I am going back to work for the same company on Monday (part time). We need to make some money until the house is sold.

After that we went to Wal*Mart for a few items then back to pick up the boys and then home again.

Don’t they look good?

I continued with doing the laundry that I started yesterday. I put more things away and tried to get organized.

I made a dump cake and started to prepare food for our family celebration on Saturday. We are going to our daughter’s to celebrate all the events that happen while we were gone.

I made us breakfast for dinner and we relaxed for the evening. We watched the rest of 10,000 BC and The Bucket List (thought it would have been funnier, but I enjoyed it)

See ya down the road.

Wednesday July 9 - Fun and Travel Day

I am starting this journal with

Tuesday July 8 – The Fun Day

We woke to a very cool and rainy morning. We stayed in bed for as long as the boys would let us. We do not like to walk the boys in the rain because they get so messy. Buddy the white dog is the worst of the three, as he always finds the muddy puddle. Which means when he comes back to the rig, he goes right into the tub, today was no different.

Once he was bathed and dried I sat with Jesse and had coffee and we talked about our day. This will be our last full day in the Black Hills and we are sad about that. :~(

The rain dried up and a beautiful day appeared along with the sun around 9-10am.

We decided to go to Crazy Horse Memorial. This image is from a distance.

The sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was asked by Chief Henry Standing Bear to carve Crazy Horse. Korczak help with Mt Rushmore and the Chief wanted “the white man to know the red man has great heroes too”. Korczak also won 1^st prize by popular vote at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 for his sculptor of Paderewski, a polish, pianist, composer and diplomat.

He arrived in the Balck Hills in May of 1947 and accepted the Indians’ invitation. He knew from the outset that Crazy Horse was much larger than any one person’s lifetime; so he and his wife, Ruth prepared three books of detailed plans to be used with his scale models to continue the project.

The lady in the pink is Ruth today. We didn't get to speak to her, but I did snap this picture.

Korczak died from a heart attack in Oct 1982, but his wife Ruth and 7 of their 10 children continue to work on sculpting Crazy Horse today.

There is more things to see here then just the Memorial - Orientation Center with a wall of windows overlooking the mountain, you go into this area after seeing a 20 minute film.

I thought this made an interesting scale viewing

This is from the viewing deck, this model is 1/34th the size of the rock when completed.

Here are several views.

We took a bus ride to the base of the rock and this the image you see.

And another view

They have several places to eat (we didn't eat there so I can not comment). Also a sculptor's workshop, education conference center and an Indian Museum. I really liked this quilt.

I enjoyed our time there and recomend it to someone visting the area.

While Jim and Ellie were over yesterday we drank the bottle of Rhubarb Wine and it was soooo good, that we decided to stop at the Winery to get more. We did some more tasting with the help of Donna and bought 6 more bottles.

Back at the Kram-a-lot we grilled some boneless pork chops and ate leftovers from yesterday.

We visited with our neighbors for a few minutes while walking the boys, then relaxed in front of the TV until bed.

I have pictures , but they will have to wait until we are in CO, then I will upload them.

Now on to today’s travel day.

We were packed and ready to leave by 9:45am. It was an uneventful day. We traveled 218 miles and arrived at Cabela’s RV Park in Sidney Nebraska at 2:00pm.

Once we were set up which was quick, as we didn’t unhook the truck, we walked over to Bistro Pizza Hut and had some Linner. After our very tasty meal, we walked the boys then walked over to Cabela’a store. Our son-in-law’s birthday is tomorrow and he is a hunting/fishing guy. We also wanted to get something for our son who has been taking care of the yard and checking the house while we have been gone.

Once we had made our purchases we went back home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow we will continue our travel back to Pueblo, CO.

See you down the road.

Monday July 7 - A Day with Friends

Today Jim and Ellie joined us for the afternoon. It was their 23rd wedding Anniversary and we were honored that they spent the day with us.

I made lunch – pasta and broccoli salads and Jesse grilled chicken breast I had marinated. Ellie made a bean dish. She calls it baked beans, but they are made with kidney beans and we ate them room temp - they are delicious.

She gave me the recipe, so Sondra; I will forward to you soon.

After linner (Jesse can’t stand this term) so after eating we played two games of canasta. We split the games, so there was no clear winner. I am not sure when we will play the rubber match, as we are going back to Pueblo on Wednesday and they are going north east.

I made peanut butter pie for dessert. (Recipe from RV-Dreams cookbook) Everyone liked it, so it’s a winner.

After they left Jesse and I relaxed for the rest of the evening until bed.

Se ya down the road.

Sunday July 6 - Rain Out

Wow..What a night, the lightning lit up the sky. It woke me several times, we put the AC on before going to bed, so I didn’t get up to see if it was raining and I couldn't hear it on the roof. When we got up we could tell it didn’t rain much.

We did our normal routine and sat around most of the day. We are having guests tomorrow; Jim and Ellie are coming for lunch, so I prepared some dishes for our meal.

Around 6pm we got showered and dressed and drove to Keystone. It’s the little town just before Mt. Rushmore.

The scenery along the way

We went to a pizza place for a bite to eat and then up to the mountain to watch the lighting ceremony. At 9pm in the amphitheater the rangers have a talk and then they light up the carving.

Jesse took this from the stage.

While we were waiting for the show to begin it started to rain. Just a sprinkle at first then the lightning started and the rain became more intense. The rangers made everyone move into the building for safety.

Then at 8:50 they announced they were canceling tonight’s show.

On the way home it was raining. Once we got home we were able to walk the boys before it rained at our place.

We watched “Design Star” on TV and had some ice cream for dessert.

Then off to bed with the windows closed.

See ya down the road.

Saturday July 5 - A Day in the Life

Saturday…............ back in our other life, before fulltiming, we looked forward to this day because it was the first day to do what we now do everyday. We are so blessed to be able to have this way of living our lives together. Jesse and I have had more fun just being together, then we have in a long time. We have always been each others best friend, but this is just so wonderful.

I am hopping that it will not be short lived and the house will sell and we can continue on with our new adventures. Everyone say a prayer.

We didn’t do much today, sat around the Kram-a-lot most of the day just hanging out. I didn’t even make the bed today, which rarely happens.

In the afternoon we made a trip to Wal*Mart, as I needed to get my prescription refilled. We also got a few groceries and one of those cooked roasted chicken for dinner. I added leftover potato salad and beans with it.

After dinner we did more of the same, just relaxed and watched TV. We had started to have lots of lightning and I wondered what we were in store for the night, but off to bed we went.

See ya down the road

Friday July 4th - Independence Day 2008

My day began with me walking the boys while Jesse slept-in. He stayed up later then I did last night, so I told him to stay in bed, and much to my surprise that’s what he did.

The boys and I just sat quietly after our walk; the boys fell asleep. They are like babies they sleep a lot.

Jesse wrote the journal for yesterday, so when he was finished I posted it and uploaded the picture.

I made breakfast – bacon, eggs, toast and juice. And we just sat around talking and watching TV. We watched “Independence Day” with Will Smith; it was on TV without commercials. We had seen it before, but its one of those movies you can see several times and still enjoy it.

We took showers and got dressed and around 4:30 we left for Custer. We walked around the town trying to decide where to eat and I found another Buffalo, which I had missed last week.

We had dinner at The Bank Coffee Shop. I think they should stick with coffee, because the dinner was nothing to write home about.

After eating we went to the fair they had set up. Most of the booths were closing up, but it was okay as there wasn’t anything I wanted to look at anyway. Jesse found this guy just sitting and he posed for a picture.

On one of the corners of town these Lakota Indians, which are part of the Sioux Nation were dancing for our entertainment.

Then it was on to Pageant Park for the fireworks. We were up-close and personal with the area where the fire department will set them off.

We were very early as it was only 7:00 and it didn’t start until 9:15.

We used our time to people watch and played cards (gin).

Others played yard games.

These people brought their flatbed trailer with sofas on them for comfort.

Custer’s population is only 1,860 and their display of fireworks was very impressive. It was put on by the fire department and here is an old fire truck.