Sailing...

A beautiful day in the Black Hills yesterday - the temp pushed up into the 80s, lots of glorious sunshine. It was "Free Weekend at the State Parks"; we decided to take a drive down to Angostura (where we used to keep our boat slipped when we lived here) to see if any of our sailing buddies were around. We saw a couple boats we recognized as we walked down the docks. Walking up to our buddy Steve's boat, Northern Girl, there were people on it... but not Steve. I asked if Steve and Jan might be around; "They just headed out with Scott on his boat." They asked if I wanted to use the VHF to call them. Sure. After a short radio conversation, Steve called me on our cell phone, "See that Catalina at the head of the dock? Go get on it and bring it out."

I told him I wasn't going to get on someone's boat I didn't know and he said, "That's ours!"

"Nice boat! I'm still not going to take it out." He said they'd be right in.

We had a great reunion with Scott, Steve, and Jan, then Steve suggested we go out on his boat. It wasn't what we were planning, but it was good to see our friends, and we haven't been on a boat for several months... OK!

It was a great afternoon. The wind came up for some nice sailing, the lake level is the highest I've seen in the past 8 or 9 years. Steve and Jan's new boat is a Catalina 27 - lots of room, very comfortable, and a great sailing boat. Good conversation and some fine sailing... nice way to spend the day.

Floor Show

We bought a Herculiner kit for the floor of the cargo trailer. It is similar to the Rhino-Liner in our truck, but a D-I-Y kit. Yesterday, I put on the first coat...


It was pretty straight-forward... clean the floor, tape the floor/wall joints, mix the heck out of the Herculiner (to put the rubber "beads" into suspension), do the edges with the brush provided in the kit, then go after it with the roller. With the first coat done, it looked very nice. The Herculiner is lighter and less expensive than a rubber mat or something like the MotoFloor (tiles you pound together) and takes care of what to do with the ramp door. I could have ordered the floor and ramp with the diamond point texture, but it seems that would be slipperier than the Herculiner.

Today, I got up and every muscle in my body ached. No, not sick; it's the after effects of squatting for over two hours while putting on the rubberized Herculiner. And the really bad news: I have to get the final coat done this morning! Other than the pain in my butt and thighs, it went easy... and the second coat REALLY pulls it all together. The floor looks good, seems as tough and textured as the Rhino-Liner in the truck, and didn't add a lot of weight.


On the bright side, it's done. Well, I have to re-install the tie-downs after it is good and dry. And if I were to do something like this on a more regular basis, I'd have Buns of Steel! ;-)

Black Hills

We have been in western South Dakota at Hart Ranch Camping Resort for the past 10 days or so. Hart Ranch is a membership park and is the standard we use to compare to other RV parks we visit. As members, it is inexpensive to stay here, and the resort is spacious; nice paved sites, plenty of grassy space between, and lots of amenities.




Izzy the travel cat is really liking this place. She gets out everyday on the leash, and is doing great with it. We are on the perimeter of the park, so there is a large grassy area right behind us. It's a dog run, but we don't tell Izzy - she thinks it's all for her.


We have been looking for a small cargo trailer to tow behind the 5th wheel so we can bring our motorcycle along on trips. Looking in Texas, Arizona, and Missouri, we never found just what we were looking for. Since we used to live in the Black Hills, we knew there were plenty of cargo trailer dealers here, perhaps due to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. After checking a half dozen dealers here, we found just what we were looking for...


It's a Featherlite, all aluminum construction, reasonably light weight, and plenty of room for the motorcycle and other "toys." Now, if we just had the motorcycle with us.

Left Kansas after getting some warranty work done on the 5th wheel, then on to Branson, MO, for a week. Mother Nature was kind to us and we had a great time playing around the area; the highlight was a day at Silver Dollar City... I have always loved roller coasters. They have several there that really kicked my butt! After some screaming dives, an inside loop, an outside loop, two barrel rolls, I was weak-kneed when we got off. I took a couple minutes to look for my stomach before getting on another coaster... this one was like being fired out of a cannon. I heard a high-pitched "Oh, sh**!" scream as we were shoved back into the seats... I looked at Joan, not believing that language came out of her... it didn't. Yeah, it was me.


Izzy has been a great traveler. She has taken to the leash better than we expected and rides in the truck like an old pro. She should be ready for some boat travel when we're done RVing this season.

We headed north with the warm weather for a week or so in the Sioux City area; family visiting. We are in a nice city campground on the Nebraska side of the river, with a great bike path, nice wide sites, and a pretty view of the Missouri River.



Dakota bound next

Family Game Night

Sunday evening and time for the next Captain Jim...

This is Dan's take on family game night...


Of course, it may be the fact that Joan and I kicked butt on Steph and Dan... someone got her nose out of joint (and I won't mention Steph's name) when someone else (and that would be Joan and I) sang our version of the Queen song, "We are the Champions." Sheesh - sensitive, huh? I guess that part where we sang, "No time for LOSERS, 'cause we are the champions... of the world" while dancing and pointing at them... well, let's just leave it at sensitive.

Enjoy!

We've traveled from Arizona to Kansas; on Monday we'll take the 5th wheel in for factory warranty service. Nothing major, mostly a few cosmetic things and an addition. The wind howled almost all the way; we saw the worst fuel mileage since we bought the HitchHiker - 7.5 mpg. We've taken our time getting here, trying to stay out of nasty weather.

Izzy continues to impress me with the traveling... she rides great and doesn't make a fuss. And who knew cats could be so good with navigation...


And when we are set up for the night, she is very entertaining...

The land traveling has been going well; the HitchHiker is comfortable and the truck and 5th wheel combination is great going down the road. Going across Kansas yesterday with the wind blowing like stink, we saw a "witchy-woman" fly by on a bicycle. Izzy isn't Toto, but she was pretty concerned about the weather. This is the first time she's seen a storm since she's been part of our family. The rain pounded, there was hail, thunder and lightning. Tornado watch/warnings all around us. April in Kansas - go figure? And the cold, as in 32º tonight.

The city campground in Chanute is really decent - cement sites, water and electric, and the first 48 hours are free; then $10 per day after that. It's great to see small towns welcome RVers; it certainly adds to the local economy. And with NuWa here in town, it's a great situation.



Sunshine and warming to 65º is predicted for tomorrow - may get out and about on the bikes. Our service is scheduled for Monday morning, so we have some time to check out the area.

Resort Living

Since leaving the Grand Canyon, we've been staying at the Pueblo El Mirage Resort... RV sites, park home and home sites. It's a gorgeous facility with decent size sites, beautiful landscaping, and all kinds of amenities (pool, hot tub, wood shop, library, tennis courts, lawn bowling, concierge, laundry, etc, etc.

This is in Phoenix, so we've been reasonably close to our daughter's place. We've also had the opportunity to visit in her classroom several times, including taking a field trip with them. I took my guitar and led them in some sing-alongs a couple times. Great kids and a real treat for us to watch our daughter work with them... she's good!

Being in one place for a couple weeks also allowed us to get mail, order a few things for the 5th wheel, and get stabilizers installed. We were planning to head out on Friday, April 3rd, but wind and cold to the north caused us to rethink that plan and spend a couple extra nights here. Now, it looks like we'll head south before running east... just trying to stay out of the cold.

Next on the agenda is a stop at Chanute, Kansas, to the NuWa factory for some warranty work.

Izzy the cat has been doing great - she is growing, eating like a big girl (though supermodel skinny still), and very active. Here's a composite of her when she's sleeping...