Meeting up with Old Friends and meeting new friends

With our new wheels and tires on the Kountry Star we headed to Charollet Mi to have the rig serviced. It is an 06 and hasn't had the 5 year services done to it so I figured the makers was the best chioce to do the work.

 

 

While the guys at Spartan were servicing the rig we did some sight seeing. One of the interesting things we saw was this tree that had been carved into a motorcycle.

 

Spartan was able to complete the service in one day so that freed us up for a few days before we needed to be at Phoenix Commercial Paints to get some touch up work done on the rig. We knew John and Bridget were close by so we called the CG where they were to see if we could get in, and the owner of PJ's CG said yes and he would hold us a 50 amp site.

 

Wednesday am we left Spartan and headed the 35 miles to PJ's Campground. John was walking Fred, (their beagle) when we pulled in. The 50 amp site that the owner had reserved for us turned out to be too close to a tree for me so we selected a 30 amp site to park on for a few days. After we plugged the rig to the park electric we visited with John and Bridget a couple hours before we finished  setting up.

 

Later we met Mike and Leslie, and Bridget and Leslie served us some BBQ with all the fixins. After everyone had their fill of food it was time for some golf. Not the kind of golf you need clubs for, this is a card game named 9 hole golf. We had learned to play this down in Fl a couple years ago, and is a fun game with 6 or more people. We didn't get finished before it got dark and cold outside so we called it a night. After all I had driven that long hard 35 miles.

 

 

The following evening it was determined we would have Mexican night. All the gals prepared all the fixins for tacos and we feasted. Soft shelled tacos and hard shelled tacos, I coppied something from Taco Bell and made mine a hard shelled taco with a soft shell with a layer of re-fried beans covering the outside. John tried one and re-named it " A Joe Taco".

 

 

Everyone knows you can't have a real Mexican night without margaritas, so we broke out the MARGARATOR.

It was a fun filled night where we drank margaritas and played golf.

 

The next morning we had to leave our friends and meander across Michigan. We made it to Phoenix Commercial Paints, and Michael said they would start working on the rig Saturday morning. She said it was OK for us to spend the night in her parking lot so we would be ready for them to start at 7 am.

 

 Saturday when Michael showed up we were waiting. Soon I pulled the rig into her shop and Marcia and I went to find some breakfast. About 9 am I got a call from Michael saying we could pick up the rig because they weren't going to do much to it today. As it turned out she had tried to buff out one of the bad spots and found that it would need to be sanded and re-painted.

 

So we took the rig and went to Elkhart Campground where we got to visit with Nick and Terry a few minuets before they left. They are headed to Celina Ohio to prepare things for the Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally. We always have fun when we attend one of Nick and Terry's rallys so if Phoenix Paints can finish our rig we will be headed that way. Monday we will be camped at Phoenix Paints until they finish our rig, or I blow a gasket......

Spartan

 We left the TT park in Wilmont OH a few days before our two weeks was up so we could visit family in and around Lima. We parked the rig at the Ottawa Metro Park on Hwy 81. It is a real clean and neat park, 30 amp electric, water between sites, and a dump station. At $25 a night I think they want the campers to pay for the day use people and the disc golf players.

 We had a great visit with family, and we introduced Andrea to the L.E.O. club.  The first night we had to get our tenderloin sandwich from Happy Daz. Mark and Allison joined Ed, Andrea, Danny, Marcia, and myself. Their tenderloin sandwiches are so huge, Marcia and I split one. (partly because we are on a "reduction" diet.

 While in Lima we were checking on new wheels and tires for the motor home. We were given two names by the people at FMCA, Best One Tire, and Shrader Tire and Oil. Best One was right down the road from where we were parked so we checked there first. We are still waiting on them to call us back with the estimates.  Shrader tire called us right back with the quote, and they had no trouble finding and including the center caps. So we set it up for Friday to get new shoes all the way around the Kountry Star.

 Thursday Andrea hosted a BBQ, Andrea and Danny supplied the place and the burgers, and everyone else brought a side. We had about 20 show up, and it was good catching up, and the food was.....well like most of the get togethers,,, awesome.

 Friday we left the park and went to Shrader and got the new shoes put on. (they are pretty) We spent the weekend relaxing and today we parked the rig at Camp Spartan. Tomorrow the techs at Spartan will give the rig a service and a good going over........

In Ohio

We left CGGNHP Wednesday the 1st, and made it all the way to Lexington. The Kentucky Horse Park where we spent an evening with Randy, Doris, Missy, Wince, Tyler and Braydon. We had met this family 5 years ago at the horse park just after we went full time, and try to visit them every time we are near Lexington.

 They wanted us to stay a few days and watch Tyler drive a truck in a truck pull, and watch Braydon race his quad and motorcycle, but we had been sitting for two months and I wanted the wheels rolling, so we left Thursday am and drove to Cincinnati, where we stopped at the FMCA campground. When we joined the FMCA back in Jan we were invited to tour their headquarters, and since they give us two free days at their CG we thought we would check it out.

 Everyone at the office was busy trying to keep up with the daily routine and getting things ready for their rally in a few weeks so the tour wasn't what we had expected. With us not wanting to hang around a big city we elected to head on to the Thousand Trials Park in Wilmington Ohio so after the tour we packed things up and headed east.

 We arrived at the TT park and was quickly disappointed that all the full hook up sites were taken except one that wasn't real level, and in the middle of the woods. The only full hook up site would mean no satellite, so we elected to take a water and electric site where we could get satellite. We knew we could move to a full hook up site when one can open.

 Monday we drove the jeep to Lancaster Ohio to visit Phil and Linda, another couple we met 5 years ago in our first year of full timing. Phil and Linda own a home in Lancaster and use their rv for recreation like most working poeple do. But that is OK everyone has their own goals and desires in life.

 Today we waited for the rain and storms to pass so we could head to Wright Patterson Air Force Base. We plan on spending a few days here visiting our nephew (he works here) and seeing the sights around town. Marcia has a National Something she wants to see and get the stamp for her national parks Pass Port Book.

 Monday we will drift north to the Lima area to visit more family before we have to have the rig at Spartan's shop in MI.........