September, 2002

We witnessed the "end of Summer" at the Harbortown RV Resort in Monroe, MI over Labor Day Weekend.  On Tuesday, Sept. 3 it was strangely still and quiet as we took to the road once again ourselves.  Our first stop was Marysville, OH.  We had a nice visit with Ann and her family and were able to visit Coffey's kindergarten class and Mary attended the first day of pre-school with Close.  Both girls are enjoying their school experiences and feeling very "grown up."

By Friday we had moved on to Nappanee, IN and the Newmar Corporation.  We took a tour of their manufacturing facility where they make many different models of RVs.  Many of their employees are Amish and we witnessed first hand their work ethic and quality products.  It was a very interesting tour.  We made no comments when some of our fellow passengers on the tour bus pointed out the Bounder parked along the long line of Dutch Star and Mountain Aire Coaches in the visiting camping area!  We did get to see some great Dutch Star coaches...but made no purchases.

On Saturday, Sept. 7 we drove to the Thousand Trails Preserve, Horseshoe Lakes, near Terre Haute, IN.  We stayed there 4 nights and enjoyed taking long walks around the many lakes in the park.  We attended the Saturday night spaghetti dinner, too.  On Sunday we went to nearby Parke County and visited some of the 32 covered bridges in the area.  Many of them are still in use.  We also visited the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site and learned about the legendary WWII journalist.  In nearby Paris, IL, on an expedition to a Super Wal-Mart, we had the unfortunate luck to meet a young teenage boy who backed his truck into our car.  Not much damage was done and we took the policeman's suggestion to accept cash for the estimate given us at the only body shop in town, conveniently located right across the street.  In Clinton, IN we met a young lady who had canoed from Wabash, IN, down the Wabash River, with a goal of reaching the Ohio and then the Mississippi River. "It's something I've always wanted to do," she told us while on an ice cream break at a monument on the river's edge. 
Heading west once again on Wednesday, Sept. 11 we drove first to Toledo, Illinois - just to see if it compared to our previous hometown of Toledo, OH.  Well, at least the name is the same!  We then stopped at Vandalia, IL which once was the state capital and in the statehouse we saw where Abraham Lincoln received his license to practice law and later was a member of the House of Representatives.  Around 5:00 we found our way to the home of Gary and Jeanette Kralemanns.  They were our "across the street neighbors" at Holiday Village, the park where we stayed in Pharr, TX while visiting Mary's mom.  Gary and Jeanette also live in a '98 Bounder, almost exactly like ours, which they park near Carlyle Lake, IL in the summer.   Wednesday evening we attended a Remembrance Service with them at the Methodist Church in Keyesport.  On Thursday we toured the Lake Carlyle Project which was built in the 60s by the US Army Corp of Engineers.  The dam across the Kaskaskia River created a huge lake which is now enjoyed by many outdoor enthusiasts.  We hiked across the dam and drove around the lake noticing the total lack of commercial and private development and the large number of public access areas for picnics, boating and camping.  Gary had spent the day cooking, and Thursday night we were treated to a "Thanksgiving Feast."  We had just happened to come along on the day that Gary had invited some friends to dinner as a thank you for their help after his knee surgery this summer.  As it turned out, all of the friends are also Holiday Village Winter Texans, and we enjoyed  the evening of delicious food and fun card games with them all.
Friday found us at the Mississippi River.  We parked the RV on the Illinois side at the Casino Queen RV Park, facing the Gateway Arch.  After getting all hooked up we took the MetroLink train over to the Missouri side and spent the afternoon at the Arch and its museum and theaters.  We rode the "washing machine cars" to the top of the arch and could see for miles in all directions.  Commemorating the anniversary of Lewis and Clark's Expedition we watched a wonderful film about their trip.  The film about the building of the arch made us glad we weren't on the construction crew...it's a long way up there and it was quite an engineering feat to get it built.  We also walked to the Old Cathedral and Busch Stadium, where we looked at all the statues of famous Cardinals baseball players.  On Saturday we toured the Anheuser-Busch facilities and also went to the old Union Station in downtown St. Louis that has been converted into shops and restaurants.  In between tourist trips we managed to visit the Casino Queen itself, and catch the usual Blackjack and slot action.  The RV park also gave us tickets for free meals..yea!
"Miss Chloe" on her first day of Pre-School

"Cross this bridge at a walk"  An 1876 covered bridge in Parke County, IN

The welcome sign at Toledo, Illinois...population 1300 (1187 happy souls and 13 sore heads)
The Old State House in Vandalia, IL   where Abe Lincoln got his start.
Jeanette and Gary Kralemanns and their Bounder home in Illinois
The Gateway Arch - St. Louis
We disturbed the Dalmatian during our tour of the Clydesdale stables at Anheuser-Busch.
Click on "forward" above to see more of our September travels.
page 1

From one casino to another....On Sunday, Sept. 15 we used the wonderful laundry facilities at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and then drove across the Mississippi to the Harrah's Casino on the west side of St. Louis.  There we joined some other RVs and trucks for an overnight stay in the parking lot.  This casino had an atmosphere much more like Las Vegas, but Missouri has some different laws and we had to have a "valid club card" (easy to get at the front desk) and then have a guard "swipe" it in the computer to go through the gate into the actual casino area.  You also must show the card to play (and they "swipe" it again) and you may buy only $500 of chips or credit in two hours.  You may win as much as you want.  Tom and I found out the hard way that you may not share your chips, either.  But we won enough to pay for a nice buffet breakfast the next morning and a little gas for the Bounder!

September,2002 
Click on "back" above to see more of our September travels.
Monday afternoon we arrived in Lone Jack, Missouri where we checked into the Lake Paradise Camping Club.  The park has about 500 sites, but few were in use.  The park also has lots of wonderful facilities and must be very popular in the summer.  We camped here as part of the discount program with our Thousand Trails/RPI membership and because it was near Kansas City.  On Tuesday we went into Kansas City and the Hallmark Cards Visitors Center.  We watched an artist create "plates" used for making die cut and embossed cards and learned about the long process of creating new greeting cards.     On Tuesday went the more historic route and visited the Harry Truman Home, Museum and Library in Independence.  Truman's home was built in the 1800s by Mrs. Truman's family but the President and Mrs. Truman lived there until they passed away, having made some "modern changes" through the years.  It is kept just the way they left it, complete with clothes in the closets and car in the garage and only 8 visitors at a time are taken on tours.   The Truman Museum and Library is several blocks away and was an interesting collection of items from the WWII era as well as a quiet plaza where the Trumans are buried.
Thursday we were moving west again - on to Abilene, KS.  The heavy rain storm that had been predicted had missed us slightly, but we drove most of the day in cloudy, misty weather.  By the time we were ready to hook up at the RV park, however, we needed our raingear.  At the Four Seasons Campground we only saw "rainy season."  Luckily we had a "pull-through" site and didn't need to unhook the car.  Friday morning the weather had improved and we drove to the Eisenhower Center where we watched a movie about the life and career of the former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  We also toured his boyhood home, a museum about his military and Presidential career, and the Place of Meditation where Dwight and Mamie are buried.          Across the street from the Eisenhower Center we visited the National Greyhound Hall of Fame.  There we learned quite a bit about raising and racing Greyhound dogs.  They have several Greyhounds who live there and meet and greet the visitors.           Our final stop in Abilene was the sweetest!  We stopped at the Russell Stover Candy Factory.  Have you ever "gone to lunch" at Sam's Club where they are passing out so many samples in the aisles that you eat a full meal by the time you've finished your shopping?  Well, Russell Stover was much the same - only all the samples are chocolate!  Every display had a sample box or basket out for you to help yourself.  They also have a big demonstration kitchen where you can watch them make candy and also do some of the hand decorating.  And there is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor where you can sit and watch videos about the company while you eat.  The big sale items of the week were Easter candy. 
Next stop was Russell, Kansas...boyhood home of Senator Robert Dole.  We didn't see Bob, but our stay at the Triple J Campground was comfortable.  There was a gathering of Bounders heading west and other coaches heading to the FMCA Rally in Hutchinson, KS.  We managed to get the laundry done in their big laundromat and walked up to the corner  for a good dinner at a nice restaurant.  We continued west on Saturday morning, stopping briefly in Seibert, KS, but we didn't care for the campground we found there, so we continued on to Limon, Colorado where we stopped for the night at a KOA campground.  We talked several times on Saturday with our Buckeye Bounder friends as we tried to coordinate a meeting point for Sunday.
 Early Sunday, Sept. 22 we drove from Limon, CO to Pueblo.  As we drove across US 24 we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere..little vegetation and few buildings or animals.  But we could certainly tell that we were climbing in altitude.  When we got to Pueblo we went to the Dog Racing track where we joined 4 other Bounders and then at 1:30 we coordinated with a group of 12 others from the Ohio/Pennsylvania area who were staying at a campground across the street, and drove several miles to the Colorado State Fairgrounds.  There we were placed in a "staging area" and shortly were escorted to "Lot B" where we were parked for the week long Bounders United Rocky Mountain-Hi Rally.                                 The official start of the rally was not till Wednesday but many of the rigs were to arrive on Monday and Tuesday.  About 150 committee members and volunteer workers arrived on Sunday.  Tom and I were assigned to be shuttle drivers on Monday.  We each drove a golf car around and picked up new arrivals and took them to the registration center and then back to their rigs.  About 300 rigs arrived on Monday and another 35 on Tuesday.  Some people took guided tours on Monday and Tuesday but we enjoyed the free time to relax and tour the 30 or so new coaches that were on display.  We celebrated Marty and Bob Moran's 46th anniversary at a Mexican restaurant on Monday night and on Tuesday quite a group of us used the discount coupon on our "goodie bags" and all ordered pizza for a group party.  We were also able to arrange the installation of new sun screens for our front windows...and immediately could appreciate the difference!                   The weather for the week was fantastic...about 40 at night and 85 in the daytime with lots of sun.  We attended many seminars and although we have attended quite a few rallies now, we are still picking up important information.  The Rocky Roos had arranged for entertainment every evening - all quite good - and meals some evenings were furnished as well.  Fleetwood and Dometic service people were at the rally and performed free repairs, so we were able to have our awning and slide hydraulic pump looked at as well as several other small items taken care of.  In total - worth the price of the rally!                                       Saturday afternoon's excitement was a "rodeo."  Each chapter of Bounders United had selected a team to participate.  One was the navigator and the other was the blindfolded driver of a golf car.  They had to negotiate a winding track lined with orange cones set up in the grandstand at the fairgrounds.  It was quite a sight to watch. 
The boyhood home of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Abilene, KS
The home of President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman in Independence, MO.
The Buckeye Bounder Rodeo Team in action at the Colorado State Fairgrounds...good thing those cones are flexible!
On Sunday morning, Sept. 29 the Buckeye Bounders had a breakfast and chapter meeting at the fairgrounds while we watched many of the rigs hit the road.  By late morning the place was much emptier, and we took our turn to leave.  We drove Rt. 50 and 9 from Pueblo up to Breckenridge.  It was a scenic and gradual climb up to the Continental Divide at Hoosier Pass (11,000+ft.)  There were times we were going only 30mph, but we made it without any difficulty.  The road downhill from the pass is a winding one and we were glad to not be going up that side.  The golden aspens among the pines were beautiful.  We decided to stay at the Tiger Run RV Resort in Breckenridge rather than the Forest Service campground as the weather forecast predicted freezing temperatures at night for the week ahead.  Our son, Reid, arrived to greet us and have dinner shortly after we were all hooked up.  It was great to see him and hear about his recent trip to South America.
On Monday we enjoyed the last day of September by being outdoors most of the day.  Reid took us to Copper Mountain Ski Resort and to "downtown Breckenridge" to walk around and sample the atmosphere.  But the biggest challenge of the day was to play "disc golf" on the public course in Frisco.  For Mary it was a great walk through the pine forest.  As for Tom - he couldn't understand why the trees kept jumping out and getting in the way of his discs.  It's an interesting game which is quite popular here.  We plan to spend a week or so here in Summit County and sample a bit more of life in the mountains.
Tom checking out the "hole" on the disc golf course - then trying to get his disc down the fairway without it being grabbed by a tree. 
page 2