Thursday, May 31, 2012
Cheri May-31-12
9:44 PM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was 43 degrees this morning and I wasn’t ready to get out of bed.
Gay was up early this morning. He had an appointment to take the truck in to check out the problem we are having. He left by 7:30 a.m.
I kept busy with housework, laundry and baking. It was 12:30 before Gay returned. He found out we have major problems with the truck. They have to order parts and it will be in the shop for 8 days. We have a leased car to drive in the mean time.
Gay did some grilling for lunch and then we headed for Old Colorado City. This was the first permanent town in the Pikes Peak region. Today they are alive with a 100 fine galleries, museums, specialty shops, boutiques and restaurants.
We wandered the streets and came upon the Michael Garman Museum & Gallery. It was unbelievable. Michael’s goal was simply to sell affordable, hand-made sculptures to ordinary people. He eventually bought a dilapidated building in Old Colorado City and set to work to fulfill his lifelong dream—to create a home for his characters called Magic Town.
Magic Town is a 3,000 sq. ft. sculptural theater. It took Michael over 30 yrs and $1,000,000 to bring to life this vagabond village inspired by his travels.
The city is built at a 1:6th scale, with intricate hotels, bars and restaurants along with hundreds of sculpted characters. There are holograms, trick lighting effects and magical rooms and alleys that transform right before your eyes. It was such a neat thing to see. Our pictures just won’t do it justice.
I wandered (Gay sat outside) through a number of other little shops and then happened upon a QUILT SHOP. I spent some time browsing in there (Gay again sat outside). All in all it was a neat little town.
We then made our way over to the Visitors Center at the Garden Of The Gods. We viewed the movie on how the rock formations in the Garden Of The Gods came to be and then took the driving tour of the Gardens. We got a few pictures but we did not have the energy to do anymore walking so we will go back and do that tour again while we are here. We will post the pictures we took of the Gardens when we do that return visit.
Gay has uploaded a few picture of the day. Click on this link
https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Old Colorado City.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Cheri May-30-12
9:16 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
This morning when we got up it was only 57 degrees.
It was suppose to reach to the high 70’s today, so we decided to head for Pikes Peak. It is only 35 miles from our park.
We had taken the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak some 20 years ago, so this time Gay wanted to drive the motorcycle to the top. We left our RV Park dressed in our leather jackets. It was cold—I even had a sweatshirt on underneath my jacket and I put the hood up!
The Pikes Peak Highway is a 19-mile toll road (it cost us $22) that starts in Cascade, just 15 minutes west of Colorado Springs. As we begin our climb there are Aspen trees on either side of the road—soon it turns to all pines. You take a deep breath and you can smell the pine. I took pictures from the back of the bike all the way up. The views were breathtaking, even the snow along beside the road. About 5 miles from the top the temperature began to change drastically. My fingers were freezing. When we hit the top we were 14,115 ft above sea level and it was only 33 degrees. It is 59 miles from our RV to the tippy top of Pikes Peak.
I had a bad headache and was so light headed when I got off the bike. Gay said he was a little light headed also. We went inside and ordered coffee and donuts to try and warm up a bit. I did not begin to feel better until we were back down off the peak. I took lots more pictures on our decent. We both agreed coming down was prettier than going up.
We had planned on taking in Manitou Cliff Dwellings next, but we talked to one of the Peak’s employees and he said that these dwellings were brought in as a tourist attraction and were not original to the area. That turned us off immediately. We did, however, go to downtown Manitou and checked out all the little shops and about 4:30pm ended up at BJ’s Bistro for dinner.
We were both tired from our day’s adventure so decided to call it a night. We put on 105 miles today and were back to the RV Park by 6pm.
What a wonderful day.
Gay has uploaded pictures of our Pikes Peak ride. Click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Pikes Peak
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| My tour guide putting together our agenda for the next two weeks |
Cheri May-29-12
8:03 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were up early and went into Wal-Mart to buy donuts for breakfast and then on down to the Pilot gas station for a cup of coffee.
We headed out on Interstate 70. We only had 235 miles to go today. As soon as we crossed over into Colorado we stopped at the Burlington Visitors Center. I wanted to get brochures for the areas we’d be touring in Colorado.
To our surprise they had The Old Town Museum there. It was like stepping back in time re-creating a turn-of -the -century prairie town. The main building housed old tractors, cars, trucks, and a chuck wagon camp site along with 24 frames of different barb wire. We didn’t know there were so many different kinds of barb wire!
The prairie town had 21 fully restored historical buildings housing authentic artifacts. Each building we went into had an audio box that explained what we were viewing.
At the Depot I tried Morse code on the telegraph. The Bank and the Land Office shared a building. There was a Barber Shop, a Beauty Parlor and the Bath House in another building. Of course the Barber Shop was in the front of the building because men always came first back then. The Cream Shop was next. My Mom used to use a separator like the ones we saw. She used to make her own butter. I never knew what margarine was until I left home. The General Store was neat and had a special area where they cut meat. The Blacksmith Shop had the big bellows and all the tools of the trade. We were impressed with the sod house. The sod bricks were layered with the grassy sides on top of each other. This one had 2 rooms and windows! The school house was neat. Check out the pictures and read about the rules the teachers had to follow. The Church had a tin ceiling and a slanted floor going towards the front of the church. No one would have a bad seat in there. There was a rope hanging down right in front of us as we walked in. Of course I had to pull it and check out the sound of the bell. They had a Doll House, Carpenter Shop, Jail, Texaco Station, and Saloon.
I guess my favorite was the Manor House. It was a two story home. The kitchen had a big, old iron stove like my Grandma cooked on. Touring all the rooms and seeing the old furnishings was really neat.
We spent about 21/2 hours there at the museum. The time went by so fast. After we completed the tour we decided to have chocolate malts at the soda fountain. Gay ended up eating mine and I went back for a chocolate shake. I didn’t like that malt flavoring.
It was time to move on. We were tooling along—things were going great. We turned off Interstate 70 onto HWY 24. All of a sudden an alarm goes off. It was the water temperature alarm with a 25 second warning and an auto engine shut down. Luckily we found a side road to pull off on. Gay pops the hood to check the water reservoir. He adds some water and then someone stopped and offered us some help. It looks like the thermostat is sticking. Gay tried starting the truck and it had cooled off and we were on our way again. Well, about a ½ mile from our campground, the alarm went off again. Gay had to add more water and that got us to the campground. We will have to look up a dealer and get a new thermostat for the truck before leaving here.
We are staying in the Colorado Heights Resort Campground in Monument, Co. It is about 18 miles out of Colorado Springs. Our campsite is very nice. We are on Mountain Time. Our home was all set up by 4pm. Now we have to plan our day tours for the next two weeks.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the Old Town Museum. To see the pictures click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Old Town Museum
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Gay May-28-12
8:02 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It being Memorial Day we should all take time to think about our loved ones and friends that have passed before us and thank our veterans for keeping our country safe and free. We were on the road by 9:15 am, not sure why we were early as we only have 150 miles to go for the day. As we were driving today I was thinking about all the people that live in the big cities and how close together they are. Out here in Kansas you can drive miles without seeing anyone, somehow it doesn’t seem to make since. Although it’s nice that we get to see all the undisturbed beauty of the rolling prairie, wheat and corn fields. We arrived in Colby Kansas a little after 12:00 pm. We stopped at a Pilot Service Center to fuel up. The diesel price for credit was $3.759 and cash price was $3.699. We used our Good Sam Pilot/Flying J card for the first time and got the diesel for $3.619, nice savings and no going in and prepaying or using multiple credit cards. We drove over to Wal-Mart where we are spending the afternoon and night. We went into Wal-Mart to get a few groceries and then back to the 5th wheel for lunch. Cheri made a delicious pasta salad for lunch and she also baked a cherry pie, what a gal. We decided not to get the generator out today, so no TV. We read this afternoon and later in the evening we started playing a game of Hand, knee and foot. It was getting late and decided to finish the game another day.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Gay May-27-12
6:53 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was a pretty quiet day for us; we lounged around this morning as church wasn’t until 10:30 am. It was good to get back to church as we missed the last two Sundays because we were on the road. We look forward to going to church here in Smith Center, we love listening to the large pipe organ they have. After church we stopped at the grocery store to get a frozen pizza to have for lunch. We tried out the new pizza stone we bought yesterday, boy what a different it made in the crust, it came out nice and brown. Cheri gave me a much needed hair cut this afternoon. Cheri had bought a couple of magazines to read this afternoon. I worked out side for a while getting our water softener regenerated, so we have nice soft water again. When I got done with that I sat down to watch some TV shows that we had recorded, it wasn’t very long before I was asleep. I slept for about an hour and a half while Cheri watched TV. When I woke up we watched a couple of shows and then it was time for me to watch the NASCAR race.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Gay May-26-12
7:35 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We didn’t have to be anywhere this morning as we got all of our work done yesterday so we could sleep in this morning. I got up at 6:30 am and couldn’t stay in bed any longer. Cheri took advantage of the bed rest; she didn’t get up until 7:30 am. We walked this morning which is something we haven’t done since we left Branson. I also worked out with the weights I have along with us. The motorcycle ride for today was canceled again because of strong winds. We took the truck and drove to Phillipsburg which is 30 mile west of here. We did some shopping there and bought a pizza stone to use in the oven, it’s supposed to make the crust come out better. We were also in an Alco store which we only seen once before and that was when we were here last year. I bought two jars of garlic stuffed olives. I have been looking for them the last six months. We stopped at a bakery shop and we each had a Danish, we were disappointed as they weren’t. I also found some sunglasses I had been looking for, the old ones were pretty scratched up. Then we headed for the little town of Kirwin pretty much just a stop in the road. We had been told about a place called Stone Hard Café. We were told by a guy from the service center that it was a good place to eat and reasonable. We each had an 8 oz prime rib with salad, fresh green beans, real mash potatoes, home baked biscuits, lemonade, and ice cream all for ten dollars each. It was an excellent meal. We eat late this afternoon and so there will be no supper. When we got home Cheri took a nap and I tried to watch the NASCAR race and napped through most of it. The temp topped out at 97 degrees and a really strong wind, feels like a blow torch outside. This evening we watched the last four episodes of Grays Anatomy that we had recorded.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Gay May-25-12
8:12 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We slept in a little later this morning as we were done with the work on the 5th wheel and all I had to do was check out, so we thought. When I went to put in the kitchen slide it wouldn’t move. I tried three more times and it did go in but with some difficultly on the start up. So I figured I better have them look at it while we are still here. They checked it out and did some cleaning on the startup area. Then it seemed to go in ok. But I think I will still have a problem after it sits out for a long period of time like when we are in Florida for 6 months, I guess time will tell. We moved to a campground about a mile from the service center and will be here until Monday morning, and then if the slide doesn’t go in they can come here to get it in and take it back to the service center. Of course we will have to wait until Tuesday because of Monday being Memorial Day and we have reservations to be in Colorado Springs on Tuesday. It was around 11:30 am when we got set up in the campground. Cheri went right to work washing down everything to get rid of the dust that was created while in the service center. I worked on our dinette table and fixed it so it won’t move when we are traveling. I also restrung one of the day-night shades. So at this point in time our 5th wheel should be like new or better then new because all the bugs are worked out, time will tell. We both are exhausted and tied from the day and turned in early for the night.
I have uploaded pictures of the 5th wheel while it was in the service center. Check on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: 5th Wheel Repair.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Gay May-24-12
8:29 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Well our motel room wasn’t very nice, more for a worker that would stay for a week at a time. I guess I could tell you more but I think you get my drift. Once again we went to the same restaurant for breakfast and then to the service center. I figured they would be done with the 5th wheel before noon. Wrong again they didn’t come for us to check it out until 4:45 pm. Then I could see they needed to do some more adjusting on the bed room slide. So it was after 6:00 pm when they rolled it out for us. Cheri has to give everything a good cleaning as it is full of dust and some saw dust. Cheri went right to work and got the bedroom done this evening. It sure is nice to be back in our home and have our own bed to sleep in. I did find one more thing that should be fixed and will talk to them tomorrow about it before we leave. We could have gone for a motorcycle ride today as the there was very little wind but we thought we would be leaving here around noon. Long story short we are setting outside the service center tonight and will see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Gay May-23-12
7:54 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We got up at 6:30 am this morning. I had a pretty good night’s sleep, but Cheri said she didn’t do so well. She said that all her bones hurt and she doesn’t like the bed. At 8:30 am we packed up everything and put it in the truck as we had to be out of the bed and breakfast today. Then we headed to the same restaurant that we eat breakfast yesterday. When we got to the service center they told us that they weren’t sure they would get done today and I told them to take their time and we would get a motel room for tonight. I would rather they take their time to do a good job. We were lucky on the motel room as we got the last available one for the night. This afternoon we walked over to Excels main office and visited with president of the company. We had a nice visit and I went over some ideas I had to make a better system on how to power their slide outs. It was very windy today with gust up to 40mph so once again no motorcycles ride. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking things to see and do once we get to Colorado. We went back to the same bar and grill for supper this evening and then back to our motel room to watch some TV before we turn in for the night.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Gay May-22-12
7:45 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I didn’t have a very good night, trouble getting my mind to shut down for the night. Then I was awake at 3:00 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, still thinking about our 5th wheel repairs. I did get up at 5:00 am and woke up Cheri looking for a book to read in the bathroom. She said go turn on the computer and do your thing, wonder what she thinks my thing is. At 8:00 am we walked up town to the Second Cup restaurant. We always eat breakfast when we are here, it is always good and they didn’t disappoint us this time. After breakfast we drove over to the repair facility to check in and see if they needed anything from us. We planned on going for a motorcycle ride today but decided to cancel the ride as it was very windy and wouldn’t be any fun. So we went shopping and run into Joe and Nancy the other couple that is having work done on their 5th wheel. It was kind of funny as we stood in the clothing isle visiting for over and hour. I think the people that work in the store thought we were crazy, well maybe they are right. Joe and Nancy left and went for lunch and we headed back to the service center. Joe and Nancy came back about an hour later and found out that their 5th wheel was done and they will be leaving tomorrow morning. That leaves us by ourselves unless someone new comes in tomorrow. At 4:30 pm we left and went up town to a bar and grill for a sandwich as we weren’t happy with what we had the evening restaurant last night. We each had a French dip sandwich that was very good. We headed back to the bed and breakfast to settle in for the evening and watch the final Dancing with the Stars.
Gay May-21-12
7:01 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I was up at 4:30 am and Cheri was up at 5:00 am as we had to be out of our 5th wheel by 6:15 am so they could take in to the service area to work on it. Around 6:30 am they came and got me to go over the problems that they had to work on. There were two other couples having work done on their units as well. We sat all morning visiting and trading ideas and different tips on full time RVing. At noon we went with one of the couples to lunch at Pizza Hut. Then it was back to the factory for out 1:30 pm factory tour. This is the fifth time we have taken the tour and is always fun to see the new things and floor plans as they are building 2013 units already. After the tour we headed back to the service center for more visiting and then it was time for us to pick up our mail and check into our bed and breakfast for the next two nights. We went out for supper at the local evening restaurant for soup and salad. Not sure why but we are both really tired this evening, hope we don’t fall asleep and miss Dancing with the Stars. UP DATE: We stayed awake until 10:00 pm but now we are heading to bed.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Gay May-20-12
8:58 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were in bed by 7:30 pm last night so we could get up early today, so we were up at 4:00 am. We got everything ready to head down the road, and then we walked over to a McDonalds that was right next door to us for coffee and a breakfast sandwich. After we eat I remembered why we don’t eat at McDonalds. We were on the road by 5:00 am heading for Smith Center. We only had 220 miles to go today and made a stop at Wal-Mart which was at our half way point for our trip. We got to Smith Center Excel factory repair shop around 10:30 am. There were two other 5th wheels here for service. We talked to them about their problems as well as ours. After visiting with them it was time to finish our setup and have some lunch. This afternoon we took it easy and did some packing for our stay at the bread and breakfast here in Smith Center. They told us that it will take three days to get our repair work done. Cheri and I sat down and decided where we are going after we leave here. We have made reservations at a campground near Colorado Springs for two weeks. Then we spend two weeks near Durango Colorado and two weeks near Gunnison Colorado. From there it’s any body’s guess where we go, if anyone has any ideas where we should go let us know. We are going to bed early tonight as we have to be out of our 5th wheel by 6:15 am and it also has to be closed up and ready to move.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Gay May-19-12
7:35 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We got a later start this morning because I over slept and didn’t get up until 6:30 am. We still managed to get on the road by 9:45 am. While we were closing up the 5th wheel a guy came and wanted our site as he thought it was the best one in this part of the campground. So as soon as we pull out he was ready to pull in. Our day wasn’t very exciting; we made a stop at Sam’s in Spring Field to fill up truck with diesel. We are taking a different route to Smith Center so we could see some new country. Well all we saw was a lot of wheat fields, some corn fields and a lot of prairie. We arrive in Wichita Kansas around 5: 00 pm and are spending the night in Sam’s parking lot. There are several big trucks and a couple of motor home already here. We parked and decided to just put out the bedroom slide. We went into Sam’s to pick up a few things and also had our supper there. It was around 6:30 pm when we headed back to the 5th wheel. We see some dark clouds and just as we got to the 5th wheel it started to thunder. We did some reading and called it a night.
Gay May-18-12
8:28 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We had a slow start for our day as we didn’t have to be anywhere so we sat around drinking coffee and reading. We finally did leave around 10:00 am to go shopping. There is a new big tool store in a new shopping center and there were also a lot of stores for Cheri to check out. I dropped Cheri off a one end of the shopping center and I headed for the tool store. I was about half way through the tool store when this guy came up behind me, so without looking I moved so he could get by and he just stood there, when I looked up it was Mike. What a surprise. He said he was walking around the shopping center when Cheri came out of a store and saw him. He called Pam and told her Cheri was here, Pam said to send her over to the Dress Barn. Mike said that he was going to continue to walk around and I wanted to finish checking out the tools. After I got done I went over to the Dress Barn to check on Cheri and then when I went outside Mike was sitting there. So we visited while Pam and Cheri shopped. When Cheri and Pam came out it was around 1:30 pm and none of us had had lunch. Mike and Pam were going to pick us up at 4:00 pm and go out for dinner at the Bradford Eatery & Bakeshop. So we decided to go for lunch now and forget the dinner. We made a stop at our campground so Pam could buy tickets for the Shoji Tabuchi show. Well it was 2:30 pm when we arrived at the Bradford Eatery & Bakeshop and there was a sign outside that said they quit serving at 2:30 pm. Well we went inside and asked them if we could still eat and they said it was no problem. We sat outside to eat and had the most wonderful lunch. Once again God worked things out for us by having us run into each other at the shopping center and going to eat early because the Bradford Eatery & Bakeshop would have been closed at 4:00 pm and this being our last day in Branson we wouldn’t have been able to eat there. After lunch we went shopping down on the strip as Pam and Cheri had a couple of stores they wanted to check out. Then we went back to Mike and Pam’s to play a game of SOB and visit. At 7:00 pm we headed out to Panera Bread for a sandwich and a bowl of soup for supper. Then we went back to our place to play Hand, Knee and Foot. Mike and I were victorious in the entire card playing in Branson. It was a wonderful day that God made for us to spend with close friends.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Gay May-17-12
8:06 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
After relaxing for part of the morning we decided to take motorcycle ride out by Table Lake Dam and park. I made a wrong turn and ended up at the Shepherd of the hills Hatchery. It turned out to be a wonderful wrong turn as we got to see a 15 minute video on how the hatchery operates and then we took a walking tour to see all the different sizes of rainbow trout. It rears approximately 1.2 million rainbow and brown trout annually, and is the only faculty in Missouri that raises brown trout for distribution statewide. We walked down by the river to see several people fly fishing. Then it was time to get back on the bike and continue our ride with a stop at Table Rock Lake for pictures and then on down the road with a stop at a viewing area and right across the road was an ice cream shop. Cheri said it was time for lunch so we each had some ice cream. We continued our ride through Hollister on hwy 76 which is a very curvy road with a lot of up and down hills, the perfect road for motorcycle riding. We road through Fotsyth , Walnut Shade and many other very small towns, our ride was 62 miles and the weather was perfect. We got home around 2:30 pm. Mike and Pam picked us up at 4:15 pm and we met Bernadette, Stan, and Karen at Mel’s Hard Luck Diner. It is a place that has singing waiters and waitresses, some of them are even in shows here in Branson. Our meal was great and so was our singing waitress. Then we all went over to Mike and Pam’s place to visit awhile before we headed over to the RFD Theater to see the HayGoods. They are a group of six brothers and one sister. To learn more about the HayGoods click on this link: http://www.thehaygoods.com/ourstory.html . It was a very high energy show, we have seen it twice before and it is still an excellent show. Roy Rogers JR and the High Rides also do an afternoon show at the theater, so we got to see Dale’s horse Butter Milk and Roy’s horse Trigger along with their dog bullet. After the show it was time to say good bye to Bernadette, Stan and Karen as we won’t see them again while we are here. Mike and Pam dropped us off at home; once again it was a wonderful day in Branson. I have uploaded some pictures of our motorcycle ride we did today. Click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Branson Fish Hatchery Ride.
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| Bernadette and Singing Waitress |
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| Our Group |
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| Stan and Singing Waitress |
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Gay May-16-12
8:04 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was another perfect day here in Branson, high 70’s to low 80’s and lots of sunshine. I took Cheri to the quilt shop this forenoon, we spent a lot of time looking around and Cheri did buy a couple of quilt books. She also looked for some material for a quilt that she plans on making but wasn’t able to find what she wanted. I am sure she will find exactly what she wants before we get back to Florida. We met Mike, Pam, Bernadette, Stan, and Karen at the ticket office at 2:15 pm to get tickets for the Haygoods Thursday evening show. Cheri and I have seen their show twice before and think that they have one of the best shows in Branson. After we got our tickets we headed over to the Sight and Sound Theater to see the 3:30 pm show Joseph. It turned out to be an in creatable experience; it was a very powerful show. Go to this web site and you can learn a little more about the show http://www.experiencejoseph.com. After the show we all headed down to the Branson Landing for dinner at Cantina Laredo it is a Mexican restaurant and the food was wonderful. After dinner we watched the dancing waters to the music that was playing outside the restaurant. We guys sat and visited while the girls did some shopping. Then it was time to say our good nights and head for home. It was another wonderful Branson experience.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Gay May-15-12
8:03 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was another grand day in Branson. Cheri and I did our walk around the campground this morning and I did a light workout with some ten pound weights I bought, hope it helps keep me in shape until I get back to Florida. We took our time getting dressed today, fun just lounging around drinking coffee. Cheri is still looking for more things to see and do while we are here. At 11:00 am we met Mike, Pam, and Bernadette at the ticket office here in our campground where we bought tickets to go and see Joseph Wednesday afternoon. By the time we got our tickets it was time to go for lunch. We went back to the College of the Ozarks, Pam wanted Bernadette to see the college and we were happy to go back for lunch as yesterday it was great. Once again we sat outside and had the same waiter we had yesterday. I think the meal was even better than it was yesterday. We spent three hours having lunch as we sat around visiting and telling funny stories. Pam gets the prize for the best story and the way she told it. After lunch we went back to the same shopping area we were at yesterday so Pam and Cheri could show Bernadette some special shops. Mike and I sat and talked while waiting for the girls to shop. We did go in one shop that had dip samples out to taste, all were pretty good. After shopping it was time to drop Bernadette off at her place as her brother and his wife is coming to see her. We went back to Mike and Pam’s to play a game of SOB which Mike won. Then it was time for Mike to take us home. It was another wonderful day that God made for us to spend with friends.
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| Lunch and story time |
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| Three Rocking Chicks |
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Gay May-14-12
8:23 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It sure is nice to be settled in and able to see some new surroundings. It was 56 degrees this morning with a lot of sun and the high for the day was in the mid 70’s, perfect weather. It was nice to relax this morning and have our coffee and we take a morning walk around the campground. At 10:30 am we walked up to the ticket office to see about tickets and prices for some shows we are interested in seeing. The one show we are going to see for sure is Joseph. Mike and Pam picked us up at 11:30 and took us over to the College of the Ozarks. It is a small college where all the work is done by the students. It is a way for them to work their way through college and be debit free. We had a wonderful lunch there and walked around checking out some of the history of the college. Then we headed for the strip to do some shopping and to see the Feb 29th tornado damage. Click on this site to see pictures https://www.google.com/search?q=branson+tornado+damage&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS330US330&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yUCyT9D-A-W42wWkrcDpCA&ved=0CIQBELAE&biw=996&bih=507#q=branson+tornado+damage&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS330US330&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=1&biw=1280&bih=685. After shopping we went to see Bernadette a friend of Mike and Pam’s that came in from New Jersey. We visited for a while and then we all went out for supper at Panera bread. Then we dropped off Bernadette back at her place. Then Mike and Pam came back to our place to watch Dancing with the Stars. It was another wonderful day God made for us to be with friends and meeting new friends.
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| Our campsite |
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| Our campsite |
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| We feel like kids again |
Monday, May 14, 2012
Gay May-13-12
7:52 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were so tired last night we only put out our bedroom slide. I forgot to start the hot water heater so there was no hot water for a shower this morning so we decided to shower when we got set up in Branson. There was an IHOP right next to Sam’s so we walked over and had breakfast and a cup of coffee to drink on the road. We were on the road by 7:30 am. I forgot to mention we drove 517 miles yesterday making it a much shorter day with only 207 miles. But 150 of the miles were on very curvy up and down hills. The scenery and views were great. We pulled into our campground at 12:30 pm. By the time we got checked in and set up on our camp site it was 1:30 pm. The water was hot so it was time for a shower and fresh clothes. Cheri had picked up brochures while I was doing the campground check. She was busy this afternoon planning our stay in Branson. Pam called and they arrived around 3:15 pm. At 5:30 pm we headed over to their place, they are less than a mile from our campground. They have a very nice cabin with three bedrooms and two bathrooms along with a hot tub on the porch. We visited for a while getting caught up on what everyone has been doing for the last couple of weeks. Then we headed to Florentina’s Ristorante Italiano for some very good Italian food. Then it was back to Mike and Pam’s to play a couple of games of Hand, Knee and Foot with a fire going in the fire place. Mike and I won the first game by a big margin and we were behind the last game until the last hand and then Mike and I pulled it for a win by only 700 points. It so nice that we can spend some time with our close friends while we are on the road.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Gay May-12-12
7:01 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We had a very interesting and somewhat frustrating day. I forgot to mention that yesterday we had a CD stuck in the radio and our new GPS quit working, low battery came up on the screen and it just shut itself down. It was plugged into the power port and the green light was on. I will check it out when we get to Branson. I did get the CD out of the radio this morning. Before we left Sam’s this morning we walked across the street and had a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was around 9:00 am when we pulled out of Sam’s heading for Branson. As soon as we got on the road it started to rain which lasted for about an hour. We saw many crops long the way, corn that was about 5 feet tall and wheat that probably will be ready to combine in a week. We also saw field after field of peanuts that were just coming up, along with several peanut factories. As we were driving along the truck started losing power. It is a sign that the fuel filter is plugging so we stopped along the highway and in twenty minutes I had it changed and we were back on the road. Well that didn’t fix the power problem. We limped along looking for a place to get it fixed and no big cities for several miles. A couple of time it seem to get better and then at times we couldn’t get over 30 miles an hour and down to 15 miles an hour on the hills. We finally pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot. I talked to a trucker that was there and he said I would have to go to Birmingham to find a repair shop. I got the computer out and started checking for someplace in Birmingham and after searching for 45 minutes I didn’t come up with anything. I knew it was Saturday and I wouldn’t be able to get anything done until Monday and if they have to order parts it would be Tuesday or Wednesday before we would be on our way. I prayed and said God I have done all I can and now it’s in your hands. Cheri and talked about what we were going to do and it was about 80 miles to Birmingham. We decided all we could do was limp into Birmingham and stop at a truck stop and find out from them where to take the truck to be fixed. So off we went, well as we pulled out of Wal-Mart we had full power, but the check engine light was still on and the speedometer was acting crazy. Down the road we were heading down a big hill and I put on the exhaust brake and when we got to the bottom of the hill we lost power again and were down to a crawl. Now I knew what was causing the problem, the exhaust brake was stuck closed. We limp into a service station and I got out and wrapped on the brake with a hammer and it open up. Problem solved for the day. With all that happened and rain off and on we were a couple of hours behind our schedule of where we wanted to be so we drove until 7:00 pm local time and stopped in Jonesboro Arkansas at Sam’s. We went inside to find out if we could stay in the parking lot and got the OK. We had pizza and an ice cream Sunday at their food area. We were tired and in bed by 9:00 pm.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Gay May-11-12
6:15 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today is departing day, starting our summer trip and we both are excited about getting on the road again. Things went very smoothly getting closed up and the cement blocks moved to our new site. The problem that I thought we were going to have getting out of our site wasn’t a problem at all. Just have to have more faith that God will provide. We were on the road by 10:45 am which was about an hour and half earlier then I thought we would. It really felt good getting back in to a traveling routine and excited about seeing new country. We arrived at Sam’s in Albany GA at 4:45 pm and had put on 287 miles. We went into Sam’s to see if it was ok to spend the night in their parking lot, no problem and we were fine where we had parked. We bought a few things while we were in Sam’s. Then it was time to put the slides out and hook up the new generator. Once again everything went smoothly. Then it was time to work on cleaning off our collection of love bugs. What a job that was, Cheri worked on cleaning the truck while I worked on cleaning the 5th wheel. It was after 8:00 pm before we were done and ready for something to eat. We were watching TV when the generator stopped. I had forgotten to fill it up with fuel as I had only put in enough gas when we got it to see if it worked ok. At 10:30 pm we called it a night and crawled into bed. I have added pictures of our love bug collection.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Gay May-10-12
6:35 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
This morning was our last time to go to the Rec Hall for our work out and morning walk as tomorrow we will be closing up the 5th wheel and hitting the road for the summer. We always look forward to getting on the road, but this year it’s going to be harder to leave as we have made so many good friends that we won’t see for six months. I had only a few things to get done today so I could take it easy, well it didn’t turn out that way. I was checking the lights on the 5th wheel and I had one on the motorcycle lift that didn’t work. I checked the bulb and it was ok. I traced the wiring back to the plug and figured it was bad and when I by pass the plug everything was working. So I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get new wiring plugs and picked up new LED lights as I noticed the other one on the motorcycle lift has a couple of the LED not working. Of course the plugs on the lights were different and so I had to go to the storage shed to get the soldering gun. Long story short I work on the lights until 11:00 am. I had to quit and get showered and ready to leave for my doctor’s appointment in Tampa. Being it was such a nice day I decided to take the motorcycle for one more ride. Well when I got home at 3:30 pm I had collected a lot of love bugs on the front of the motorcycle, made me sick to see it as I had spent 4 hours the other day cleaning it. After I got home I went back to work on the lights and with all new wiring and lights everything is a go. Wrong the right tail light still didn’t work. Well longer story short the problem all along was it had lost its ground. I was really mad at myself because I should have known that was the problem and could have had it fixed in five minutes instead of the four hours that it took me. The only good thing about it is I now have new lights and wiring. This evening we went out to eat with our Life Group friends as a send off for other trip this summer. We sure are going to miss them, nice to know that they will be praying for us to have a safe and adventurer us trip. On the way home we stopped to see Grandma. I had to show her how to add new e-mail addresses to her computer. Then it was time to say good bye, we may not get to see her in the morning before we leave as she has a doctor’s appointment that Carol is taking her for. Cheri spent the day putting away the last few things and getting the trailer ready inside for travel.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Gay May-9-12
6:16 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was another busy day until the rain came around noon and then rained on and off the rest of the day. It made it a little harder to get things done between the rain showers. I started out taking everything out of the basement and putting back only the things I think we will need for our summer trip. I was just finishing up with that project when it started to rain. So Cheri and I went out for lunch and a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up groceries and a few necessities. It poured rain while we were eating lunch and stopped just as we were ready to leave and go to Wal-Mart and then it poured again while we were shopping. We had to wait about 10 minutes for it to stop raining so we could get to the car without getting soaked. Cheri did laundry and worked on her quilt. Late this afternoon I took the truck and filled it up with fuel, the price of diesel had dropped 5 cents from yesterday which is a savings when you put in 100 gallons. We didn’t have any supper because of all the pizza we had for lunch. This evening we went to Wiregrass Shoppes to get Cheri some new sandals at the Walking Shoe Company. She got some about three years ago and now that is the only ones she will wear. I have tired wearing sandals before with no results so I bought some also and I think these will be much better than any I have tried to wear before. On the way home we made a stop at DQ for a blizzard to treat ourselves for all the work we got done (like we need an excuse). We saw Norm and Marline sitting outside so we stopped and visited with them for a while and to say our goodbyes as Friday is our departing day.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Gay may-8-12
5:51 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were able to do our work out at the Rec hall this morning as they had the door unlocked for us. I had stopped at the office yesterday to see about the door being locked. They said they didn’t think anyone was using the work out area. So we are the only ones using it now and she asked us to lock up after we got done and they would unlock it each morning for us. I went to work on washing the truck this morning and Cheri took Grandma shopping. It was noon before I got done with the truck and after lunch I detailed the motorcycle and Cheri worked on her quilt. It was 4:00 pm before I got done with the motorcycle. It was another very warm day and was pooped when I got done, ready for a nice shower. After supper we watched a little TV and then I worked on the computer finishing up the paper work for Ron and Sandy’s Green Acers, another project done. We only have two more days to finish our work before we leave and it looks like we are right on schedule.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Gay May-7-12
6:28 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I was up before 5:00 am this morning with a lot on my mind of the things I want to get done today. Around 6:15 am Cheri and I headed out for our morning walk which was about a half hour earlier than our usual time. When we got to the Rec Hall it was locked and we couldn’t get in to do our morning workout. So we just walked this morning. After breakfast I got the motorcycle out and ready to go to Tampa for my eye appointment at 9:45 am. Sure was nice to take the bike for a ride as it has been over a week since my last ride. While I was gone Cheri had done some laundry and cleaned the love bugs off the front of Grandma’s van that we had collected from our trip yesterday to church and trying to find a Chinese restaurant. When I got home she was in the truck with the Goo Gone cleaning off a couple places that I had put some hook and loop strips to hold the waste paper basket and temp gauge. After we got the truck loaded with the motorcycle frame base we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple more storage bins. Then we took the truck to church to deliver the motorcycle trailer that we have donated. When we got home I did a couple more things on my check list and then ask Cheri if she wanted to shop at Beall’s outlet store while I got a tank of LP. She is such a good shopper; she bought me four shirts and nothing for herself. Cheri buys most of my clothes because I don’t like shopping for clothes. Then we stopped to fill the van up with gas so Grandma won’t have to worry about doing that. I also checked the oil in the van and added some to top it off. After supper I head to Ron and Sandy’s Green Acers to label the entire electric outlets and switches. I had wanted to wait until all the switch plate and outlet covers were installed. I wanted to have it done because we are going to be gone until November and they will be moved in before then. So I put the circuit numbers on masking tape and put them above the switches and outlets. I was after 11:00 pm when I got home. Cheri was still up waiting for me. It was a long day but with God’s help we got a lot done.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Gay May-6-12
5:57 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were up at 3:30 am and left at 4:00 am to take Ed and Loraine to the airport. They had a 6:00 am flight to Maine. We dropped them off at the check in and said our goodbyes and headed back home arriving at 6:00 am. We got a Sunday paper on the way back so we had breakfast and read the Sunday paper. We usually get the paper on our way to church. While Cheri read the paper I worked on the blog. We picked up Grandma at 9:00 am and headed to church. We had a pleasant surprise as Jill Barber our Worship Arts leader delivered the message today. This is the first time she has done this and had an excellent message for us. After church all our Life Group friends had other plans for lunch. So we asked Grandma where she wanted to eat and she said Chinese. We said ok and that it would be our Mothers Day dinner together because we will be gone next Sunday. So we drove to Lakeland to have Chinese at our favorite restaurant only to find that it had gone out of business. So headed to Dade City to try one there, the food wasn’t very good. So our Mother Day dinner was a bust. When we got home I had a lot of work that I planned on doing this afternoon. Well we sat down in our chairs and that was as far as we got the rest of the day. Cheri read, played solitaire, and napped. I watched the NASCAR Race and napped. I had the race recorded so I wouldn’t miss any if I napped, good thing because I had to keep backing it up to see what happened. This afternoon we got a Skype call from Bill and Barb back in Wisconsin, nice to see and talk to them. They said their weather has been bad for the last week, a lot of rain and the farmers can’t get in the fields to plant their crops. Later we called Darren and Jodi to see how they are doing. Darren said that he just got home from his photography class and Jodi was in Wisconsin visiting her parents. Because of resting this afternoon we are behind on the work we need to get done before we leave Friday.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Gay May-5-12
6:27 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I woke up at 3:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep so at 3:45 am I finally got up. I was thinking about all the things I want to get done before we head out for the summer. So this morning I got our mail forwarded starting Monday. Got our summer trip link set up and ready, so I was able to keep busy until Cheri got up. After our morning walk and workout I drank one cup of coffee and went right to work. I started taking the motorcycle shed apart and getting it washed and installed on the trailer. Cheri started cleaning the truck inside and washing the windows. Around 9:30 am we took a break and had breakfast and coffee. Then it was time to get back to work. I also got the grill cleaned and ready for another 6 months of use on the road, took a few more things down to the storage shed and had to bring some things back that I thought we were done using. By the time we got done doing our outside work it was 4:00 pm. I was hot, tired, dirty and ready for a nice hot shower. It was another warm day with the temp in the high 80’s. Cheri fixed a chicken and spinach quiche for supper, it was very good. After supper we went down to see Ed and Loraine, we are leaving at 4:00 am tomorrow morning to take them to the airport for their trip back to Maine for the summer and wanted to make sure everything was still a go for in the morning. Then we went to DQ for a treat of ice cream. We watched TV until 9:00 pm and headed to bed because 3:30 am comes early. Still haven’t received the pictures from out mystery dinner that we attended last night.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Gay May-4-12
4:47 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were at it early again this morning. I worked on washing Grandma’s park model and storage shed. Cheri took Grandma to have her hair cut, Wal-Mart for groceries and to the bank. It was another hot and mostly cloudy day with a high of 93 degrees. I was glad that it was cloudy as that made it seem not so hot working. It was around 12:30 pm when I got done with that and headed home to start another project when Cheri arrived. So we had lunch and then I went back to Grandma’s to do some painting in the bath room and bedroom where she had had a leak this past summer. Cheri worked on the insurance for Grandma’s park model. We got a letter in the mail saying we might not be able to renew the insurance with the same company. So Cheri was calling the agent and trying to find out more information before we head out for the summer. She was told someone will call back (still waiting). When I got done at Grandma’s I took a few more things done to the storage shed and brought back a couple of things that I still needed to use. I spent the rest of the afternoon vacuuming the truck out inside. We had a lap desk break that was full of little beads of Styrofoam, what a job trying to get them all vacuumed up. This evening we had tickets to a murder mystery dinner in Tampa. We had to be there by 6:30 pm and had to leave here at 5:30 pm. It should only take about 45 minutes to get there but with the traffic it took just over an hour. There were several tables and each table had one person that was part of the murder mystery. Yep for some reason I was picked to be the person from our table. The story line was from the 1920’s being held in an old speak easy. My part was a bootlegger that wasn’t happy about someone else coming into my territory. It was fun but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been a player as I would have had more time to visit and eat my dinner which was pretty good. At the end of the play each table had to write down who they thought was the murder. Cheri and I thought it was a person different than the other people at our table. As it turned out our table guess was wrong and Cheri and I had it right. Would we do this one again, not sure, it was ok but we like the ones that all the players are professionals. It was after 10:00 pm when we got home. We are supposed to have pictures of the evening e-mailed to us and maybe I will post some of them if they turn out.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Gay May-3-12
7:33 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We had our first 90 degree day with high humidity. And I had pick today to move the old shed to the people’s lot that bought it. It took me a while this morning to get the tie downs removed and the trailer hooked up to the truck. Cheri was a big help and there was no way I could have done it without her. We got it loaded and all the concrete blocks as we could drop the block off by the new shed. We were just starting to unload it when Bud Randolph came along and helped us. It was much easier unloading then loading it. After we got it unloaded we had about 100 feet that we had to move it. We tried putting a tarp under the shed and pulling it but the shed was too heavy. So we slid it from side to side (walked it) until we got it where we needed it to be. Then we went back up to Buds to drop off the blocks and sat and visited with him and Verlin. After lunch Cheri and I worked outside. Cheri vacuumed out Grandma’s van and washed the windows. I worked on getting the old storage shed tie downs out and some more cleaning of the basement and how I am going to arrange things, have to make room for the generator. We quit at 3:00 pm and took our showers and then rested the rest of the day along with an hour nap.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Gay May-2-12
8:13 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Well I finished washing the 5th wheel today; all that is left to do is a little caulking that I told you about yesterday. Cheri found some more things that she can put in the storage shed while are gone this summer. It was noon when I got done with the 5th wheel washing and was ready for my shower. After lunch we went to Grandma’s bank, she had charges that were put on her account for $3.95 a month. We found out about this a year ago and they were supposed to be removed. Last month I see that the charges were still there and went to the bank to have them removed. Well the charges showed up again this month, so you know I wasn’t a happy camper. They told me that the service is provided by an outside contractor. They said that someone on the account started them again. Well Grandma doesn’t even know how to get to the account by internet and I only look at the account from time to time to see how Grandma is doing. So they said it was put on by Glen Sharp. Well I said that was a good trick as he passed away two years ago. So now they have set the account for looking only, changes can only be done by going to the bank. Then we headed the grocery store to pick up some groceries for the church food pantry. Then a quick stop at Lowe’s to get a small tube of caulk to finish the 5th wheel. This evening was our last Life Group gathering; we had a potluck dinner and a lot of visiting. Sure am going to miss our weekly gathering. The next Life Group starts late summer and we won’t be around for it as we don’t get back to Florida until November.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Gay May-1-12
7:35 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was back to washing on the 5th wheel this morning. All I have left to wash is the front and the awning, hope to finish tomorrow. It was near noon before I got done, I wanted to finish today but the old body would take anymore. When I came in to shower Cheri was working on her quilt and had run into couple of problems, the directions were wrong and she didn’t have enough material. So this afternoon we headed to the quilt shop in Hudson. Cheri showed her the directions and she was surprised that there was a mistake in them. She also had missed counted on the strips of material so she cut some more for Cheri, she apologized and gave Cheri the strips. When we got home I headed over to Lowe’s to pick up some caulk as I found one spot I forgot to caulk and another place with a couple of broken screws. So far I have replaced over 100 broken screws since we have owned this 5th wheel. I went down to the office to see if I could move the old shed and they had checked where it was going and gave me the ok to move it. So now I can add that to my list of things to do. Ok, now about our trip this summer. We plan on leaving here on the 11th and go to Branson, Missouri for 6 days to take in a few show and the main one we want to see is Joseph. Mike and Pam will be there also for a few of the same days we are. I am going to see if we can get together to play another game of Hand, Knee and foot. Pam and Cheri won the last game we played and have bragging rights all summer, Mike and I need to see if we can change that. After Branson we will head to Smith Center, Kansas to have work done our 5th wheel at the factory. Then we will head to Colorado to see my cousin and maybe spend a month touring around the state. Then to the Black Hills for awhile, North Dakota, up state Minnesota, Wisconsin for the fall season, back to Florida for the winter. Of course 90 percent of this is subject for change.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Gay April-30-12
6:40 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It’s the last day of April, not sure where the month went. But when I think about when my motorcycle riding buddies left, it seems like a long time ago. Well it was a busy day for the Sharp’s. I worked on washing the 5th wheel and Cheri went over to finish up Grandma’s spring cleaning. I was done washing for the day at 1:00 pm and went in and took my shower. Cheri came home a short time later, so it was another late lunch. This afternoon we finally made a decision on when and where we are going when we leave here for the summer. So Cheri started looking for things to see and do. While Cheri was doing the trip search I started taking things out of the basement that we can get along without this summer. At 4:00 pm we headed up to Mike and Pam’s to work on getting their computer set up on Skype, we took our computer with us so we could make a few test calls to make sure everything worked ok. After we were done with that Pam showed us how to do a few things on Facebook. Then we headed up to Dade City to have a Greek salad at Franzoli Restaurant, they have the best Greek salads of any place we have been to. When we got back to Mike and Pam’s, Pam said we have to finish the Game of cards that we had started the last time we were there. Mike and I were ahead before we finished the game but the final outcome was Pam and Cheri won. When we got home we talked about our trip this summer and have changed our plans once again. I will tell you more tomorrow about our trip because we may change it again and it was time to watch Dancing with the Stars.
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