HAPPY TRAILS....

Wayne and I stayed at Bloomington Park until August 27th. We left there and made it to Dale and Jennifer's about 1:30 that afternoon. It was so good to get to spend some time with them. They have this really nice pool in their backyard. We sat around out there until 3:30 a.m. talking. We caught up on so many old stories of when Wayne and Dale were young and some of the really stupid things that they did. Then Jennifer and I started comparing the two of them. You would not believe how much alike they really are. As you will see from the pictures, Dale is a tad bit larger than Wayne. Jennifer decided the only difference in them is that Dale looks like he ate Wayne. We laughed so much and had such an awesome time. On Wednesday, we just sort of sat around and rested. On Thursday, we took a road trip to Tulsa. Just kind of rode around and saw the city. Saw the new Tulsa Drillers Baseball Stadium, which was pretty neat, since my brother-in-law, Fla, used to play for the Drillers. On Friday, Wayne and Dale went to the Chevrolet dealership to get the oil changed and the tires rotated on our truck. For those of you who don't know, we bought a new 3/4 ton Chev. to haul our 5th wheel with back in April. When they got home from going to get the oil changed, Dale came out by the pool, where Jennifer and I were, and told me my presence was needed out front. So.....I walk out there, and you will NEVER BELIEVE what I saw. There was a 2014 3/4 ton DIESEL truck sitting in the driveway, with Wayne and a salesperson smiling like they had both hit the lotto. (At least he brought it for me to look at before he actually bought it.) I guess I should be thankful for that, lol. So all afternoon on Friday, we were signing the paperwork and getting our 5th wheel hitch and our running boards put on the new truck. On Saturday, we took another road trip to Oklahoma City. We went to the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. They have an awesome memorial set up there. It was very emotional. They have a museum and out on the site of where the building was, they have a chair for all of the 168 people that were killed in the bombing with each one of their names on the chairs. Dale's sister, Sandy and her fiancee, Charlie and Dale and Jennifer's daughter, Michelle went with us on this trip. After we left the museum, we went shopping and then out to eat supper. It was a long day, but so good to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often. On Sunday Dale and Wayne went shopping for a few more items and Jennifer and I stayed home and started getting ready for the next trip. Washing clothes, getting the trailers ready to go, etc. We were planning on leaving on Tuesday morning, because Dale and Jennifer actually had a trip planned, and they were leaving on Tuesday morning. They were going to Cody, WY and Yellowstone. Wayne and I had kinda planned on going to Santa Fe, NM, because it is still too hot to come home. Well, those plans changed when they ask us to go with them. So, we talked about it and decided, "Why not?" So, we left their house on Tuesday morning and stopped at Wilson Lake in Kansas to spend the night. We got up the next morning and pulled out about 8:45 a.m. We had planned on going to Aurora, CO and spend the night. We were about 80 miles from our destination and stopped to fuel up and take a break. When we got back in the vehicles to continue down the road, Dale's truck died and wouldn't start. There was a diesel garage right across the street, so they got them to come over and check the truck out, and see if it could be fixed right then. They got it started in no time, so we're off and running again. As we were entering the interstate, he lost all power and could only travel about 5 mph. So we get a call about what is going on and turn around to go back. They are on the side of the highway. They call the diesel shop and the mechanics come to them again. So, we get back where they are and now we are all sitting on the side of the highway. They get the truck started again, and head back to the shop to put the truck on their computer to see what codes may come up. Well, they end up thinking it is probably the ECM and they can't fix it. They suggest that Dale have it towed to the nearest GM dealer, which is about 70 miles away. So, Dale and Jennifer start calling Onstar and their insurance company. This was about a 2 hour ordeal. Neither Onstar nor their insurance company could tow it, because it had a 36 ft. Gooseneck Trailer attached to it. Onstar was unable to do anything for them, so they ended up calling a local towing company to come get the truck. But, they had to leave the trailer at the diesel shop. So, we loaded some of their stuff in our trailer and followed the tow truck to Castle Rock, WY. By the time we get to Castle Rock, it is about 9:30 at night. We had a place that we had planned to stay before all this happened. Also, we are meeting some of their friends in Cody. Well, now we are in Castle Rock with no place to camp. So, I look up RV parks in the area. It comes up that there is one about 15 miles away. So, we leave the dealership where they towed his truck about 9:45. We follow the garmin's instructions and we are in a neighborhood with NO RV PARK. We had noticed a Cabela's on the way to what we thought was going to be a rv park, so we decided to go back there and just spend the night in their parking lot. So, that's what we did. It was about 11:00 p.m when we finally got there. Made for a long day. We got up this morning and went to the dealership to see if the truck was ready. They said it would be ready by noon. It wasn't an ECM, but a fuel filter housing that was cracked, which was really good news. So, we went to eat breakfast and got a call at around 10:00 that the truck was ready. So we picked up the truck, went back to get their trailer and headed out again. We made it to Cheyenne, WY and got a campsite at the F.E. Warren AFB. We will spend the night here and head out again tomorrow morning for 1 more stop before we get back to Cody. This has been quite the adventure. Sorry this happened to Dale and Jen, but have so enjoyed being with them. Will post again soon. Love and Miss You All.