Mississippi River

The storm in the south passed, fortunately all we got in southern Illinois was a day of rain.  On Friday we headed for West Memphis, Arkansas to a campground right on the banks of the Mississippi river.  We found this campground last year when we visited Memphis and really liked it.  It is called Tom Sawyers RV park and they have two sections of sites right on the banks of the river.  Because of the proximity to the river the campground monitors the level of the river and posts the current and forecasted heights letting campers know.  If the river reaches 31 feet the campground closes, which it does each year, until the river lowers.  Usually this occurs in May of each year but the forecast is for flooding next weekend.  So, we made it just in time.  Here is a picture of our site and our view.

On the way down to Memphis we stopped for lunch at Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri.  I had been there something like 25 years ago when my brother lived in Sikeston.  The restaurant then was just a little local café famous for its southern cooking, lots of food and rolls that they throw to you from all over the restaurant  Last year on our way home from Memphis I remembered it and we stopped.  Now it is HUGE!  The restaurant must seat over 500 people and there are usually long lines to get in.  When you do get in you can expect great service and lots of food.  No matter what you order there are servers walking around with extra side dishes for you to try and rolls flying all over.  Take a look at their website http://www.throwedrolls.com/ to see what I am talking about.

As the weather has been still somewhat cold on the trip we have been burning through propane.  So far had to fill up two tanks in a week.  That can get a little expensive.  The weather is supposed to warm up this weekend and be warmer as we move across Arkansas and into Texas next week.  We do use an electric space heater to reduce using the propane heater.  I guess that electric fireplace option for the trailer would have been a good idea!  For those of you not familiar with RV’s, they come with propane heaters and onboard tanks (like the tank for your BBQ grill).  Obviously you have to pay to refill this tanks and presently it costs around $27 to fill a 30lb. tank.  If you use electric heat (space heater or fireplace option) then you are not paying for the electricity as that is included in the cost of your site per night. Here is what our living room would have looked like with the fireplace option;

We decided against it because of the space it takes up and really did not think we would use it that much. 

As I write this posting I am sitting at our table looking out on the river.  Here is a picture of a barge going by.

They come by all day and they are so long.  This one is going up river so it is going very slow.  It is amazing the amount of power in the boats that push these mammoth loads.

Weather and Gas

First the weather.  Weather is a consideration on when and where we travel.  We really don’t want to be in cold (below freezing) weather as that factors in precautions for the trailer with freezing water lines, etc.  Plus it impacts driving with the truck and large trailer.  Wind is another important consideration as it impacts both driving and the trailer when it is parked.  So, enter a major storm headed for the south today.  We are presently in Southern Illinois and the storm is predicted to be fairly mild here.  However, our intention was to go to Memphis today but it is right in the center of this powerful storm with high wind gusts, lots of rain and possible tornados.  With this in mind we decided to wait out the storm here in Illinois and then decide where we proceed next.   Had we been in Naperville we would be going through another major snow storm, up to 6 inches.

Even before this Libya crisis gas prices had been inching up in Illinois (usually has one of the highest prices for gas in the country) to where diesel was up to $3.70 a gallon.  On this trip we have been paying $3.60  a gallon.  Now with the middle east crisis they are predicting prices to go even higher.  This could be a factor in our plans to move around these first few months.  We may just stay places a little longer before moving on.

2/21/11–11:15am (CST)–The Journey Begins!

We did it.  But first lets you get up to date on the days leading up to this moment.

I changed the date to sign our house closing papers to the 17th to having to wait around on the 21st to do it.  Our daughter, Katie, and her fiancé, Tyler, arrived from Arizona on the Thursday evening to stay with us for our last few days in the house and to pick up some items they wanted.  Here they are:

Our daughter Kelly also came into town for the weekend and our daughter Kim lives nearby. (Kelly on the right)

Kim

Ok, so now everyone is in town.  Time to get the trailer.  We brought it home and pulled it into the driveway for the weekend.

As you can see the truck barely makes it into the garage and the trailer hangs out in the street a few feet.  I was going to try and back it into the driveway but I don’t think it would have been possible with the narrow street and the size of the trailer and truck together.

Now we began the process of putting our stuff into the trailer.  This is by far the hardest part.  I think the best way to have done this would have been to take nothing from the house and just buy what you need to fit in the trailer, clothes, housewares, everything.  We continually had to reevaluate or decision to take something and many items did not make the cut.  As we cleared out the house on Saturday, Fran and I slept in the trailer Saturday and Sunday nights.  Now the story on the first night.

Just after buying the trailer and putting it into storage I went out one day to do some work on it.  I suffered a lapse in memory and reversed the polarity on the battery when connecting it to the trailer (BLACK IS POSITIVE!).  I corrected the problem and everything worked, but what I did not know at the time was that this error cause a series of fuses to blow in the convertor.  Fast forward to the first night we slept in the trailer, Saturday.  At 3:00am I awake to hear the heater clicking on but the fan is not coming on.  I get up and turn on the lights and find them to be very dim.  OK, we are plugged into power from the house, so what is going on.  Now the carbon monoxide  detector starts beeping its low battery alarm.  Great!  I am racking my brain to try and figure out what is going on and decide I will just disconnect the battery and deal with it later in the day.  Well, now the heater will not work with no power and it is around 20 degrees outside.  We did OK with the blankets until daybreak and then went into the house.  I looked through the owners manual and learned about the fuses and, sure enough, they were blown.  A quick trip to Meijer at 6am got the fuses and everything working, except when I reconnected the battery I should have unplugged the AC from the house as it shorted out and tripped the GFCI plug in the garage, which is 25 years old.  It would not reset.  So now a trip to Lowes for a new plug and install that.  OK, issues solved, REALLY!

Saturday night we had a great dinner with the family at Tommy Nevin’s restaurant and Sunday we worked on the trailer.

Monday morning Katie and Tyler left and Fran and I cleaned the house and finished packing up the trailer.  A quick trip to Goodwill and the storage unit got rid of the remaining items and we were back ready to leave at 11:15am.

Our neighbor took this picture

We stopped at a truck stop not far from our house to get the trailer weighed.  As I did not know the process it was a little hectic and unhitching the trailer on the scale did not make the truckers to happy, but we got it done and weighed in at 14,620 pounds.  A full 1,000 pounds under allowable (but we did not have any water or waste in the tanks), so we are good to go (Fran did not have to be left behind!).

On the road towards Memphis we stopped at Benton, IL at a KOA.  The weather was somewhat warmer than what we left in Naperville (freezing rain).  When unhitching the trailer we noticed that one of the landing pads for the front jacks had come off, so a repair will be in order.  I got to de-winterize the trailer and figure out all the systems.  Within an hour we had water (cold and hot), cable TV and dinner being prepared. 

Still a little stressed over organizing our stuff.  Right now things are everywhere.

Almost there…….

It has finally started to warm up here.  Beginning on Sunday the temperature got above freezing and is expected to reach the 50’s by midweek.  Snow is melting, but there is a lot of it still to go!

It was very cold to have the garage sale.  Setting up on Thursday was unbearable.  I could only be in the garage for about 30 minutes then had to come inside to warm up.  I believe it was something like 5 degrees.  On Friday it was not much better.  We did have a significant number of people show up, many who said they just had to stop to see who would hold a garage sale in the winter.  Others were excited because they were having garage sale withdrawals and were able to get their fix!  We sold most of the big stuff so after two days we ended up with a lot of little household items.  We have a charity coming today to take the rest of the stuff. 

We have been saying goodbye to many friends and it continues this week.  We have had dinner invitations for just about every evening.  Saturday was Fran’s going away party from work and it was a great time.

Minor things left to do this week.  Today our internet and phone get disconnected, so those of you reading you will no longer be able to call us on our home phone number.  Please use my cell phone number or Fran’s.  Tuesday and Wednesday will involve Fran finishing up some projects and me moving some items to the trailer and storage unit.  End of the week has all the kids here for one last fling in the house then it is final pack up and clean the house.

It’s $#@&!%* cold here!

As I write this post my thermometer shows –7 degrees here.  You don’t even want to go outside to get the newspaper.  According to the forecasters it is supposed to warm up to around freezing this weekend and maybe into the 40’s next week.  We will see.

Meanwhile we are preparing for the garage sale this weekend.  It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for a winter garage sale with temps around freezing.  Fortunately we are down to just a couple of large items, kitchen table, a couple of chairs, with the rest being small items.  Anything not sold will be donated on Monday.  A few more items to the storage unit and the house will be empty.

With this cold weather it did make it a fun time in moving stuff to the trailer.  I loaded up the truck and drove out to where the trailer is.  It was probably around 10 degrees in the middle of the day.  I opened up the slides on the trailer and noticed ice build up on the awnings over the slides, so I went onto the trailer roof and laid down on the roof to reach the awnings and get rid of the ice.  When I stood up my pants were slightly wet then immediately froze.  Fun to walk around with starched jeans!

I had planned to do some organizing of the storage section in the trailer but after unloading the truck, quickly, I had no feeling in my fingers and toes and thought it best to leave the task for a warmer day.  Hopefully the warm up will occur and allow us to do some organizing of the trailer before we leave, otherwise we will just have to cram everything in and head for a warm spot to unpack.

It’s out!

The trailer is out of the storage yard and now parked in their parking lot, free of the deep snow and drifts.  As previously mentioned the storage yard was going to be closed next week so the trailer needed to be pulled out this week.  I decided to go out to the yard and evaluate the situation to determine if it was feasible to move the trailer.  Fortunately the service manager had got my message and done a little plowing around our trailer.  He thought I would be able to get it out with our truck.  The problem was I did not have the hitch installed in the truck bed as I have been moving stuff to the storage unit.  I figured if the trailer could be moved they could do it with their tractor.  He said he would give it a try.  He came back unsuccessful as the front jacks were frozen in ice and the tractor was not big enough or powerful enough to lift the trailer or move it.  He offered me a hammer to chip away at the ice, which I did and got the ice all away but not sure if the jacks were still frozen to the ground.  It was decided I would go get my hitch and come back and they would do some additional plowing to make it easier to maneuver the truck and trailer. 

An hour later I came back, hitch installed, and drove back to the trailer in 4 wheel drive, low.  The truck made it with no problem.  They had plowed a full circle so I could connect then take the trailer out around a small motorhome.  We connected up and then raised the jacks and were all excited when they cleared the ground with no problem.  They were not stuck!  After some tricky driving and tight turns the truck and trailer went out in the parking lot.  Here is our trailer, parked.

Here is where it will stay for the next couple of weeks.  It is not a good idea to bring it to the house as the streets are narrow with so much snow on the sides and there is no way the trailer could make the turn into the driveway as we have 6 foot piles of snow on either side of the driveway.  The plan is to load up the truck with all the stuff that needs to go into the trailer and then go to the storage yard. 

Craigslist

I have become a huge fan of Craigslist.  For those of my followers who may not be familiar with Craigslist, it is an online classified ad website.  You can post anything for sale with no charge for the posting and it stays on the site for 7 days.  I have used this site extensively in getting rid of items as we prepare for our move.  It all started in the spring when we decided to have our first garage sale to get rid of stuff.  I decided I would use Craigslist to get rid of some of the larger items rather than try to sell them at the garage sale.  I listed a treadmill and a portable generator.  I had both sold within 12 hours of my posting.

This time I have been listing the larger, more expensive, items we have for sale on Craigslist and have been doing very well.  So far just about everything I have listed has sold within a couple of days.  In addition I listed the garage sale, both times, so I think that helps in getting people to the sale.  This time I put the garage sale posting a full week before the sale and have already been getting inquiries about items in the ad.  In fact I sold one item, a bike, tonight and while the buyer was here he looked through the rest of the stuff and bought additional items. 

Being the old fart that I am, I found out about Craigslist through my daughter who used it to find housing when moving to another city.  I kept it in mind and a couple of years ago when I replaced my big screen projection TV I decided to give it a whirl.  I mean what do you do with a 55 inch projection TV.  The thing is a huge black box that nobody would want because flat screens are the rage.   It worked great and it handled HD TV, so it was still of use to someone.  So I put it on Craigslist for a week and got no interest.  I waited a week then put it back on with a reduced price and sold it in a couple of days.  Better than putting it our for the trash guy!

Blizzard!–The Aftermath

So it is now official, this blizzard was the third biggest in Chicago history, just over 21 inches of snow.  So, where do you put all the snow you have to get off the roads, your driveway and sidewalk?  Here are pictures showing our neighborhood and the front of our house.

It was so much shoveling!  The drifts near the truck were over 3 feet and I had to throw the snow as it would not make a large pile that would keep falling back onto the driveway.  Thank goodness the truck is large and was parked in the driveway, less to shovel!  It took Fran and I close to 2 hours to get it shoveled.  We then relaxed until late in the afternoon when the snow plow finally came by to plow the street.  Then it was back out to shovel.  The plow dumped close to 2 feet of snow on about 6 feet of driveway from the street, oh what fun!

As previously mentioned our plan it to leave on the 21st.  Well our trailer is parked in a storage yard about 20 miles away and they got just as much snow as we did, plus the drifts.  I was going to get the trailer sometime during the week of the 14th to bring it home and pack it up.  Now, unless we get some very warm days, I don’t think I could get the trailer in the driveway, either backing it in or driving in forward due to the limited turning with the high snow mounds.  My alternative was to see if the storage yard would bring it out to their parking lot and would leave it there for a few days and pack it up at their place.  I then get an email from the yard, which is also an RV dealership, that they will be closed from the 14th to the 20th due to the Chicago RV show.  They will be open on the 15th only.  So I called them to see what we could work out and was told that at the moment they cannot get anywhere in the storage yard due to the snow and the drifts.  They have no where to move any of the snow if they attempted to plow it.  I was told to check back late next week and see if anything has changed.  Pray for warm weather!

Good news was that we did pass the Radon test, so that hurdle has been cleared.  Next week we prepare for the garage sale and then ??????

BLIZZARD - 2011

You just knew it would have to happen before we leave, a major snow storm.  As of this writing this storm has dropped over 15 inches of snow and is rated as the fifth biggest storm to hit the Chicago area and is predicted to move up to fourth, because it is still SNOWING!  Since moving here in 1993 we have been through one other top 5 storm, 1999, when over 21 inches fell.  The difference this time is the high winds that came with this current storm.  As you can see from this picture the winds have caused the snow to form a huge pile outside our front door near the truck.  I would guess this drift is close to 3 feet.

The picture was taken from our front door which is about 18 inches above the sidewalk and driveway and the snow is at the bottom of the door on the porch.  This is going to make for some heavy duty shoveling.  I already parted with our snow blower but it was lighter duty model and would not have been able to handle this much snow.

The big question now is will this affect our departure.  Obviously the roads will be cleared so I can get to the storage lot, but will I, or them, be able to get to the trailer and get it out of the lot.  We shall see.