Beautiful day

Yes, it's a beautiful day here in southeastern Ohio. The rain has moved out taking the really cold temps with it. Today promises to be sunny and much warmer than the last two days. And . . . . here we sit. . .for the fourth day in a row.

Phaeton Place is sick. Over the past week, we have had three occurrences of temporarily losing power. . . I'm talking like 1/2 - 1 second in duration. While the engine and all systems are running, the dash module will flash, then go out, taking everything including the engine with it. Then the ABS light flashes on, then off, then everything comes back on including the engine. Always have to restart the radio. Gremlins for sure. It happens when she is running. The first time we were idling, about to pull out of the campsite in Warsaw. We drove on to New Castle, Indiana, with no other problems. But upon leaving NC and heading to Ohio, we had it happen twice on the road. . . always when we were running, but slowing, not out on the highway. When we pulled into our campsite in Gallipolis, Ohio, I turned her off as per usual and went in to register for one night. When we got back out, Terry turned the key and she was totally dead. . . . dead. . . dead. . . dead. Terry went out to the back and turned the battery disconnect on/off several times. We got her started back up and pulled into a campsite.

No idea what the problem is and as is always the case, once she's running again, no one is able to do much troubleshooting. If she's not acting up, there's nothing to check. But I'm thinking now that as we are poised to start the run through the West Virginia mountains, I am not ready to tackle the 7%, 5 mile downhill grade with two 90 degree turns with an engine that shuts off intermittently. Call me chicken. . . but that's the way it is.

The next morning we were getting ready to leave and she was up and running. We were checking the lights and when we got to the headlights, as I turned them on, everything including the engine shuts down completely. She would not restart. Me thinks. . . I am NOT supposed to go down that mountain. . . PERIOD! Terry starts troublshooting and calling Freightliner, Tiffin, etc., anyone who could offer help. He did all kinds of troubleshooting with techs on one end of the phone and him on the other trying to narrow down the problem. One thing we have discovered is that Tiffin (and all motorhome manufacturers) will re-route electronics from their original location on the chassis in order to accommodate what they want to accomplish. So Freightliner wonders why wires are here, there, or not here or not there when they think that is where they should be. We have had one diesel mechanic out here who has checked all the electronics and replaced a cable end on the firewall that was suspect. He has power through from the batteries to the ignition, but turning the ignition gets you nothing. However, using the auxiliary start button, we can start the engine. So the ignition switch is good. He has recommended a tow. Which we would do, but alas. . . the jacks are down. Can't tow with the jacks down and can't get them up without starting the engine. Oh, yeah, there is a manual way of lifting them, but unforunately, where we are, we are setting very low to the ground which would prohibit getting anything underneath to aid in raising the jacks.

So when the mechanic left, Terry starts working his magic again. Remember, he has talked with EVERYONE and tries to methodically sort through all the scenarios that could happen. He finally gets the engine to restart by plugging in an ignition fuse into the spot labeled as such. It works! Turning on the lights the engine stays lit! The problem????? There has NEVER IN TEN YEARS BEEN A FUSE IN THAT SPOT! Which means that Tiffin has rerouted the ignition system to be powered elsewhere. Will keeping a fuse in that location work? For how long? Will something else happen going down the road? We need answers. It does appear we will be able to get the jacks up. . . .keeping our fingers crossed. Probably still looking at a tow.

Yesterday we visited another heavy equipment dealer in Jackson, Ohio, who works on RV's. He was recommended by the mechanic who came out. So we went there even though they were supposed to be closed on Saturday. Turns out they were open and Terry had a nice chat with the service guy. He talked about the modifications that manufacturers do and that he did have a guy who was very good with the motorhomes. And he said, you won't have to get towed up here. His "homework" for Terry was to talk with Tiffin first thing on Monday and get as much info as he can on those modifications for the ignition system and then he will send his guy out to us to help. I must say that the two places we have worked with here have been very helpful, very nice, and very willing to do what they can to steer us in the right direction.

So. . . we sit. At least we have full hookups at this campground. . . for $20/night. Whoo hoo!. All coach systems are working, so I am doing laundry, crocheting, etc. May get out the sewing machine today. Tomorrow Terry will call Tiffin and try to get some help, then touch back with Osborne's if we need more help.

All our fall appointments are done. . . we are being delayed getting to the kids, but they will be there when we can roll. Bummer, but we are safe and working through this as we can.

On a positive note, we had some visitors in the field down below the campground last evening. . .

 

If you're in the area, stop in and we'll chat!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Wow!

It's been awhile. . . what can I say.

We arrived back in northern Indiana to cooler temperatures for just about a week, then it turned hot, hot, hot. But we did manage to get a stint in at Shipshewana. Amish country is my favorite place to be. Everyone is so laid back, a much slower pace is found and the countryside is quiet. We arrived on a Sunday and left on Wednesday. I like to visit the shops in town and I found some beautiful quilts. I took pictures for my friends who are in to quilting.

Back at Elkhart Campground, there was a rally going on. There were so many rigs for the rally that we waited an extra week to get a spot. We could have gotten in earlier, but I wanted a 50 Amp spot since the weather was turning hot again. Can't seem to escape it.

We have been working on various projects, mainly getting stuff loaded back into the motorhome from the many repairs we were plagued with this summer. We also took our captain's chairs out and took them over to Shipshewana to have them recovered. That was about half the cost of buying new and we were assured the frames were still good, just bad foam. We got them back yesterday and are very pleased with them. I did go with a bit darker color that will look nicer a lot longer, I think.

We have been working at selling another duplex and we closed on it September 14. Whew. Four of the five have been sold. The only thing left is the condo and we are starting to work on it next year. Getting stuff cleared out of it, repainted inside, some new windows. . . and then who knows? We know we don't want to live in it. Terry absolutely cannot tolerate cold weather and since he has done so well healthwise in the last ten years, we know it's because he isn't exposed to cold temperatures. So we plan to keep it that way. With having sold all but one, we hope to be able to travel more in the summers.

Yesterday we had to go to Shipshewana and on the way back decided to find the "elusive" Eldridge Cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried. We had tried to find it when Jocelyn was here, but had to give up. We had been by it once years ago. It is on a county road, but one that dead ends and then actually starts up again. So you have to get on the right portion of that road which is only maybe a mile long. It is a quaint little cemetery that seems to be well kept. . .by whom I don't know. It doesn't appear to be used anymore. I took some pictures for the genealogy buffs in the family. The Schrock grave is my paternal great grandparents. I actually remember Carrie whom we called "Big Gramma." The one is not a relative, to my knowledge, but is the grave of a veteran of the Civil War.

Progress continues for our launch date of September 24. We start heading south and plan to visit each of the kids before finally landing in Texas.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Seeking cooler climes!

We did drive over to Tunica and spend a couple days there. They don't want us to come back apparently. We only seek to be entertained for a reasonable amount of time and that didn't happen, so we didn't hang around the casinos very long. And it was still so stinkin' hot down there. It was still close to 100* every day and once again, we spent a lot of time in the motorhome with the dogs. Kinda' hate to go away for too long.

We decided to head north since it was 20 degrees cooler back in northern Indiana and since we were headed that way, why not go now? We stopped the first night in Dover, Tennessee, and drove around this little town. It was named Dover because of its resemblance to the "white cliffs of Dover" in England. We looked up and down the river and only saw one small rock formation which looked to be limestone along the river. Nothing at all like the white cliffs of Dover, but I guess someone thought so.

There is a Civil War Battlefield here on the site of Fort Donelson. The fort was an "earthenworks" fort so it was hard to see the definition. There were a lot of trenches dug and still there. There was also some artillery and a few monuments. In the museum was a picture of the ironclad "Cairo" which is in Vicksburg. We have seen that ship. There was a display that showed the ironclads that were engaged in a battle on the Cumberland River here and played a strategic part in the outcome. It was quite interesting.

While we were driving through the battlefield there were signs indicated "eagle nesting areas" and we were lucky enough to see a juvenile up in a tree. I had a hard time getting a good picture that wasn't blurry. . . I need to work at getting my settings right on my camera. But he was huge. It is hard to believe how quickly they grow.

We left Dover the next morning and traveled a long day to Cincinnati to the FMCA campground. We had full hookups there and a nice yard for the dogs. We met some nice people. . . most are just passing through, but are very friendly.

We moved on Friday to St. Paris, Ohio, and spent two nights while we were visiting Tab and Deanna, our Alaska companions. We had a great time with them. We went to the golf course restaurant for dinner that night and their special was prime rib. It was delicious and I brought half of it home.

On Saturday we all went to Springfield. They were having a "food truck" event. It was in one of the parks and there were dozens of food trucks there and offering their wares for sale. They had everything from hot dogs to pizza to BBQ, etc. One even had kosher Jewish food. We found one we wanted to try, so we got something to eat. It was very good. It came in a styrofoam and was layered with BBQ and mashed potatoes. There were several kinds of meat, each layer separated by mashed potatoes. Terry and I split one. There was entertainment as well. Several musical groups played, a different one every hour. They were good as well. We really enjoyed our visit.

From there Tab drove us by his neighborhood where he was raised. Down the street from his home was a "rock garden" built by a man who lived there. He has a little city built out of stones. It is called the Hartman Rock Garden and is free of charge. They do accept donations. We walked around and looked at all the little creations and marveled at the work and time the man took for this labor of love. No trip to Tab and Deanna's would be complete without ice cream, so we stopped off at Young's Dairy for some ice cream before heading home.

We left there this morning, Sunday morning, and drove to Shipshewana. We are here for three nights. We plan to visit the town shops tomorrow, and the flea market on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Goshen. Terry needs to do some work on the motorhome so he wants to do that before we head over to the campground.

Till next time. . .

Dale

A little R&R

We all need a little R&R and now seemed like a good time. We left Red Bay on Wednesday afternoon and drove to Tupelo to the CAT dealer. We had spent some time at Bay Diesel and he changed out the coolant sensor module which is what the first CAT dealer thought was wrong. But since Bay Diesel is not CAT certified they didn't have the software to activate it, so they sent us to Tupelo. They were waiting on us and when we got there they flashed that module. The problem is that reactivating that new module did not work. The problem of "low coolant" and "check engine" lights continues. A fairly long discussion ensued with the tech at Thompson CAT about the feasibility of tracking down the problem. The engine computer has plug-ins on two sides. One is the CAT side and everything that plugs in there is necessary to the operation of the engine. The modules that Freightliner plugs in to the other side of the main computer are interfaces that are there to inform you when something with the chassis has a problem. But those are not necessary to the operation of the engine. He likened them to tire pressure sensors. We use those too. We normally don't even check our tires anymore because we plug in the monitor and it tells us what our tire pressure is in each tire. But if a battery goes dead, that tire monitor will beep a warning, but the tire is still okay and will continue to be okay. So that's kind of the problem with this module. It's telling us we have low coolant, but we don't. We run the Silverleaf Engine Diagnostics program on a laptop which Terry watches as we go down the road. He can read the engine temps. So we know all is well. But if we leave the module "on," it will actually de-rate and eventually halt the engine, which we don't want. So we chose to keep the module deactivated. The tech said the message he's getting is indicative of an open ground. Tracing down a wire on that engine and wiring harness could cost thousands of dollars and be a twenty-five cent part. He wasn't very optimistic that it would be easy to find. I don't know. . . maybe he didn't want to do it. But at any rate, he made a good case for not tracking it down and we decided not to at this point.

The other thing that Bay Diesel did for us was find the source of our fumes. Two men crawled into the belly or basement of the coach and found diesel fuel in the electrical chaseway running front to back in the basement! No one else had thought to look there. . . instead they looked into the fuel lines raceway and it was clean. There also is a hatch in the underbelly that allows access into the fuel tank and one man climbed up on top of the tank and said he observed where fuel had spilled at one time. He said he believed it had sprayed into that raceway and coated all the wires with fuel. So what they did was remove the "loom" which is the corrugated plastic housing that goes around the wires. The loom was full of fuel and there is no cleaning that. It doesn't really do anything other than protects the wires during the building of the coach, according to Chris the owner. So it was removed and the bundled wires were wiped off. The box the wires were in was wiped down as well. We still have some smell. . . there is probably no way to remove it all, and we still smell diesel when we stop. It does seem to dissipate quickly in the coach. There still is a strong smell in the basement yet, but we are hoping that will eventually subside. We know there are no more leaks because the mechanics looked it over well, so hopefully we can put this behind us as well.

So when we left Thompson CAT, we didn't want to go far. We have never found many campgrounds around Tupelo that we liked, but we found the "Trace Lake State Park" about six miles from town and headed over there. It was a great find. Our site here was probably 80 feet long and paved, with full hook ups and on a lake! We spent two days there and had some pretty intense thunderstorms. Nothing dangerous, but so much rain! During the night Butterscotch got restless and decided she wanted to go out. I was a bit confused till I heard what I'm sure was a bobcat. It was screaming like cats do during the night, but it was much louder, so I'm sure that's what it was. We have seen them in the wild here before and we were in a forest. There were a lot of deer here as well. We saw some everytime we drove on the park roads. Needless to say, Butterscotch stayed in and safe.

From there we drove over to Sardis. This is a lake where Terry used to fish with his Uncle and his cousin Gary when he was young. It is a large reservoir.  I had always wanted to see it, so we drove over. We were only about 60 miles away, so it was a short drive. This is beautiful over here. The lake is really nice and there are a couple campground on it. We are parked below the dam in the John Kyle State Park. We again have full hookups. . . I'm seeing a trend here I think. The Mississippi state parks are often full hookup with 50 amp and if you are 65 or older or disabled you can get $10 off. So the sites are $24 and you pay $14. That's the real deal!

There are dozens of hummingbirds surrounding the feeders at the check-in station here in the park. I can't get good pictures. . . need to check the settings on my camera, but they are so much fun to watch!

We are leaving here tomorrow and headed to Tunica. I can really relax there, particularly if I win anything! LOL Oh well, even if I don't it will be okay. We plan then to head for Indiana. It has been in the high 90's the entire time we have been south and the heat index is in the red zone everyday. We spend a lot of time inside with the dogs. The weather in northern Indiana has been better, so we plan to head back up there soon.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Gaffney was a bust.

Well, we had great hopes from Gaffney and were sorely disappointed. The people were nice enough and they didn't charge us a dime after the first day. But after four days working on the motorhome, we did not get the two repairs made. Those would be the diesel leak fumes in the coach and the "check engine" "low coolant" errors.

They could not find the source for the diesel fumes. They pressurized the fuel tank for three hours and never found any leaks. They inspected and did not find any residue from previous leaks, etc. Diesel fuel does not evaporate, so wherever it drips or leaks will remain forever and eventually gather dust and dirt and grime which is what they look for when trying to find a leak. They searched everywhere, but never found it. I am convinced they didn't look "everywhere" because we still have the fumes and after running all afternoon when we left Gaffney, we had a strong odor in the coach again. It has to be coming from somewhere. . . we are not imagining it. They just didn't look in the right place or do the right test. But they tried everything they knew to do, so they left it at that.

The other problem is the "check engine" light which goes on when we get a "low coolant" warning. We had them change the coolant. We had it last changed at a Cummins shop and they didn't put in CAT coolant. There is a difference we found out, but that did not make the error we are having. The engine eventually goes into "limp" mode and then will shut down the engine. They worked for three more days to try and get it fixed. They again changed the sensor, put in a different module, ran new wires to the sensor, etc. Nothing worked, so they eventually gave up on that as well. On Friday they went into the computer and deactivated that sensor, which is what CAT in Ft. Wayne had done. That removes that sensor from the lineup and we were able to run again without that pesky warning. Still needs to be fixed, but we have to find someone who knows what to do.

It was extremely disappointing because we were certain this service center could do it all. We have a different opinion now. Don't get me wrong. . . the people there are very, very nice and they were very accommodating. But we don't think they do much with diagnostics and solving complex problems. They are very good on the various services you might want performed and cheaper than what we have paid before, but when it comes to our problems, they really didn't know what to do.

So where are we now? Red Bay, Alabama, where Phaeton Place was born. This, also, is not the place to fix our two major items, but we developed another problem they can fix, so we came here. When our large kitchen slide is out, we see a tear on the underneath side of the slide floor. It is fiberglas and we don't want it to get worse. It could be damaged more if not repaired, plus bugs could get in there. When Terry called them, they were very much aware of the exact problem and have a fix ready to go. So we have to wait here till our service number comes up and we will be all set. We thought while we are here we are going to ask around about the other two problems and see who is recommended for us to go to. We have heard of a shop in Decatur, Alabama. They are both a Freightliner shop and a CAT dealer, so they should be able to do both.

The ride over here was uneventful and long. We left Gaffney Friday afternoon around 4 p.m. We drove a couple hours but stopped before we got to Atlanta, not wanting to drive through there during rush hour on Friday night. We got up yesterday, Saturday morning, and drove over 300 miles, which is a long, long day for me behind the wheel, especially since we went through both Atlanta and Birmingham. I told Terry lucky for him I was having a lot of back pain cause that kept me awake on the longer than normal drive. LOL On the way over we saw an Oscar Meyer "Weinermobile" heading eastbound on I-22. Pretty cool!

So now we are in Camp Red Bay and already meeting new people which happens every time we come. It's been a few years though.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Freightliner Service Center, Gaffney, South Carolina

There was a time when I didn't think we would ever get anywhere. . . and here we are in Gaffney, South Carolina, at the Freightliner Service Center. We noticed last winter we were smelling diesel fuel in the undercarriage of the motorhome. It didn't affect the running of the rig, so we planned to get it looked at when we were in northern Indiana. Since that time, we have run about 5,000 miles and still have the fuel leak. But it has gotten progressively worse and we get fumes into the coach.

We did make one attempt at having it repaired in South Bend. Not only did they NOT fix it, but they kinked all the fuel hoses and disconnected the generator, so that had to be fixed. Once they fixed that, they left us with the "still not fixed" fuel leak and another very visible fuel leak. We figured we would decide later what to do because that outfit will not correct their mistakes anymore and we don't want to pay someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

So onward we went with other things we had planned. That stopped short when we developed an apparent problem with a sensor or a module, etc. We were getting a "low coolant" warning, but we were not low on coolant and, in fact, could not put anymore in as it was filled to the top. Grrrrr. We did manage to travel several hundred miles with those warnings because as soon as the engine warmed up, all the lights went out and we could run.

Eventually we made our way to the CAT dealer in Ft. Wayne who reprogrammed our computer to bypass that module to eliminate the warning lights and buzzers. That did the trick as far as running and we have been able to run since then without a problem. We have a Silverleaf Engine Monitoring System that keeps us apprised of the engine diagnostics, so we are comfortable watching that closely for engine activity.

We arrived today in Gaffney, thankful we made it here without a problem and anxious to get the fuel leak and the sensor module fixed. The people here are very nice and we are in a site with 50Amp in their service center parking lot. We have good company around us, other RVers including some fulltimers who are all here for service on their chassis. Our work starts at 8 a.m. tomorrow! Whoo hoo!

Till next time. . .

Dale

A little R & R

We are camped at Pride RV Resort near Maggie Valley, North Carolina, just over the mountain from Cherokee, North Carolina. We are here to spend some down time before we get to Gaffney.

We are headed to Gaffney for chassis service and hopefully they will be able to find our fuel leak and get it fixed. It doesn't seem to be as bad as before, but it is really bad down in the basement.We have that pretty well unloaded so the techs can get in there and do their job. Hoping it will be a one day thing.

They also will have to change the module that goes with the coolant sensor that was putting us into limp mode all the time. We are sure that is a simple fix, since the CAT dealer in Ft. Wayne programmed it out of the system to keep us from getting hassled by it. That has worked and she's been running great with no alarms or errors. Once the work in Gaffney is done, we will be leaving and we aren't sure where we will be going at that point.

Yesterday we spent in Cherokee, looking at the various shops. I'm not sure why we bothered. Nothing but junk. Even the shops that boasted handmade Indian craft items just had junk for sale. Terry saw one sign that said, "Made in America" and on the bottom is said, "Made in China." We bought almost nothing, just one shirt, and that was it.

We had packed a picnic lunch, so we found a park on the river and sat down at a picnic table to eat. Everyone had the same idea and the park was really packed. The sun was out and the breeze was cool, so it was perfect. Afterwards we tried our luck at Harrah's Casino and I am happy to say that we did come out ahead. Not a lot, but enough!

Today we went into Waynesville, North Carolina, to the Farmer's Market. That was pretty cool. They had a lot of vendors set up and you could get fresh produce, baked goods, meat and fresh fish. We came away with quite a few vegetables. We also visited the Steeplechase Toffee shop right across the street. We bought a little bit, because after tasting it, I knew I would eat it till it was gone and I didn't need a lot!

Afterwards we shopped  in downtown Waynesville. There were many shops and the quality of the goods was much better than what we saw in Cherokee yesterday. We bought a few things there and felt like we got good value.

This area is very pretty with mountain views all around the campground. It's very relaxing and we are really enjoying our time here.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Gaffney here we come!

It appears we may get to Gaffney. The motorhome has always run well, but now we aren't getting any error messages so we are rolling. After a week of eating out almost daily, we have settled into the routine of cooking our own meals and that is going well. The dogs are settling into their routine of eating and sleeping on the road with plenty of walks to keep them exercised.

We are spending the night in Renfro Valley, Kentucky, tonight after getting in all our extra doctor appointments and veterinarian appointments, etc. Hopefully the trip down south goes well and we will be able to get everything taken care of. We are now experiencing problems with our dish antenna, but Terry seems to have it under control now. He also had to replace a water pump yesterday but he still thinks we will have to change some relays which he hasn't been able to find. He will have to order those on line but we have to be some place to get them.

We do seem to have some problems of late, but we have now had Phaeton Place for 10 years. It's hard to believe we have been on the road for 10 years. We bought her new and have really had very few problems overall. We have driven her over 108,000 miles over rough roads and all kinds of weather. . . even snow, although that was a freak storm! That has never been the plan! She has served us well and we hope to get many more years of enjoyment out of her.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Heading South. . .

Last Thursday we left Elkhart Campground. We still have not had any satisfaction on having spent a bundle of money on getting our fuel leak fixed only to have TWO leaks now that must be fixed. Once we decided to head to Gaffney, South Carolina, where our Freightliner custom chassis was born, we had a new problem arise that might prevent that. We were getting a low coolant error, but the coolant is not low. We changed the sensor, but nothing has changed and the module causing the problem is sending the coach into limp mode. So we visited MacAllister CAT in Fort Wayne. Those guys seem to know what they are doing. They downloaded the info off the engine computer and in ten years, the coolant error is the only thing showing. Since the sensor is new and the coolant is full, they believe the module is the problem and reprogrammed the computer to remove that module from the mix. So we no longer are getting the red lights or beeps or warnings about the engine. Whew. It won't prevent other failures to display if something happens, but the errant module won't be causing a problem.

After leaving Fort Wayne, we drove south and stopped for a few nights in Amishville, USA, outside of Berne. We always enjoy this area. T

he Amish here are different than in our part of the country. We visited some of the Amish stores and particularly one shop where I learned the lady's family has some celiacs and she makes gluten free products. She remembered me from the last time we were here and she gave me a sample of her egg noodles, gluten free, of course. When I was here last time, she had not tried any and she has now perfected them so I am anxious to try them. We visited some of the brat shops and bought some things for the freezer.

Saturday evening we went to dinner at the Back40 Junction in Decatur. We had been there years ago, but we both were disappointed with the food this time. There was not much of a selection of vegetables and the prime rib was tough and chewy. Probably won't go back. And to top it off, we had 90 degree heat with more humidity and the A/C in the restaurant was on the blink. Ugh. It made it uncomfortable.

We arrived today in New Castle. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow and Butterscotch has a doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon. Then Tuesday Terry will be in Indianapolis getting a pulmonary test since he is on the drug amiodorone. Over time, it can affect the lungs, so they want to check that and it may result in a change in his dose. We got in around 2 and after setting up went to Hagerstown to eat at Willie and Red's. This is the restaurant formerly known as Welliver's. It was good, but the food wasn't as outstanding as I remembered it. And now if you want shrimp or crab legs, you must pay extra for it. I understand that and they actually have cut the price of the buffet. The food was better than we had last night and we enjoy the nicely cooled restaurant!

Why are we eating out so much? Well, today was my birthday! I wanted to celebrate and. . . not cook! So that's what we did. Now we are not planning on eating for the next week. LOL

Till next time. . .

Dale

More family time. . .

Jocelyn and the kids left just before the 4th because they wanted to spend the 4th watching fireworks from their favorite site in Charlottesville. I got the house cleaned and ready for the next "wave" of kids to come.

After they left we were able to squeeze in a closing on another duplex! Whoo hoo! Three down, one to go. The fourth is actually under contract and we have a closing date of September 14, so life is good. We are keeping the "storage condo" for now because it provides a nice place for the kids and their families to stay when they come to visit other family.

Thursday, July 9, we picked up Brandon, Megan, and Brynlee at the Fort Wayne Airport in the evening. We had a cup of coffee while waiting for their plane and once we retrieved their luggage, we headed for Goshen. We got them all situated in the house and then we left for the campground.

We spent the next few days visiting with them and helping Brynlee celebrate her birthday. Since her birthday is later in the month and we won't be able to be there, we decided to give her our gifts so we could watch her unwrap them. I got her quite a few clothes because I found some really cute things on sale and we also got her a kids' Kindle. It is quite versatile. . . not quite a I-pad, but much cheaper and is able to hold a lot of kids' movies and books and things that they like to look at. She is also quite adept at "2" at maneuvering her way around an I-phone, so the Kindle will be a breeze. Aenea is good at that too. Brandon had made the suggestion because when they travel, Brynlee is always wanting to use their devices, so now she will have her very own. I think she really liked it. Brandon showed her how to do some things on it and it didn't take long before she was using it on her own. We enjoyed getting to see her open her gifts.

We really enjoy having the little ones in the house, but the dogs seem to enjoy the peace and quiet of the motorhome after we leave the house! In some cases, Butterscotch can be found on somebody's lap, safely out of reach of toddler hands. Most often, Duchess is hiding under the desk in the kitchen!

The kids are here because cousin Kellie married Tommy on May 8 and is having a reception on Saturday the 11th. We are taking our little motorhome down to the woods at Nita's and staying there with our dogs. The kids got a hotel room. This one picture is of Mom, Dad, Brandon and Brad. They are the only grandsons and are 10 months apart in age.

They got to spend some time with Mom and Dad before and after the event and we got some great pictures. The kids have always enjoyed spending time with Mom and Dad and my parents appreciate the time the grandkids make to visit with them.

Here are a couple of pix with Mom and Brynlee, ages 90 and 2 and Dad and Brynlee, ages almost 91 and 2.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Some of my favorites!

As I reminisce on the last week and look back over pictures, I am enjoying the love and comfort my family gives me. Surround yourselves with your loved ones while you can.

Ronan and Grandma Dale going for a ride. His one word he used multiple times to describe the ride was "AWESOME!"

My 90 year old Mom and Aenea at 3, her great grandaughter, 87 years difference in their ages.

My Dad, also 90.

Butterscotch and Duchess, both 9 years old.

 

The love of my life, Terry.

 Till next time. . .

Dale