Heading to Ft Worth, Texas

We are leaving tonight to drive to Ft. Worth to attend a Tiffin rally at one of Tiffin’s dealers, Vogt RV.   They seem to have an annual fall rally, but this will be our first one.  The rally begins on Thursday and ends on Sunday.  They sent out an agenda and they have a fairly full 2-1/2 day schedule.  The event kicks off with a “Casino Night” on Thursday, and I hope they have a Texas Hold ‘em, so I can try my luck.

I checked the attendance list, and it includes two couples from the Bluebonnet Allegro Club that we joined recently, and a couple that we met at the Hot Springs TRVN rally.  There may be others, but I could only check using ‘email addresses’ on the CC list of the email!!

I also got an email this morning letting me know that our friends, Charlie and Joan Stanger, from the Lone Star Allegro Club will also be attending.  We have not seen them in a while, because they traveled to Alaska and back in their Motorhome this summer.

While we were home, I made repairs to our mud flap on the Bus, which was bent by a self generated “alligator” from the blow-out on the rear tire.  While I had it off, I cleaned the rubber, and polished the stainless steel letters……

 

I also re-arranged the stuff stored in the ‘basement’ and made room to carry an “un-mounted spare tire”……….. one of the old tires from the Bus.   Now if we need a tire, we will have the right size, and won’t be a “hostage” to the mobile tire service that show up!!

I got the following in an email recently, so I will pass the wish for a Happy Halloween along………..

More later from Ft. Worth.

A Week in Little Rock

We arrived in Little Rock last Sunday, and plan to head home on Saturday morning.  Deanne and Mike (who took a week of vacation) worked every day at the new house while Patsy and, sometimes, me took care of Rachel at their existing home.

To make use of the available time, I set up some appointments for maintenance items on the Bus.  On Tuesday, I had the transmission fluid and filters changed at a Diesel garage that is certified the the Allison corporation.  They did a good job, were very friendly and easy to work with, and the price was reasonable.  Here are some pictures…..

The latter picture shows the filters and some of the fluid that came out with them.  Another pan of fluid was already dumped.

On Thursday, I had an appointment to have a new set of tires put on the Bus.  It was time after our last couple of tire episodes.  Here is a picture of the Bus in the tire shop while they were working on the front tires……….

We had been watching the action at the Verizon Center here in North Little Rock near our RV park.  Brad Paisley was doing a show on Thursday night.   We had seen 5 nice looking 18wheelers with equipment, and 4 Prevost motorhomes in the prime areas and about 6 other motorhomes for other staff.   On the way back from the tire change out, I snapped a couple of photos……..

Of course, the best pictures were of Rachel…..

A couple of pictures e watching a DVD in the Bus………….

Rally to Little Rock

I haven’t reported it yet, but about a week before we left, I ‘fell’ down some stairs and “sprained my left foot.  Doc said it may have a small fracture, but the fix is the same………. keep it elevated, rest it, and wear a Post Op shoe.  It is hard to stay off of it if you are traveling and attending a rally, and it did affect my rally plans.  There were about 80+ Tiffin rigs, and they were all members of the TRVN (Tiffin RV owners Network)…… many of whom I wanted to meet.  I attended all of the events at the pavilion, but it just would not let me walk the rather large park and meet people.

The whole week was spent attending events (most of which were meals) or going out to eat.  We did drive around Hot Springs a bit, and did some exploring.

On Friday, we celebrated Patsy’s birthday.  I got up a little early and set up the table for the celebration to surprise her……………

On Friday night, Patsy and I went out to the local “Outback Steakhouse” for dinner.  It was good.

On Saturday, we picked up Mark and Sue Didelot, our traveling buddies, and we went to the annual arts and crafts fair that was happening at the local fairgrounds.  Patsy found a quilted dog and a bird house for the back yard at home.  Here she is with the ‘prizes’………

You can tell from her jacket, that it cooled off here.  It only got into the 50’s on Saturday.

After the fair, Mark and Sue took us out to for lunch to celebrate Patsy’s birthday.  We ended up back at the Outback…….. Mark and I both like it!!

Sunday morning, we fired up the Bus, and headed back to Little Rock and the Downtown Riverside RV Park in North Little Rock………… just across the river.  We will stay here about a week to babysit our third grandchild, Rachel, while her parents work on some things around a house that they are having built.  We got here about 11:00AM, and got set up and programed the TV’s so we could watch Sunday football.  About 1:00, Rachel was dropped off. 

Obviously, I will be posting pictures of her, but it will have to be later.  Right now, she is napping……… and she is even cute doing that, but Patsy has already threatened me if I wake her up.   So no pictures in this post!!

Never mind, I could not resist, but I did not wake her up…………..

It will be a slow week for blogging, but keep checking back.

Hot Springs TRVN Rally –--- Sunday–Tuesday

We completed our Rachel sitting on Saturday afternoon, and went back to the Bus to wash off some of the bugs from the front.  Saturday night, we went out with Deanne and Mike…….. and Rachel to eat at Mimi’s Café.  The food was good, and we got to be with Rachel a little more.  During the day, I attempted to take some photos of Patsy and Rachel, but only a few worked out………. she was just too energetic to sit still.

On Sunday morning, we left Little Rock and drove to the Catherine's Landing RV Resort for the TRVN rally.  By Monday evening, there were about 80 Tiffin rigs already here, and the rally starts on Wednesday!  We have had three “pre-rally” evening meals.  On Sunday, it was fajitas with everybody bringing a side dish, and on Monday, it was everybody bring a salad… chicken salad, regular salad, pasta, and a number of others.   Last night, everybody brought their own baked potato, and then a compliment, like cheese, chili, or desert.  All were very good.

Here are a couple pictures from the campground.  You just can’t get all the rigs in one photo………

On Tuesday morning, Patsy and I decided to do the ‘tourist thing’.  We went to the Hot Springs Visitor Center, picked some maps and brochures, and headed out.  We saw the bathhouse row, the mountain at Hot Springs, and drove on a couple of mountain loops.  Here are some pictures……..

On the mountain drive, we went up into a tower to look over the city……

As we came down from the mountain, we found that there were several places where you could bottle your own ‘hot’ spring water…..

The rally officially starts tonight with a “meet and greet”.  More later……..