FIXITFRANKS TRAVELS & WORDS OF NEAR WISDOM: September 2018

It's been a while since I have had anything interesting to write about. At my last writing we were in Platte City and I was working at Basswood RV Resort while we were caring for our granddaughter, well, that much is still the same. We haven't been traveling because I didn't want to pull Matilda without putting new tires on her and didn't want to spend the money on new tires because I was set on achieving the dream of acquiring a new RV for us to live in. Basically, my mindset was that Matilda wasn't going to leave our site until I had to move it out to put our new one in.

It is with great joy I wish to share that our dream of a new RV became reality on August 11 of this year! I picked up our new, 2019 Sierra 379 FLOK at Camping World of Grain Valley! Cindy and I had already planned a vacation to begin Sunday, August 12 utilizing cabins from our Ocean Canyon membership but with the new RV, I just had to change our plans and utilize some RV sites instead.
That Sunday morning we transferred our basic needs from Matilda to our new home, got all connected and headed south! Our first stop was Pin Oak Landing campground in Tennessee. We got set up, which is now super easy because our new home is equipped with all sorts of electronic aids. Basically, I back it up into the site, lower the front landing gear (which I control from the air conditioned comfort of my truck via my phone), get out and pull the fifth wheel release, pull out from under (still trying to think of a name for her) the RV and again, from my phone hit auto level and wait. Once she is all level I put out all 6 (yes SIX) slides with my phone. We stayed at Pin Oak for a couple nights. Pin Oak is just minutes from my mom's house so we had mom, Ruth and Ann come over for a grill out, utilizing our outdoor kitchen, complete with refrigerator, microwave, sink with hot and cold water, cabinet space and a cooking grill.
We left Tennessee and headed for Percy Quinn State park in Fernwood, Mississippi, just a few minutes from Aunt Rie's front porch, where the welcome mat is always out. We got set up and settled in for a good nights rest with absolute comfort from the high 90 degree heat provided by our two air conditioners with programmable thermostat. Did I mention we have a king size bed so sleeping is fantastic because now I don't get kicked and jabbed when someone has a restless night or just decides to move around a lot, which with the quality of the mattress doesn't happen anymore. We have far more living space now. Matilda was 30 feet long with one slide, our new home is (depending on which brochure you read) is 42 feet, 9 inches long with 6 large slides. Cindy is extremely appreciative of our 20 cubic foot residential refrigerator complete with an ice maker. She (and I) loved being able to drink iced tea without the hassle of buying bags of ice. It is also real nice for storing good ole ice cream. We got up Wednesday morning and headed on to have a visit with Aunt Rie. We spent a few hours at her house the headed on south to our next destination, Abita Springs, Louisiana. This is one of our member parks that we had stayed at for a couple weeks back in early 2017. It is a very nice park with large sites and lots of quiet. While we were here we upgraded our Ocean Canyon membership, which came in very handy on the way home, allowing us to utilize one more of our member parks that was previously not in our plan, Millwood Landing in Ashdown, Arkansas. I'll have more on this park later in the story. We spent most of our time in Abita just sitting at the spacious dining table and just talking. We haven't been able to sit and eat or talk for quite some time, and it was fantastic!
We packed up and left Abita, (tear down is also done via my phone) and headed for Conroe, Texas and some quality time with my brother and his darling wife. I was really happy with Brutus and he was performing perfectly. Matilda had a maximum gross weight of 11,900 pounds with and approximate pin weight of 1200 pounds. When I pulled Matilda, you felt every bump and the ride was less than optimum. Our new unit has a pin weight of 2500 pounds and a maximum gross weight of just over 16,000 pounds. This weight was just perfect for Brutus and the ride quality was superb! The trip was going just great until we got close to the Atchafalaya Basin. For some reason the interstate was closed in both directions so we had to take a detour. This detour did afford us the opportunity to take advantage of yet another feature of our new home, the second entry door. You see, when Matilda was in travel mode, access to anything inside, restroom included, was impossible. Our new home has two entry doors, the rear one opens into the hallway (yes we have a hallway) allowing easy access to the bathroom, and since you don't just pull into any location with 43 feet of trailer in tow, a wide spot on the side of the road becomes a restroom stop when the need arises.
The two hour delay caused by the detour was no big deal, after all, we weren't on any schedule. We got to Bob's before dark, got backed in and set up, and began our pleasurable time visiting him and Nancy. We didn't do a whole lot while we were here, just kicked back and relaxed, and ate! Nancy is a fantastic cook and she fed us very well! We enjoyed many hours of just catching up, sharing a few beers, and having some of the best southern cooking ever. The only dismal part of this phase of our trip was the reality that we had to leave and head back to Platte City. I always enjoy any time I get to spend with my brother and the hours spent with him and Nancy this time were golden, but the time came for us to head back. We still had to transfer the rest of our personal belongings into our new home so we shortened our time in Texas in order to get back and finish "moving" in.
This is where our upgrade made it's first payoff, in a sense. Ashdown, Arkansas is about halfway home so I decided to call and get a site for the night. I was overjoyed when the reservation was handled rapidly and we were welcomed in to the park. Millwood Landing is a very nice, clean park with a pool and other amenities, the biggest attraction for Millwood is the 18 hole golf course located on the grounds. Maybe one of these days, after we get to traveling again, I might just try the game. We left Ashdown and headed north again. We made our way through the Boston Mountains of Arkansas and I decided that we would make one more overnight stop before completing our two week excursion, so we stopped at a really quaint, extremely clean and superbly groomed RV park in Carthage, Missouri, Coachlight RV park. What this park lacked in amenities it made up for with absolute beauty and grace.
We slept extremely well, we ate well, again utilizing our outdoor kitchen and rose the next morning to complete our trip back home. We were glad to get back and started moving our stuff to our new home. This trip really stirred the longing to get back to traveling and we will very soon. I did tell Cindy that since this new RV is so easy to set up and tear down, next spring, we will go somewhere close by at least once a month on my days off.
We are both looking forward to traveling in our new home and eagerly await the arrival of October, 2020, when our life of travel will begin again! Now comes the task of getting all those Texas mosquitos off the front …...