February 1, 2021 - On The Road Again....But Not Very Long.....We Had A Hiccup!

February 1, 2021 - On The Road Again....But Not Very Long.....We Had A Hiccup!

We have had a wonderful time while in our hometown Oswego, Kansas the past three months, staying very busy.  But we had the itch and were excited to be back on the road again.  

A little back drop before I begin today's adventures.  Our grandson Logan arrived in Oswego last Wednesday.  Thursday evening he arrived at Bentley to visit with us for a couple of hours, before sister Haleigh and her boyfriend Caleb also arrived.  We stayed up until about 11pm visiting with the three of them.  What a fantastic evening it was.  Logan's friend had let him borrow his car, so Friday morning we followed him back to Parsons so he could drop it off, then we headed to Chetopa to The Hornet's Nest for lunch.  My son Marc, and daughter Misti, Logan, Haleigh and Caleb joined us as well.  We had a great visit with everyone for well over an hour or more.  I didn't think to ask someone to take our picture together!  We were too busy catching up I guess.

Dean and I have spent the last week preparing for our move, checking things out, refilling propane bottles, checking tires, etc.  I spent all week cleaning Bentley from top to bottom, vacuuming, cleaning the carpet, the pantry and storage areas throughout.  It always feel good to complete a good deep cleaning!  Everything smells so fresh.

This morning Misti and Logan stopped by around 10 to visit for awhile before we leave.  Our plan was to leave by noon or so.  After visiting for awhile we headed to Big Chief for a quick lunch and a chance to visit some more.  It's hard to leave knowing Logan is here for the week, but he has lots of people to see besides us while he is here.  He recently completed his current Naval duty in El Centro, CA and will be relocating to a base in Hawaii sometime next week.  He has not received his official departure date yet.  I'm so glad we had the chance to spend time with him! 

I had Misti take this picture of us with Logan as we left the restaurant.  The sun was in my eyes and Dean wasn't quite ready for the pic - but Logan looked great!  Lol!

After we returned to the RV Park we quickly finished the last of our packing inside and were soon hooked up; pulling out of out site at Hillside RV Park at 12:32pm.  I had not made a reservation for tonight, but on the way I contacted Arrowhead RV State Park at Eufala, OK to check on a site.  They advised there were several spots available so a reservation for tonight was not required.

As we left Oswego I noted the temperature on my log sheet...it was 31F, and within 15 miles south, the temperature in Oklahoma was 40F.  We are already enjoying those increased temperatures!!  

We stopped for our first bathroom break at the Wood Shed convenience store parking area in Big Cabin, OK, and the start of the bumpy road syndrome on Highway 69 as we continued on south.

As we approached Pryor, OK, a few minutes before 2pm, we noticed the temperatures was now 47.  This is great!  The last few days in Oswego have been wet and cold.  We are so ready for warmer temperatures.

Bumpy roads on 69 Highway.  Bumpty bumpty bumpty, we go!

Dean sent a message to our friends Alvin & Linda as we passed through Wagoner, OK - honk honk!  They will be joining us later this week in Waco, TX.  Only 20 minutes later as we drove into Muskogee, OK we noticed the outdoor temperatures were now at 50F.  Let's keep those numbers moving on up - 70 would be perfect, but I'd take 50/55 over the freezing temps we've had.

As we were nearing the southern part of Muskogee, we barely made it through a green light/it actually turned on us before we made it all the way through....then just seconds later we heard this loud semi horn.  Startled, I looked up and watched as a semi truck pulled up next to us.  The driver was looking at me and pointing down.  I told Dean we better pull over I think he was trying to tell us something.  We found a place a short distance away.  I believe in God and I believe he watches out for us, and today is one of those days proving he does.  One of the brake pads on our disc brakes was evidently falling off that caused the trucker to blow his horn at us.  It was laying on the ground behind us, when we stopped.  So besides the trucker calling attention to our situation us, we were less than 2 miles from Earl's Lake Country RVs.  We pulled in and went inside.  Earl Jr. and Dean went out to take a look at the brake issue.  Bentley will require repairs before we can leave the area.  There was other damage to the disc brake as well.

What a blessing we stopped here.  What a wonderful family group that own and operate this facility.  I cannot say enough good things about how they treated us.  They made several calls to try and locate the parts we needed to get us back on the road.  While we were waiting to hear from another RV center in Pryor, I remembered that the company who installed our disc brakes, Performance Trailer Braking, has a warehouse in Norman, OK.  Dean called Michael, the owner.  He made some calls, and will have an installer here on Wednesday morning to make the necessary repairs to get us back on the road.  Surprisingly, the installer was already scheduled to be here Wednesday for a brake install.  I'm sure we can find something to do in the area tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be on our way by early Wednesday afternoon.  We'll only arrive one day later than planned at our location in Waco, since we plan to stay near Denton, Texas on Wednesday night.  We had originally planned to leave tomorrow (Tuesday), but Sunday afternoon we decided to change our plans and leave today rather than drive a long hard day on Tuesday.  I'm so thankful for that change.  So many things have come together to turn this disappointment into a huge blessing!  We are so thankful!

In addition, the owners allowed us to set up in their lot, allowing us to utilize their electric and water hookups for two nights.  We are just overwhelmed with their kindness.

It was about 4:37pm by the time we were set up in their back lot.  After relaxing a bit, we had leftover white chicken chili for dinner.  We have our feet up, watching TV and thanking God for taking care of us today!

It's good to be back on the road - even with a hiccup!