RVing at it's best!
2001

The end of 2000 marked one of the coldest winters on record in the Kansas City Area.

January 20th, 2001
A group of Coachmen 121 members went to St Joseph, Missouri and the St Jo Casino for dinner and gambling.  Most of us are not gamblers and the nickel slots were looking good for about $20 and that was it.  Some stayed at the Ramada Inn for the night.  We came on home and a good thing we did.  About 1 AM got a call and my business had been burglarized.  Luckily nothing was gone since the alarm made a big racket and notified the police.

February 8, 2001
Well, today wasn't as glorious as it should have been.  I-35 RV closed it's doors today so now I've got to find a new dealer.  Maybe someone will take over the place and reopen it.  Life goes on.

February 9-19, 2001
Coachmen 121 had a strong representation at the Texas Coachmen dinner on the 16th.  A group of 8 units went down to South Padre Island and visited fellow RVers in Laferia, Texas.  Have a few pictures from that here <CLICK HERE>.

March 17-19, 2001
We had a large group of RVers from Coachmen 121 club meet at Basswood RV Resort in Platte County, near Platte City.  The event was hosted by Jim and Jo Walls.  Carol and I arrived at about 9:30 PM Friday after a full day and then the get-ready of the RV.  Saturday I had to get up and go right back to work in the city so it was a short day at the camp.  We got back in time for some fun and friendship and then I had to go back in to work until 8 PM or so.  121 had a club meeting, a potato bar was served and a good time was had by all.  Notably... Jack Torrens is seriously ill in Texas and will be flown back soon by Sky Med.  Our hearts all go out Dorothy and Jack in their time of need.
Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast cooked by Jo with the other folks helping as needed.  It was great!  I had to get back and work on a computer network so it was back to town at 11 AM and so much for the weekend.  Pictures...<CLICK HERE>

April 20-22, 2001
Coachmen 121 club met at the Smith Fork campground at Smithville Lake for a fun weekend.  The weekend was hosted by the Goff's and the Stone's.  Friday evening tacos were fixed up for everyone.  Saturday evening was a dinner of broccoli and cheese soup or italian soup in a sour dough soup bowl.  There was a nice selection of deserts, and other goodies.  Breakfast Sunday was biscuits and gravy w/sausage.  Friday night was a rain from hell.  It came a gully washer and Donna Goff's brother and his kids were in tents behind the Goff's unit.  They fled the tents needless to say when the rain/wind came.  The weekend was pretty low profile with everyone just enjoying each other's company.  A camper meeting was held and it was decided that the 'hosting' was just too costly for one family to bear.  The potluck was reinstated for Saturday night foodstuffs.
Jack Torrens was back with us after a stroke he suffered several weeks ago.  I drove his rig up to get Jack and Dorothy to the campout.  Jack was sporting a bit of a beard that the hospital hadn't shaved off.  He wasn't looking forward to cutting it off so I met the challenge and cleaned him up.  We all had fun with that one.  See the pictures for the campout. <CLICK HERE>  A good time was enjoyed by the Torrens and then we drove them back home Sunday afternoon.  Jack rode back up with me to pick up my rig and we were off to the home front.

April 27-29, 2001
State Planning meeting for the State Rally.  Held in Higginsville, MO.  I was unable to attend due to prior commitments.

May 18-20, 2001
Roddy's Rowdys, Coachmen 121 had a campout at Indian Cave State Park, NE.  This is about 23 miles north of Falls City, NE.  The campout was 'hosted' by the Vonderschmidt's, who live in Falls City.  I went up I-29 to I-229 and then US 36 to 73 and on up to Falls City.  It is 128 miles from home to Indian Cave.  I had to drive back to run a funeral escort and ended up on three of them.  Drove back up Saturday night and there was a pot luck when I got back.  An excellent dinner was had and a quiet evening was spent around the campfire.  I was pretty beat so I turned in early.  Got up Sunday morning and had a nice breakfast with the group.  We stayed around and it rained cats and dogs several times.  We had a hot dog lunch and then decided to stay at Stanton Lake in Falls City Sunday night rather than come back to KC.
While in Falls City we went to Rulo, NE and ate a catfish dinner at Camp Rulo, a cafe on the Mighty Mo at Rulo, NE.  It was quite a dinner with a very impressive view of the river.  It rained again, quite hard, and that made the river view even more impressive.
Monday morning we lazed around Falls City, had a nice light breakfast and drove back to KC.

May 25-28, 2001
This was the Memorial Day weekend and we decided to go to Lake Paradise where we have a membership.  We were in slot 123 next to another camper who had three young boys there.  My granddaughters were in heaven and thoroughly enjoyed the company.  Sometimes camping is exciting and sometimes it is boring.  This weekend was a great one.  It was too cold to swim and the pool was not opened like it usually would be on Memorial Day weekend.  There was plenty of evidence that our exceptionally cold weather was putting a damper on a lot of pool openings.  That didn't put a damper on our trip.  We entertained daughter Nikki, her husband Greg, and the week and a half old Kinsey.  Cooked steaks out on the grill and had a nice visit.  Sunday Staci, Joe, and Jacob came out and I brought some Bryant's BBQ back with me after I went in to run a funeral escort.  Monday I had to go in to work so I just took the motorhome and parked it across from Floral Hills, where I directed Memorial Day traffic.
During the weekend I attended a 'coffee with the board' meeting that was held.  I decided to try to give some positive input at Lake Paradise so I have volunteered to run for the board of directors in September.

June 8-10, 2001
We missed the Coachmen Kansas State Rally due to work responsibilities.  Word was that it was very small but fun was had by all.

June 15-17, 2001
Missouri State Coachmen Rally in Higginsville, MO.  With a lot of hard work our new president Bill Fernau and his wife Phyllis guided us in a wonderful rally.  A good time was had by all.  I had to work so we didn't get there until Friday evening about 6:30.  A light dinner was had.  There was entertainment and root beer floats.  Saturday we enjoyed family games, good food from Bates City BBQ again and entertainment by the The Krazy Kats from Olathe, KS... again.  They were good and it had been a year so we didn't mind the repeat.  Sunday was very leisurely and I drove Jack's rig back home for him and then drove down to Higginsville and picked up my rig.  I took our daughter Staci, her husband, and son Jacob back to Higginsville and we got in the motorhome to return to KC.  Stopped in Independence and with other daughters and grandkids... had a nice father's day dinner at the Smokehouse.  Pictures... <CLICK HERE>

July, 2001
July was a total bust for us in the traveling world.  We had numerous commitments which simply did not allow us to take out the motorhome.  Particularly we missed the July 20-23 campout at Pony Express in Maysville, MO.

August 4-12, 2001
This was our trip to Colorado with our daughter Nikki and family. <CLICK HERE>

September 7-9, 2001
Friday at about noon we got on our way to Hampton, Iowa for the 2001 Iowa Coachmen rally.  We live just west of I-35 about 6 miles and the Franklin Country fairgrounds are just east of I-35 6 miles or so in Hampton.  The trip was basically a straight shot on I-35.  5 1/2 hours later we are in Hampton.  Went through a bit of a storm on the way but it was brief.  The Iowa rally this year was a bit low profile and we spent more time visiting with friends from Iowa than anything else.  We parked in the Franklin County Fairgrounds which had a nice electrical setup with 30 amp service.  There was excellent drainage on the field we were in and surprisingly enough no one really got stuck or even mired down to speak of.  Friday night it rained really heavily.  I expected a lot of mud and there simply wasn't.  Saturday there were a couple of seminars and the Blue-Ox man brought my Aladdin hitch up to specs as a courtesy.  There was a giveaway and Bill Fernau won a rock guard for his motorhome.  Club 241 had a nice lunch available at minimal cost as a fund raiser.  Carol and I went in to the Pamida store (like a mini Wal-Mart) to do some shopping.  There really wasn't much open on Saturday or Sunday in the town.  We spent some quiet time in the motorhome Saturday.  We then went to dinner and entertainment in the fairgrounds center.  There were door prizes and dancing.  Ice cream was available later in the evening.  I sat around a campfire with some of the 241 club for a bit and then went to bed early.  Sunday was a quiet day and we stayed around until most of the folks had gone.  We drove out about 3 PM.
<PICTURES>

On the way home we dropped off the freeway at exit 52 on I-35.  We missed the 'tourist info' that my wife wanted to stop at in St Charles and ended up in Winterset, Iowa.  This turned out to be a good thing in that we got to see the Marion Robert (John Wayne) Morrison's place of birth.  It turns out that Winterset, Iowa is also 'Madison County' from the movie The Bridges of Madison County.  We followed the signs to the city campground to see what they had to offer and decided to stop for the night.  One of the bridges that we saw was the Roseman Bridge which also has a little gift shop next to it.

The city campground is a really nice spot with 34 sites that are RV ready.  Seven (7) of these sites are set up with electric only.  Five (5) of these sites has water and electric.  The rest (22) all have electric, water, and sewer.  There are also 12 tent sites on the south end of the campground.  Cost was very reasonable for full service at $13/night.  There were nice showers and restrooms.  The city park next door had a nice picnic area, covered bridge, and memorial tower to visit.  The city of Winterset/Madison County has six (6) covered bridges.  They all pretty much look the same since apparently the same individual built them.

There was a nice restaurant in town called 'Cooking From The Heart'.  We had lunch Monday there.  We also shopped at Ben Franklin (yes, they still exist).  We stopped at Quilting From The Heart to shop.  After spending most of the day in and around Winterset we packed up the motorhome and we took off for home.  Our kids were glad we were back... it seems that going out of town is not an acceptable practice. <grin>

September 11, 2001
As I was typing in our activities from the weekend... with the TV going in the background... I was shocked and amazed as I watched a fire on TV which turned out to be the World Trade Center.  My initial thought was that there had been a terrible accident and the building was aflame.  As I watched a plane came out of the right side of the picture and crashed into the second building of the WTC.  It was clear that this was not an accident and that America was in fact under attack.  The rest of the events will unfold...  America should all be sad this day.  Many lives were lost and America has suffered great loss!

September 14-16, 2001
I have plans to go to Lake Paradise and my wife is traveling to Arkansas with my ex for a week.  Coachmen 121 is having a pig roast at Paradise this weekend hosted by the Francis and Oberweather families.  The pig roast was no less than fantastic.  David and Obie got things together... Dad & Mom Torrens came out for the festivities.  Good food for all.  We have new members Bob and Wava who bought the Torrens motorhome.  The weather was great and everyone had a good time. <PICTURES>

October 19-21, 2001
Coachmen 121 went to Big Barn in Carthage, MO.  Carol and I were unable to attend due to business commitments at home.  I do have some  <PICTURES> from the trip that were submitted.

November, 2001
We ran up to Lewis and Clark State Park and had a wonderful weekend with several other campers.  There was no 'club' campout as such.  I had to drive back to work Saturday and then I brought steaks back up with me and we cooked them over the open fire.  Walls, Vonderschmidt, Fernau, Dingle, Hannz and Timberman families were represented.

December 4, 2001
Dinner with the Coachmen 121 club at the Machine Shed in Olathe, KS.  It's not one of my favorite places to eat but a good time was had by all.