Back to Louisiana!

[DutchmenSport]

Leaving Saturday morning, Sept 21 and heading to Scott County Park
18850 270th St, Eldridge, IA

Yep, leaving Indiana and heading to St. Francisville, Louisiana to do another camp host (tour guide) at the Audubon State Historic Site for the months of Oct, Nov, and Dec. But....!!! making a detour first by way of Nebraska.

I'll keep you all posted.

[mlh]

Looking forward to your post.
Lynwood

[DutchmenSport]

First leg of the journey complete. We left Anderson Indiana about 8:30 am and hit I-74 at Crawfordsville, Indiana. Stayed on I-74 all the way across Illinois to Davenport, Iowa.

We are spending the night at Scott County Park, a county park campground. This is really a nice park, big. Lots of campsites in different sections of the park. Some are are primitive, some are full hook-up. Some are back-in, some are pull through. The RV sites are all concrete pads, very clean, very neat. I wish we had more time to explore this place.

Click here.

Leaving early on Sunday (9-22).



Now, with every new trip there seems to be always new challenges and this time is no exception.

When closing up shop yesterday, we had everything in place. Maybe one of two times a year we sleep in our house. Last night we did. My wife wanted something out of the camper which required opening the front living room (upper) slides. And that's when IT happened. Unbelievable .... really.


The driver's side slide started crunching and grinding. Stop the slide immediately. Go no further! Attempt to open the passenter side slide and .... click, click, click, click.

What happened? Both at the same time ... astronimically, unbelievabley weird as cat dung! Driver's side broke a cable, passenger side sounds like it broke a gear on the motor! I was beyond "beside myself". I was ready to set a bomb to this Montana. I've been doing a lot of repairs recently and this one just blew the candles out! Some 4 letter words came out and both dogs ran for the hills! My wife simply disappeared back in the house and I was left standing there .... WHY? WHY? WHY? NOW! I was so mad.... beyond rage!

Wife came back out a few moments and said, I guess were just staying home. I said, "Not if I can help it!"

Well, it was now well after dark but I got the broken cable replaced. The old was was unbelievable snarled up into everything. I had to cut it out into little pieces to get it all cleared out, and thos wires are tough! But, eventually I got a new cable in, adjusted and the driver side is working just fine.

I made the command decision we were leaving for the trip anyway. For now, we'll just not use the living room and the broken slide blocks the steps going up from the lower kitchen. So, Saturday morning, I finished hitching up and away we went!

So, here we are, at Scott County Park in Iowa and we're hanging out in the bedroom now instead of the living room. I'll need to work with at motor more and catch a few YouTube videos to see if it's fixable or if I just need to get an entire new motor. And either way, where do I get the parts and when do I actually have time time to replace it. I've got the ability to swap out for another one, but we're moving a lot until we land in Louisiana on Sept 29. I'm thinking we'll just manage with no living room until then. Once back at the Plantation, (IF) I can get the slide open, I'll have 3 months to get it fixed before we have to leave. And there is a very, very good RV mobil tech in the Baton Rouge area. I "just" might call him and see if he'll do the fix. I know it will cost, but it's a lot more simple. Once on the Plantation again, I'm going to be equally as busy again!

More update later. Happy trails.

And oh, by the way, the wife is extremely happy we left home anyway, even with the broken slide. So, she's all good now. We're making lemon-aid out of the lemons. I remind here of those days we spent tent camping, and the broken slide doesn't seem so bad any more.

[twindman]

I will be in Scott county park the 28th! Have stayed several times. Very nice. Only drawback - they have maybe 30-40 sites at Eagle campground but I think only 8-10 are reservable!

[DutchmenSport]

Day 2: Successful!

Left Eldridge, Iowa (Scott County) in good time, early!!! Made it to Scenic Park Campground in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Got here just just in time to unhitch, plug in power, set down the jacks, open slides and run! Where are we running to? My grand-daughter's Volly-Ball game. Yep, met our daughter and her husband and her 6 kids (all theirs by natural birth) at the game. Had a great time. It's been 5 years since we saw then. I didn't recognize any of the kids.

A word about Scenic Campground. It's NOT a "destination" campground, unless you have something to do or something else you want to do in the area. It's a city style campground. It has street lights throughout the campground, one can hear the road noise from across the Missouri River, and there's no anamniotes here, except a place to park, full hook-ups. But, it is clean, decent, and well taken care of. Their camping prices are reasonable also.

There seems to be some long-term folks staying here, and I'm surprised the campground is almost completely full. I did meet one other "transient" to came in today and leaving tomorrow. So, for a good over-night, safe and comfortable, this campground meets the criteria. If looking for a campground with all sorts of things to do and activities, this one is a zero! Again, it's serving a marvelous purpose for us, so I give it a 9.5 out of 10. It's close and convenient to my daughter's house (real close), and it has full hook-ups, and the price was reasonable. It met our need.... 9.5.

I knock of the .5 because of the outside street lights. Bah! Humbug.

Here's a photo of the Missouri River that run adjacent the park. Day time, it looks really shabby. When evening come, it look real pretty. I suppose that's because we are right in the middle of a large city!



And here's one of the grand daughter.... She's 14 years old:

[mlh]

Your daughter reminds me of a wonderful couple we let live in our home place while they were building a new home. They had a daughter then a son then twin sons but still wonted another daughter. They now have 9 children and still one daughter. I think they have given up on another daughter.
Lynwood

[DutchmenSport]

Day 3, went to LaMars, Iowa to Fedders Marine and RV dealership and picked up a new gear box for that broken slide motor (cable). I will not be fixing the slide while in Nebraska. I'll wait till we get to Louisiana, but at least I have the part. Once back in Louisiana at the Historic Site, we'll we'll be parked for 3 months and there are other staff that will help me push the slide out. According to the service department at Fedders, it will just take a lot of physical power to push the thing out while someone holds the button. As it stands right now, with the slide completely in, I can't reach the gear box to undo everything. It has to be pushed out some. So, this will wait. Meanwhile, (the wife) has adjusted to having the one slide in and climbing over the couch to access the living room. And the doggies have foam cushion steps to help climb over the couch too. So, all is good.

This after noon we're going to another Volly-Ball game and then after the game, we're all going out to eat.

Here's a photo of my "problem child" ...

[Mikendebbie]

Ok Dutch - here’s a test of your Cajun language skills.
When I grew up in East TX there was a good Cajun seafood restaurant in Longview called Johnny Case’s. This Cajun “poem” was framed in the Lobby/waiting room for patrons to cypher and translate.

Seville, dar daigeaux - atausin bussis innar-reaux.
No, Jeaux, demsnot bussis - dems trux!
Summit cowsin, summit dux.

Sadly, the restaurant closed in 2015 (opened 1949). I think I finally figured it out when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade.

Edit: I won’t keep you in suspense…here is the East Texas translation…

Say, Bill - there they go…a thousand busses in a row!
No, Joe, them’s not busses - them’s trucks!
Some with cows and some with ducks!

Successful translation ~1963! My mother made me try to read it dozens of times before I figured it out.

[DutchmenSport]

Wed, Sept 25:

Ran into a bit of good fortune. My wife spotted an RV mobile tech in the campground and pointed him out to me. He looked at my slide problem and I made an appointment for him to come back and fix it. He was scheduled for Thursday.

Turned out, he arrived today (Wednesday) and got the new gear box installed and the slide is working great again.

Now, something that surprised me was how easy it was to swap out the gear box for a new one, how to undo the cables, the chains and then put it all back together. At least, HE made it look easy. Next time (and I seriously hope there really is NEVER a "next time") I'll absolutely be able to do this type of a job without paid help.

What I found absolutely amazing was, once the cables and chains on the gear box were removed, the slide itself was so light. I mean... no serious weight to it at all. I suppose that makes sense, it is filled with styrofoam and this is one of the smaller slides. Still, I was amazed how simple the slide sits in it's hole, how light it is, and how easy it was to move it by hand.

For what it's worth, my wife and I went site seeing, and looking for souvenirs for family members back home. We ended up checking out a couple other camp grounds in the area for when we return to see the daughter again in the future.

Turns out, there is a KOA in South Dakota, just about 5 miles on up the interstate. That will probably be our next campground we'll try. It's pretty typical KOA, although it is along the interstate and has road noise. Still, for an over night or if you have something to do in the Sioux City, or South Sioux City area, it's a great camping bedroom spot.

Now, we also explored Stone State Park, in Iowa. Right on the border between Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. It's an absolutely great state park. Lots of trails, extremely thick forest, and big. BUT! The campground has MUCH to be desired. I give it a 10 out of 10 if you are a tent camper. But, if you are an RV, I give it a zero! Getting to the campground itself is a challenge. I can't imagine hauling a 40 foot fifth wheel there. There is no dump station and now sewer hook-ups. Sites are electric, very short, and shared water spigots for everyone. IF you pulled a camper into the campground, you'd have to back it back it back out, and it would be near impossible to back into any of the campsites. This state park is NOT the place to go with an RV.

Then we hit Wall Mart and stocked up on "Stuff" and finally ended the day with eating at a Mongolian BBQ with our daughter and kids.

It was a good day! A very good day!



Stone State Park, part of one of the trails: