RVing at it's best!
1998

Roy's Trips

09/06/98    Colby, Ks                         Bourquin's RV Park
Not much to comment on.  Arrived late and left $18.00 in the door.  Level sites on the flat Kansas terrain with full hookups.  Apparently has a small restaurant associated with it.  We weren't there long enough to take advantage.  Good food available on the hiway and we stopped at IHOP before we got back on the freeway to head west again.

09/07/98    Great Sand Dunes, CO    Great Sand Dunes Oasis RV Park
We were late in the season and the restaurant/office closed early.  Only open 'til end of month.  Full hookups available for around $20/night.  Level sites in an otherwise hilly terrain.  Located just south of Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park, Colorado.

09/13/98    Canon City, CO                 Yogi Bear's Jellystone RV Park
We liked the Royal Gorge area and stayed two nights here.  The custodians of the RV park were friendly and the facilities were good.  Swimming pool, hot tub, miniature golf, along with a game room were available.  Full hookups for about $20/night.   Hilly terrain w/ level sites spotted throughout the RV park.  Trees were 'scrubby' but adequate.

09/15/98    Ellis, KS                             Ellis City Campground
We found this little jewel in a brochure from the Goodland rest area.  The city of Ellis has a dozen sites or so which are level, and lined up 2 together for electric with water and sewer being at the shower house only.  On the bank of Bear Cave Creek I believe it was.  The town has antiques, etc. on the strip and is a nice quiet place to visit.  A cost of $10/night is paid to the city and one of the police officers on duty collects the money in the evening after you've arrived of course.

09/25/98    Falls City, Neb                     Stanton Lake Campground
The KC Coachmen (Club 191) went to Falls City for a weekend campout.  Electricity was available with some water and sewer.  RVs were parked on the asphalt in a row along one side of what was otherwise a parking lot.  Not my choice for a campout but the food was good and the friendship was good.  Quiet city to visit if you need a place to go.   The club spent two nights there.  We didn't have our RV due to some work being done.  We drove back to Gladstone to spend the night. (105 miles).

09/29/98    Branson, MO                         Treasure Lakes RV Park
We purchased a membership to Treasure Lakes, located in Branson, MO.  Membership prices vary... the membership guarantees you a place to park your RV in Branson.   There is a yearly 'maintenance fee' (currently $180) and a nightly camping fee for utilities only ($1.00).  You can then park your RV, camp, etc. for 21 days in a row and then you must leave for 9 days and then you can do it again.  For the average RVer (not full-timer) I see no way to overrun the system.  By purchasing a membership we then could join Coast to Coast, which we did.  Coast to Coast offers stays at any Coast to Coast affiliate for $6/night.  There are rules and restrictions of course, as in any business, but basically it is a great savings to the RVer.

10/02/98-10/03/98    Columbia, MO             Boone County Fair Grounds
The KC Coachmen (Club 191) attended District 6 Rally for 2 nights.  Roy had to work Saturday AM so we took the RV down for Saturday night and Sunday.  Good dinner.  Excellent entertainment with a band and a 11 year old singer.  She was as good as her older counterparts and is doing a CD of her own!  RV parking available in two places at Boone County Fair Grounds.  We were parked just opposite of the main fair building and had electricity and water.  Dump was available as we left.  District folks from around our area coming in for the rally was the highlight.  A quarter horse show was next door and also provided entertainment.

10/10/9810/11/98    Weston, MO                 Weston Bend State Park
Our granddaughter Amanda wanted to 'RV' so we drove up to this really nice, read that fantastic, state park just south and east of Weston.  We were in site 2.  There were 37 sites (1 full service, 21 electric only, 15 no services) and all were set up with asphalt or concrete pads to park on and gravel for the eating area and enough space to put your tent on the gravel or the clipped grass around it.  Water, dump available at the entrance.   Two restroom facilities, one with showers.  Some spots shaded and some not.   All excellent at worst.  The staff of the park was no less than fantastic and were 'around' virtually all the time to keep things running correctly.  Being close to the KC area we'll be back again here!

10/17/98-10/18/98    Carthage, MO             Big 'Red' Barn RV Park
With granddaughters Amanda and Alyssa on board we  started off in a driving rain storm and pretty much arrived in Carthage in the same.  In fact 'gully washer'   was the term you'd have to use!  We arrived late due to work schedules so it was 6:30 PM or so.  The park was 'full', that is to say every regular site was taken.   KC Coachmen (Club 191), which we are members of, Club 121, and several other clubs were represented.  It seems this was the weekend the Hitchhiker club had also chosen to come to the 'Big Barn' park.  The owners, Jo and Ben were very helpful and immediately saw to it that we had a place to park and that we could at least get to an electrical hookup.  Water was also available but I let them know that the electrical hookup was good for the night as we were well equipped to deal with it.  We all got a good laugh because I was parked on gravel right in the middle of the road for the night.  One of the campers left early (7 AM) and I was able to pull right into that spot and clear the drive.  At about 10 PM the rain stopped and the stars came out and that was the last of this round of rain.   Sunday was sunny and bright.  Jo and Ben also saw to it that we were well informed on what was available in Carthage to visit.  I, for one, was quite impressed since I hadn't the slightest clue what was in Carthage, if anything.  We enjoyed a Historic Homes Tour, the grandkids played at the RV park and we had a really nice lunch before we drove home under a bright sun.

Should you wish to visit the southwest Missouri area of Carthage I strongly recommend Big 'Red' Barn RV Park.  Look for a well run RV park with courteous folks there to help!

10/23/98-10/25/98                                     Lake Paradise Camping Club
Lake Paradise is located 6.5 miles south of Oak Grove, Missouri (Exit 28 on I-70) on County Highway F and then 2 miles east on Cline Road.  The park has a nice sign on F Hiway to alert you to the turn.  It might be noted that is is about 2.5 miles north of 50 Hiway on County Highway F.  Coast to Coast RV Park affiliate and RPI Park affiliate also.  This is a member owned RV Park.  It has a huge swimming pool, two adult clubhouses, a family center and a multi-purpose building.  It also has a general store, laundry facility, public showers / restrooms and 24 hour security.  It also has 5 lakes, 2 lagoons, and a pond along with nature trails and other recreational facilities.  Much of the work around the place is done by volunteers.  They are a very important part of Lake Paradise.

We arrived late Friday night, the 23rd, and this is one park that you don't really want to arrive in the dark to stay at.  Especially in the fall when the leaves are coming down.  What we found was that three areas... Timberwolf, White Tail, and Beaver were open and pretty well packed.  Other areas had the water shut off already.  We found that this was due to the pipes having been put on top the ground in many cases.   It appears that there is a lot of rock in the area and one area in particular (Eagle Mountain) was virtually all rock!  That looked to us like the spot to be since there were only a couple of people in that area, making it a much more private/quiet area.   Electricity was available and we had plenty of water.  The leaves that covered everything, making it hard to tell where any sites, roads, or other markings were located, proved to be a lot of fun for the grandkids.  They piled 'em up and wore themselves out playing.

Saturday afternoon and evening marked a trip to the pumpkin patch so all the kids could get their pumpkins and a trip through the 'haunted forest'..  By that time we had the three grandkids we brought with us and three of our daughters had come out and we had 3 more grandkids with us.  The grandkids weren't 'scared', or so they said.  Of course the fact that they wouldn't let go of the adults for even a second may have been a truer indicator.

A good time was had by all and we enjoyed the family time with the grandkids immensely.   As an aside we also had the friendship of the members of Roddy's Rowdy's (Club 121) to enjoy.  It seems that many of that clubs' members are also members at Lake Paradise.  We are members of KC Coachmen (Club 191).  Both clubs are sponsored by I-35 RV.

10/29/98                                                     Crowder State Park
We're going to make it three days at Crowder State Park which is another fine Missouri Park that is located 87 miles north of our home (Gladstone, MO) and is just outside (4 miles) of Trenton, MO.  We were lucky and got the 'host' site which had full hookup.  Other hookups were limited to electricity.  Water was available at various locations in the park.  A dump station for sewage is available.  Showers, restrooms, and laundry facilities are also available.  There were a half dozen of the Coachmen club members that also were at Crowder so we had lots of friends there.  Crowder State Park is a fine area and the drive into the campground is one of the prettiest around in the fall.  Facilities are well kept.  Each campsite is asphalt and ready for rigs like ours.  Most of the campsites appear to be quite level and easy to get into.   Saturday morning... the rains came, and came all day.  There was no relief from the constant rain.  The gals went into Jamesport (10 miles SW) to shop and enjoyed the antiques and the atmosphere.  Horse drawn carriages are the word of the day in the Amish community.  I went into Trenton (3 miles NE) to the town grocery store (Hy-Vee) and picked up a couple of things.  We made use of the enclosed shelter house, including the fireplace, refrigerator, stove, and sink facilities.  Plenty of tables and chairs were also there for our use.  Saturday night marked an excellent dinner of baby back ribs and sliced beef.  Not much going on Sunday and we left about 10AM for home and a birthday party in the family.

11/01/98                                                         End of the season...
We'll be preparing the rig for the winter, while taking the lull in camping to its' advantage and adding some accessories to the unit.  I want to get the satellite dish on the roof mounted, Pac brake installed, solar panels, and an inverter.  We've got a big trip coming up in April.  We're going to be headed to Florida for a visit to Disneyworld.  A couple of my grandkids are going to enjoy that one!  Meantime the satellite dish is ordered.  We're putting a permanently mounted TV in the bedroom area.  We'll also be putting in a Channel Plus unit so that we can plug in my Sony GVS-50 8MM recorder/TV, Panasonic DVD-L10 unit, and the Canon ES6000 Camcorder.  The Channel Plus allows each one of them to become a channel on the TV so that the front, rear, or outside TV can be switched to any one of the units independently.

11/21/98                                                         1999 Planning Meeting
Coachmen 191 Planning meeting was held.  Trying to get organized for the 1999 season.   Pot luck and a good time were had.  Camping for 1999 is set for virtually every monthly campout.

12/01/98                                                         Interim
Got the rig back after installation of the Winegard Satellite Dish (Model RD-9946 Automatic Mobile Sat System), Channel Plus System, CB Antenna, and several other small 'fixups'.  It's neat to push the 'search' button and watch the satellite go up and lock in automatically on the satellite.  Life has gotten even easier.  Is that possible?  The rear TV mount has been backordered.  (It arrived mid-December.)

12/12/98                                                         Christmas Party
The Coachmen Caravan MO 191 Christmas Party was today.  We had dinner at Stroud's and a get together at a members home for Christmas candy exchange.  A good time was had by all.  We all agreed that it would have been good to camp out right on through December the way the weather has been this year!

12/25/98
As I sat down for Christmas dinner with our four daughters, their husbands, and eight (8) of the ten (10) grandkids, I couldn't help but be thankful for the blessings that we've had.  The RVing has truly been fun but even more than that we're trying to get life in order and we seem to be making progress.  I had obtained a loan (2nd Mort) to consolidate some credit card bills.  That had successfully moved me to five (5) years of payments for a little over $600 per month instead of the projected 31 years to pay off the high interest credit cards at about the same rate per month of a little over $600.   One should sit down and put their debts on a spreadsheet and actually 'LOOK' at them rather than just seeing a single bill at a time.  It is no less than a nightmare!  The second thing I had done in paying off the cards was to call and close the accounts.  I kept one card and lowered the credit limit on it to handle the things that absolutely require a credit card for purchase.  My wife's cards are on the list to do away with also.  She's closed those accounts and we'll be paying them off next.  Not quite the amount but still respectable!

We were very conservative this year in our purchases, making the ten (10) Educational IRA accounts, one for each grandkid, top of our priority.  The kids got a little something to open also and we went into that Christmas day having not charged a single cent.  The children are truly the enjoyable part of Christmas and all were well.   Great Grandma and Grampa enjoyed their new SWBell Cellular Phone that we got them for safety and such.  They will enjoy that while driving down to their second home in Fair Grove, Missouri.


TOP OF PAGE

© 1998-2003 Roy Timberman
All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
www.timberman.com