Ozark Outdoors with the Fitzgeralds

We had rescheduled our rained out Labor Day float trip to the weekend of Sept 14 and 15. We took the Montaj, Chad Fitzgerald brought his daughter Kennedy and his trailer. Ryan and Jennifer drove down in their Durango, which was also the bedroom for Brandon and Rieley. Weather was cool and drizzly, and we ended up not going on a float...bummer. But we did have fun hanging around the campfire, and touring nearby Onondaga Cave. Brandon had spent Thursday making a bow out of PVC, which worked amazingly well. Brandon melted 22 bullets over the fire, and hammered out an arrowhead. Jen brought some peel and stick tattoos for the little ones.  Had a great time. Don't you love the redneck couch?

Montaj on a hook!

Here goes the Montaj, getting towed to Ford. We had previously made an appointment at Price-Gnade Ford in Moscow Mills for service, after our 7,300 mile jaunt to Canada and back. When I went to fire up the engine and retract the slides, no go. There is a little blinking padlock on the idiot lights, and I couldn't get the engine to turn over. Called Ford, they said it was the anti-theft, and we'd have to tow it to the dealer to fix. Ugh. So, they called coach net to take us in. Quite a tow truck they sent! Mean time, we had to figure out how to close the slides and raise the hydraulic jacks without the engine running to boost the battery voltage, as recommended by Gulf Stream. Hooked up the jumper cables from the Honda to the Montaj, and that gave us enough to do the slides, but not the jacks. Kept getting a "low voltage" indicator on the jack control. Finally remembered that once before I'd forgotten to pull up the jacks and released the parking brake, which caused them to immediately retract. I tried it, and that worked, tho you could tell the pump was laboring. Had to un-hook the drive shaft at the universal joint. Tow truck picked the Montaj up like it was an egg crate. It was noon before we got it to Ford, and it took them a day to fix the anti-theft and re-connect the drive shaft.  Ford says the knocking noise we are hearing from the engine is an exhaust manifold leak, and it'll take several days to fix, ie we're without a coach for the weekend and beyond... Meanwhile, we're "camping" at Jen and Ryan's on the Murphy bed. They'll probably start charging rent soon... :-)

370 Lakeside Park

Here we are at our "new" St Louis home... space 118 at 370 Lakeside Park in St Peters! There is a shallow lake stocked with fish (saw a 2' catfish being pulled in) and suitable for paddle boating or kayaking (both are available for rent at reasonable rates). The park is new, and has full hookups with 50a service at all sites, as well as some tent sites for those who want them. The park is in the river bottom area, north of MO 370, and on the river side of the levy. Very nice, except that the trees planted are babies and there is no shade. That wouldn't be a prob except in August and Sept, when it is HOT. Especially for those who have been cool in Canada all summer. LOL. Our plans for the float trip over Labor Day were cancelled as all it did for the 3 day weekend is rain about 5". We've re-scheduled for Sept 14 and 15, hope that works out. In the mean time, we're taking the RV in for service to Ford and to Byerly RV, in preparation for our next trip!

Strolling to St Louis

So, our grand saga of Canada is over. Sob. We've been spending the last few weeks working our way back to our old stomping grounds. First, visited Richard and Barbara Simmons in Medina, Ohio, and camped overnite in a lovely local campground that Richard kindly found for us. He even made our reservation for us, and paid for it! (Probably the only way he had to insure that we didn't become permanent house guests, LOL). Had a nice dinner with them at a community get-together, then back to their place for Hearts! Ah, brought back memories of our regular games in FL. Hope to resume those when we return to FL in Dec.

Next day, on to Powell, OH where we spent the nite parked in the driveway of my cousin's son, Tom Pollock. Got to meet his lady, Leah, and enjoyed a lovely meal and glass of wine with them, see their pictures, and hear of their plans for Italy! We had planned to go by Pat and Fred Walsh's house in KY, but missed connections. Maybe next time. 

Finally, arrived back in St Louis and set up camp in the  370 Lakeside Park in St Peters. It's a sparkling clean city park with about 40 rv sites, and a full-time Ranger for security. 5 minutes from Mid-Rivers Mall, but on a lake and very quiet. Great spot, would be perfect if they had some adult trees for shade.