25th Tuesday Tom worked 8-2:30. After work we went to Walmart for
26th Wednesday The day started with coffee with friends at Cutty’s Café. In the midst of discussing and solving all the world’s problems, we made plans to meet at Village Inn for “Pie Rush Wednesday” at 3:00. We played Fast Track and ate lunch at the Grimes Senior Center. After lunch we went back to Menards and bought the shed. In hindsight, I wish we’d paid a little more and gotten a better quality shed. We had a few more items to purchase at Walmart. Ella bought a watch on which she can actually read the time. What a concept!
With the Hitchhiker finally completely empty, we had it moved into storage.
In the evening we played Train Dominoes at Cutty’s
27th Thursday coffee at the Café and more games and lunch at the senior center. Then Tom worked 2-9. While Tom was at work, Cutty’s staff moved the Excel to storage and the Sierra onto our Seasonal Site. Ella was unable to get the 3 slides out. When Tom got home, he couldn’t get them out either.
28th Friday Tom went out early (still dark) in the morning and pulled the pickup close enough to the Sierra’s batteries to give them a “jump”. With that assist, they were strong enough to get the slideouts out.
We went for coffee as usual but also ordered breakfast at the café.
While Ella worked on organizing in the trailer, Tom worked an odd shift from11-7.
After Tom was off work, we went to Cutty’s Adult Center to play Card Jackpot. We arrived shortly after they had played the first round. Normally there are 4 to a table. When we got there all the tables were full so we started a new table with just the two of us. There was so much “table talk” going on that the Caller was repeatedly asked to repeat what they had said. Several people asked to keep the talk down so that they could hear what cards were being called. After two rounds, Tom gave up and went to the café. Ella followed. We ordered a pizza. When we finished eating we saw that the Card Jackpot had finished. Several people were still complaining about the noise. However, we were the only ones who gave up and left.
29th Saturday There was a Block Party in our area and we had planned to attend. However, a friend’s grandson, who had been born premature, died after 17 days. Tom was asked to read the scripture verses at the funeral on Saturday.
30th Sunday Tom preached in the morning. His title was “I Can Not be Severely Shaken” which was taken from Psalm 62. We took the truck to the car wash to remove the bird droppings. As they begin migrating, the birds stop at the trees in the campground and leave unwelcome “calling cards” on vehicles, RVs, patios and furniture. For lunch we stopped at Subway. Then Tom worked at the fee booth from 2-9.
31st Monday would have been Tom’s mother’s 110th birthday if she hadn’t died in 1994. We did our normal routine of coffee, games and lunch. We also took more items to Union Park United Methodist for the rummage sale.
and I got a bottle of foot spray with most of the information in some Aramaic language.
In the evening John, Brandon, and Nathan came out and moved the hide-a-bed from the Hitchhiker to the Sierra. Then manually pushed the slideout out so that we could empty the food stuffs and cleaning supplies that were stored in a cupboard that had been inaccessible with the slideout in. Once that was done, they pushed it back in so that it could be moved back into storage.
phase was past. Also had requests for fidget spinners which didn’t surprise me because that seems to be the current craze in toys. Santa had one little toddler (not yet talking) who came coming back to just sit on my lap for a while. Then he would get down and run around and then come back to be picked up again. Santa also got lots of hugs. In the evening Santa changed into red jogging pants and a Hawaiian print shirt to ride around the campground with three loads of kids and adults on the hay rack while we sang a few Christmas songs. The same toddler who had sat on my lap in the morning rode most of one trip sitting on my lap again. Santa has a real fan in that one.
booth from 2-9. Ella spent a good part of her day sorting through more “stuff”. When Tom came home she had things boxed to move from the Excel to the Sierra, and several bags of things to take for the church rummage sale. Ella and Tom may not have lost weight this summer, but the RVs sure have. It is still hard to believe that we had accumulated so much extraneous stuff.
Monday morning (17th) while I (Tom) was working the Fee Booth, the club receptionist called to say that there was a message on the voice mailbox for me. On Friday (after business hours) Mark from Methodist Hospital had called and said that a patient requested a visit from me. That and the phone number was all that was said. I immediately called and went to Mark’s voice mail. I left my name, the reason I was calling and my personal phone number. I tried several times during the day but always went straight to the mail. I was very curious as to who from Methodist Hospital was trying to reach me.
Independence Day celebrations at Cutty’s Des Moines Camping Resort were hectic. I should explain a little about Cutty’s. It is a member owned club which means that only Cutty’s members and their guests plus Coast to Coast members are allowed in. It has around 500 sites located on over 80 acres at the northwest corner of Des Moines. It is a true resort with a huge number of activates such as swimming (3 pools), fishing (11 acre lake), miniature golf, horseshoes, shuffle board, tennis, basketball, hot tub, sauna, exercise equipment and more, plus themed events every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Since you can remain on a site for a maximum of 14 days, people started arriving as early as June 20th, to begin jockeying for the prime spots. And as it got closer to the holiday, people started having more guests coming to their sites. The traffic in and out of the fee booth/gatehouse was amazing.
Our winter home, the Hitchhiker (which fell apart before leaving Texas in the spring) wasn’t worth the cost of repairing. So, we purchased a used 38 foot Sierra travel trailer. The plan is to leave the Sierra on our seasonal site at Cutty’s. Then we will take the Excel (which has been our summer home at Cutty’s) south to Texas. With a little imagination you can understand what we’ve been going through in moving stuff from the Hitchhiker into the Sierra. Now also understand that the Hitchhiker held our winter stuff and the Sierra is going eventually hold our summer stuff. So after the Hitchhiker is empty and gone, we can begin shifting things between the Excel and the Sierra.
One evening, while we were working on moving and finding places for our stuff, there was a knock on the door. A Cutty’s member stopped to ask what we were going to do with the Hitchhiker once it was empty. I told him that it was damaged and not worth our repairing so the plan was to sell it for salvage. He said that he has a hobby/business of rebuilding RVs and would be interested in buying it. Things like this, I call “God Things”. Unexpectedly, we may receive more compensation for the Hitchhiker than we had planned. With the expenses involved in purchasing the Sierra, paying for the storage of both the Hitchhiker and the Sierra it has stressed our bank account. A major part of our coming back to Iowa and Cutty’s is to earn and bank a little money. We have not been able to keep the money in the bank this year.
