CC @ CC

Just home 4 days from Mexico and we realized we missed CC. It is amazing how much we enjoy getting away from everything & slowing down the pace with CC.

We spent an hour & a half giving CC a bath & prepped her for a trip.

We booked a non lakeside slot at Coles Creek. We are really liking it out there. To change things up & save time I decided to take CC to work Friday morning, it saves my trip home & then the return trip with Rita following me back to SWIC to hook up her Fit.

I just parked CC out in the lot & Rita drove out to the college around 4pm. I actually gave my Dean a tour of CC. I got off work, walked out, hooked up the car & took off. (Saved us almost an hour.....)

We'll not quite.... Right after we attached Rita's car a storm rolled in. We hooked her up quick, but you can't drive off until you pull up a little & get the hitch arms to lock into place. Then make sure the car rolls freely so you have a safe tow.

So the question is do you sit & wait out the storm before leaving? Or send out the "co-pilot".

Co-pilot it is! Rita armed with an umbrella ran out, checked the lockout, verified the roll, & confirmed lights. Eastbound & down! (But still saved an hour)

Point of interest, I don't think we have been on a trip where it hasn't rained. So if you're suffering from a drought let me know & we'll head your way.

Weather cleared up, we got to Carlyle in great time. Slipped CC into her slot & did an actual full RV'r set up. Deployed all the canopies. Four window covers, door awning & the massive patio cover!

We strung party lights, hung out the flags, set out lawn chairs, lit the Tiki torches & started a fire. We're camping now baby!!!!

The plan was for Rita to drive into Belleville for a couple of morning appointments. She was going to drop me off at the golf course & I was going to play 18 holes.

But Brandi's babysitter plan didn't work out & daddy was no help so Papa to the rescue. Brandi dropped of Saxton, Mica & Kolton. Along with their bikes & we spent the day together. We rode to the playground & burned up some energy! Had a discussion on bugs. These kids have a strange fear of these flying creatures. Talked of the risks of bears in the woods,(none). And generally had a great day together, I think we went on 8 or 20 bike rides around the campgrounds. Found a squished frog, we checked him every circuit.

Had a nice lunch of P & J sandwiches, fresh fruit & animal crackers. Played catch. Saxton can toss a football with a nice spiral & he's only 5.

Eventually wound up in CC to watch "Rio" and rest in the cool air. The 2 little ones passed out. So it was some quiet time.

Rita's morning only appointments became a couple of afternoon ones but that's ok. She got out there & gave me a break.

We decided to have them stay for dinner & a fire. Rita broke out the games so the kids had fun waiting for mommy.

Grilled some chicken breasts & asparagus. Delicious!

Sat around the fire as, surprise, a storm rolled in. Brandi & the kids headed home. Rita & I fell asleep to the sounds of rain on the roof. Good sleeping weather.

Since we didn't get a chance to spend an adult day we decided to stay Sunday night & head in to work late Monday.

We slept in, had a great breakfast, then went fishing. Didn't catch anything but we had a great afternoon together.

So our leisurely drive in Monday took an odd turn. I was planning on getting in around noon. We're sitting on our site all packed up when I realized I was subbing for a teacher on campus at 11am. Holy crap, that's in an hour. Rita jumps out of CC & heads home to get me a change of clothes, of course, all I have is shorts & t-shirts.

I start driving to the college, thinking. The class is Police Report Writing. I have a daughter, who is a cop, who writes awesome reports & is off today. A quick call gets her out the door & 10-76..

I divert to home, park CC in her driveway & complete my leisurely drive to work. Thanks, Jackie......

Oh yeah, the title of today's blog. One of my nieces pointed out that we were at Coles Creek (CC) in CC. Maybe that's why we're so comfortable there.

 

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What? Fun without CC?

In the midst of the deep freeze of the Winter of January '14, dreaming of warmer climes. Before CC was even a glimmer of a thought. Rita & I thought it would be fun to take our "clan" to the warm beaches of Puerto Vallarta.

Hoping to cheer up Brandi we decide, what the hell, let's take everyone. So we booked an all inclusive resort for all nine of us. Four adults & nine kids, ranging from 2 to 13.

Luckily, we paid for most of it before we fell in love with CC. So, with a bunch of camping trips under our belt. We went on vacation and left CC behind.

We staged at the Marriott Airport Hotel,(for the price of a room, you can park your car free for 2 weeks. It's cheaper than the Parking Spot & no crazy 4am drive to the airport).

An early 7am flight, relatively easy excursion through Imigration & Customs. Quick bus ride to the resort & beach side by 1pm, of course with a beer in my hand, well actually a Michelada!

We got all the kids a family suite with a Pacific view.

We were pool side or on the beach every day. Kids had a freaking blast. Kolton's new favorite word? Cannonball!!!

So after 7 full days of beach, pool, unlimited food & booze, we made it home. My liver still isn't talking to me!!!

 

 

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It is an Adventure!

You can hardly call your blog, "The Adventures of CC & Me", without an adventure...

When we bought CC we knew the awning motor needed to be replaced & the dishwasher needed some service. Well after a couple of visits by the appliance repairman the dishwasher works.

The awning was a little more complicated. The delivery tech at Orlando RV was supposed to order the new awning motor, but by some glitch in the system, thought it was ordered. It wasn't. When we called back he was convinced it was on back order.

Being the patient guy I am, I waited until it was delivered. But after 2 months I became concerned. After a couple of unreturned phone calls & emails, I sent a snippy email to my salesman & voila, found out nobody ordered anything. Grrrrrrr.

After getting a little run around, I went to a local camper company & wouldn't you know after calling Carefree of California the motor was available & delivered in 24 hours. Then surprisingly Orlando RV found one to & dropped shipped it to me. So for 3 months I have no motor & now I have 2....

All I want is my awning to work. So off I go the get the motor installed. But it's a stormy day so I wait a couple of hours until it blows over & take CC to Lombardo's, the place that is going to fix the awning. Here is where up the adventure begins...

While driving down the highway in the post thunderstorm winds, the zip ties that were holding the awning closed broke & while driving at 45 mph the back half of the awning deployed & began flapping in the wind. I pulled over as fast as I could and looked up seeing it all billowing on the wind flopping around. Holy crap, I was freaking out!

I quickly call Jason at Lombardo, & he sent a guy to help me. I opened the storage bay, got out the ladder extension & climbed on the roof. (Did I mention it was windy!!!). I went to the awning, fought it in the wind & began to roll it up manually. That worked, it stopped flapping around & it looked ok. I then reached for my phone to get an ETA from Lombardo, but, no phone. It must have fallen out of my belt case, of course in the 2 foot tall grass along the road.

As I look down, I realized I left the door open to CC. What was I thinking?? So here I am. On the roof of CC, along the highway, wind howling, looks like it's going to rain any second, as in pouring rain. I can't let go of the awning. Holy crap!

Just then Jackie, who was going to pick me up at Lombardo's drives by. She pulls over to help. I'm trying to figure out a way to secure the awning so I can let go, when The tech shows up to help. He has a bunch of zip ties & climbs up to help. Of course he is worried about the wind & crawls to the edge with me.

As we begin to strap the awning down, Jackie finds my phone in the weeds. Like a good girl she takes a couple of pictures.

All secure we drive slowly to the shop.

Whew!

I go back to work & hope there isn't any damage to the awning....

Yippee, Lombardo's calls & the awning is in perfect condition, motor replaced & it works perfectly.....

But, the adventure's not over. They are locked out of CC.. You see she has two door locks. On top is the dead bolt. On the bottom a simple lock, like on a car door. A couple of RV dealers told us to not use the bottom lock because it's pretty generic & anybody could have one to get in. So all we use is the deadbolt.

But when the technician didn't know all that & locked the bottom one. Of course we have keys to that lock, bad thing is they're inside CC. Well Lombardo's had about 100 generic keys, of course none of them worked. (Do much for everybody has one theory) So they wound up breaking into a side window, with minimum damage & got in. (New part on order)

Almost over with. I got a ride back to the shop to get CC. And as I tried to call Rita to meet me at home....my phone battery is dead, really?

But, I threw it on a charger, called Rita & got CC home safely.

So here is the happily ever after part. CC is home, everything is in working order. We tested the awning, perfecto. She is fully stocked, and already for our next adventure.

And she even has her name tags on....

See you next adventure!"&

 

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Columbia, MO

Trying a Freiberg / Sax trip again. Our main reason is Warm Springs Farm, home of Anhueser Busch's Clydesdale breeding farm.

I started off Friday with the Major Case of St. Louis golf tournament. Luckily I got the morning round. Unluckily, I got the morning round, the 7am tee time sounded good, until I had to get up at 5am to drive to north St. Louis.

But still had a good time. Plus a great pace of play, done and on my way home by 11:30. The afternoon round was over booked by 4 teams and they were starting late. Oh and it started to rain. So I'm back to luckily....

Got home, helped finishing the load up, waited for Hunter and off we went. It was Hunter's first time in CC while moving so after we were on the highway he came up front. Armed with the binoculars he enjoyed the elevated view of the road.

We were on site by 5pm. Staying at a private campgrounds north of Columbia. This was the levelest campsite we have ever been at, CC was level in 3 seconds! All hooked up & in a lawn chair in great time...

Friday was kind of nice because it was still a small crowd. Me, Rita, Hunter, Peg, Den, & Amy. All the rest were still in Belleville at the Shriner's Parade. Hunter was in charge of grilling (with an assist for me). We enjoyed an awesome dinner of ribeye steaks, asparagus & baked potatoes.

Perfect evening on what we discovered were the "choice" campsites. On the end with a huge grassy area, directly across from the pool & playground.

Hunter might have been schooled by Rita in a quick washers game...

Jackie & AJ pulled in at about 1am. I got up just long enough to guide them in...

Saturday was fun. We made the required trip to Camping World. Free food, snow cones & attendance prizes, SCORE! Plus bought some stuff that we didn't know we "had to have". Hit Bass Pro on the way back to campsite. New rods & reels.

The Goodrich's showed up, that adds 2 more adults & 4 more kids to the mix. Brandi came pulling in too......

It was pool, playground & some odd variation of left field ball. But the kids all had fun. Plus Jackie introduced the Goodrich's to Geocaching

Here is the close one that they walked to...

Saturday's dinner was grilling by Nina (with an assist by me). Grilled marinated chicken breasts, baby potatoes & Rita's Famous Wilted Lettuce. Delicious!

Follow that up with a campfire & 'smores.....

Sunday the kids did another Geocache run, plus they took some other kid from the campground....

 

 

We then headed west on I-70 for about 20 miles for the Clydesdale's tour. Of course AB does it right, had a good time learning about the program & had some pictures afterwards. The only bad thing was they still observed the Missouri Blue Laws in this county so no complimentary beer..BOO!

On the way back to the campground 1 more cache....

Jackie dropped us off at the campgrounds & everybody except us headed home. Talk about a quiet campsite..Rita & I packed up Monday morning & headed home. I was at work by 1pm.

 

The good news is Monday the dishwasher was repaired, it ain't camping without a dishwasher....

And Wednesday the awning motor should be replaced so all systems should be a GO, for the BIG Summer trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Memorial Day Weekend!

We are on a nice three day weekend! But I have to remind everyone the weekend is to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
It's because of their sacrifice & the dedication of our military that we are able to have trips like this.
Thank you!
So we're down by Rend Lake. Nice campground, awesome neighbors. Guy next door came over to help us start our fire. Showed us a great way to cheat. Who needs to remember the Boy Scout stuff.

We had a nice evening. Slept late (7:30). Headed over to North Sandusky to say hi to some friends, the Frames & Johnsons. Then drove down to the spillway for a nice bike ride through the woods.
The bike trails here are awesome, all paved, as in concrete. Didn't go too far or too fast, it was the first ride of the year. But the bikes did travel well on the back of Rita's Fit, which was behind CC. So they were in a different time zone when we drove.....

Now here we sit in front of the fire, thinking about tossing a couple of steak on the grill.
Tomorrow, playing golf at Franklin County Country Club.
It's Sunday, slept in again. I could start liking this. It must be all the fresh air, we are outside almost the whole day when we're "RVing".

Awesome breakfast then lounged around the campgrounds until our tee time.
We played at Franklin County Country Club. It's an older golf course, established in 1921. It was recently opened for public play. It was in pretty good shape. Only thing I didn't like was the bar was closed by the time we were done. The tall draught beers on the way out looked inviting.
Swung through Benton and picked up some fire starter to make life easier, then back to CC.
Headed to the pool for a dip to cool off from the course. The water was a bit chilly. But it felt great.
This siting in front of a fire with a drink, fixing dinner can get addicting. Just hope the heat of summer doesn't ruin it.

Memorial Day! Most of the campground seemed to pack up early & leave. We enjoyed the later check out and relaxed a little longer.

The load out is getting easier. One of the neighbors came by & showed me his "RVMinders". They are a set of slap on tags for the steering wheel. They're like the slap on bracelets from the 80's. They are all color coded & serve as a reminder for all the thing you need to do/store. Looks like a Camping World visit is needed.

See ya next week!

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Coles Creek, Carlyle Lake

OK, so a camping trip without little kids should be less hectic right? Ummmm, not so much.

To set the picture have to talk about my week. This is the first time our Police Academy has had two sessions going at the same time. Both the Basic Law Enforcement Academy and we added the 80 Hour Transition Academy. We're training 53 officers in 2 computer labs.

It's not bad, in fact going pretty well, it's just a lot of cops scattered all over the campus during the Practical exercises. But Thursday I came in as usual for the 7am start, stayed all day & then had to hold over for the college's official graduation. We were here until almost 9pm.

Lucky for me I was signed up to play in SWIC's Foundation Golf Tournament for Friday. Unlucky for us, it rained all week, so carts on path. And it was "unseasonably cold". (Is it winter, is spring what the heck's going on?). But despite weather & course conditions had a great time with Grant & Michelle Wuller. Did get a Birdie on #10 though.

It was a baby, hence the "birdie", he must of just been learning to fly because there were some control issues. He sat on my club and just chirped up storm. We were only a couple of feet from him the whole time.

Finished the tourney around 2pm, headed home hopped into "CC" and headed for the Lake. We did have a 5 minute stop at SWIC to hook up Rita's car to the back of CC.

Took a different route this time, of course we get out there and run into a detour. But we made it. Once we checked in at Coles Creek, they gave us a chance to upgrade to a lakeside campsite and of course we did...

 

Got all set up, fixed a nice dinner & enjoyed the fire, especially since it was "cold!"

Saturday morning started the adventure. The guy I work with, Van, teaches at Lindenwood University. His son was graduating from High School this morning so I agreed to sub for him. Since I was coming into town, Rita scheduled some appointments. (We still need to pay for CC).

So up at 6am quick showers & breakfast, drive into Belleville. Of course Coles Creek is on the far side of Carlyle Lake so it's an extra 20 minutes into Belleville. I taught until 11:30, I walked home from the campus. Rita worked until 12:30, picked me up & we headed back to the Lake.

Once we were back we threw some brats on the grill for lunch, then since we're so close to Carlyle, we decided to head back to watch Saxton's first T-Ball game. Of course we were told its was in the City Park. Nope, empty. We drove around the area and found them at the grade school ball fields.

We were impressed. Kids get three chances to hit a ball tossed by the coach, after that it's onto the tee. Saxton, all of 5 years old, came up swinging and connected on the the first pitch every time.

Once he hit it he wasn't real sure what to do, but with some encouragement he figured it out. He did great in the field too. No picking dandelions or playing with the dirt. He watched every batter and reacted to the ball. Great job, Saxton!!!

After the game we went into RV mode. Returned to the campsite (we logged 160 miles today) and started acting like campers.

Rita started fishing with her new fancy fishing pole.

I sat on the hill watching, planning the big summer trip drinking a beer and listening to music.

Perfection!!

Of course the rod & reel Rita got isn't as easy to use yet, more practice is needed. So she wasn't casting as well or as far as she wants. So we are sitting there and some kind of fish are jumping out of the water about 20 yards from her, like they were teasing her. Naa, naa, naa,naa, you can't catch me. So after awhile she came back up to me and we opened some wine....

Nice dinner and a fire seemed appropriate.

Slept in Sunday, then nice big breakfast, Rita's a great cook. Then we walked all over the campgrounds for an hour or so.

Rita decided to try fishing again. But this time she decided to use Mica's "Dora the Explorer" fishing pole and???

Success!! We think it was a "crappie". After I suggested releasing it she did.

Brandi came out for lunch and relaxing in the shade. Later that day started cleaning up.

Had a guy walk up admiring CC, he turned out being an E. St. Louis PD Captain. Gave him a quick tour then loaded up & headed home.

Surprisingly, with not having grand kids with us everyday camping we weren't exhausted when we got home. Go figure....

Next week, Rend Lake. And nothing but fun. No road trips, no babysitting. Just us. Thinking golf, bike riding & winery......

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Dam West Carlyle Lake

What a great weekend.
Started off pretty well as planned, as long as you don't count me forgetting to bring my God-Daughter. You know, getting older you forget things. We'll this time I forgot Amy. Luckily she called & asked us about the new exit by our house & told us she was close. Fortunately we were still close, by QT. So we turned around & picked her up.
Uneventful drive down there, took about an hour. Quick check in & on to site #87. As we pulled up, my sister Peg & Dennis walked over to watch me back CC into the site. Great an audience. But thanks to YouTube Rita & I have this almost to an art. Using the 3 in 1 lesson on backing we were in with one attempt. Perfectly aligned & ready to party. Quick leveling, hook-up, and slide outs. We are done. Waited for Brandi, Saxton, Mica & Kolton then off to dinner.
We all went to meet Jody, Chandler and their kids at Keyesport, IL for fish at "The Keys", awesome walleye. Then we all went back to Dam West. Spent a nice evening drinks & family.....
We decide to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday so we would have time to enjoy the food, company & great outdoors. Our group woke up early and had a nice breakfast of crockpot oatmeal, granola & raisins. Brandi had to drive into Belleville for some appointments so we took care of the kids.
Peg's site woke up an hour later. Dennis & Chandler fixed them all a breakfast of pancakes & eggs. Somehow my grand kids ate a second breakfast with them, not a little one but a big breakfast.....
Then we were off to the races....the little kids did everything, playing with every toy imaginable. Then riding bikes, playing in the mud...

Chandler seemed to always be in the mix with all 5 little kids. Between running alongside them when they were bike riding or playing ball with them...wow..thank you Chandler. I would have been worn out by noon...
We went for walk to the playground, then decided to go down to the lake. Once we found a nice open spot we walked down to the shore. That's where Kolton found the "dead snake".
First off, it was a really small snake. And we knew it was dead because it was a headless snake. The kids were mesmerized by the snake & after some quick discussion we decided it need a funeral. So here we are, lakeside, with driftwood & a dead snake. Yup, you guessed it burial at sea, well lake.
Chandler found a piece of drift/plywood, carefully laid the snake on it. The kids collected a stick to make a mast. Leaves for a sail & flowers to decorate it. After a few words (not really). We launched the Funeral Pyre.

It went out about 2 feet & sank. But the kids were pleased. Hiked back to the campsite, caught a couple of bugs on the way. All in all, good times......
Big BBQ pork steak dinner with everyone. Bonfire & 's'mores. Perfect day!
Sunday was started with GG omelettes & more playtime. Man these kids keep on going & going & going......
I took the Gustafson's for a walk. Took this picture.

Late Sunday packed up & headed home.
Ironically I forgot Amy again. I know she was with her mom & dad, but she parked her car in CC's spot, so we stopped @ SWIC & they dropped her off.
Got CC home & unpacked. Started the laundry & relaxed.
The weekend went too fast. But we had a GREAT time. Special thanks to Peg & Den, for helping us & having the thing we didn't know we didn't have.
Next weekend, Rita & I are going solo @ Coles Creek....

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Our First "Camping" trip!

I'm not sure we can call it camping when we take CC out. But we will for now.

Today after work Rita & I are heading to Carlyle Lake and staying at Dam West. We're meeting up with my sister Peg & her clan.

Brandi & the kids are going to stay with us. Right now the plan is The Keye's for dinner tonight, love their wall-eye. Then celebrating Mothers Day Saturday afternoon with a big barb-b-que.

Weather might not want to cooperate but we'll give it a shot.

More to follow......

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Driving Lessons

We took CC out today, so Rita could learn how to drive her.

First we watched 8 really nice YouTube videos to help figure out where everything is.

I drove her out of the alley and onto Centerville Ave. Used the new double circle drives south of Quik Trip and headed out to SWIC.

Once there we followed the directions from YouTube and marked the front end blind spot. You can't see the first 17 feet in front of you. Then we marked the mirrors so Rita knew where the back wheels were.

After some seat adjustments & mirror moving Rita was ready. She discovered the breaks were touchy, of course I was standing at the time. We made 4 or 5 circuits in the parking lot practicing left turns & trying to keep CC in her lane. It's harder than you think.

Rita got the hang of it pretty quick. Then Brandi stopped by and Saxton, Mica & Kolton all hopped on board for the lap around the parking lot. They thought it was cool.

Then we turned her around and started making right turns. Surprisingly the kids started getting bored with this and went home. After a number of laps Rita drove CC on the new outer road a couple of times then headed for the highway!!!!!

We headed towards Scott Air Force Base & then eastbound on I-64....

It was a little windy & Rita was white knuckling the steering wheel a little but so did I on my first road trip.

We took an exit, switched drivers and brought her home.

Here's the cool part. We backed her into her spot in one try, almost like experts. Thank you YouTube!

I did a little more tree trimming & we locked her up.

We went to Bed Bath & Beyond and got some "stuff" to get her ready for our first camping trip in a couple of weeks.

We're also getting the driveway installed Monday morning so I won't have to worry about her sinking into the lawn.

 

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Shhh.. CC's napping

Unpacked CC, cleaned her up. Showed her off to some family & close friends. Then closed her up until our first real "camping" trip in a few weeks.

She takes up a lot of room, so we might make some changes in the parking arrangements. Plus I trimmed some branches on a tree across the alley so she won't get scratched up when we bring her home next time.
A little more about her name. When Jackie had Hunter there was a discussion about what they should call Rita. I was easy, PaPa. Rita wanted to be called Empress, but Jackie wasn't having any part of that. So after discussion Rita settled on GeGe. When Jackie was little she called Brandi, DeeDee so when her boys were little they called her Aunt DeeDee.Here's a shocker, Brandi's kids struggled with saying Aunt Jackie & now call her Aunt KeeKee.
And finally, our only granddaughter, Micaela, her brothers call her La-La. So, therefore, naming our newest girl, the RV we call CC (for Country Coach) only makes sense.
Check back every once in awhile. When we take CC out for our next adventure, we'll blog about it............

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