^[1]While I love to write, our recent adventures have left little time for sitting down at the computer and keying up a blog.  I have more ideas than hair on my head (BTW – I am not bald) but by the time the opportunity to write gets here I am too doggone tired from all of the day’s exciting activities and end up going to bed!

Just to give readers an idea of what is going on, we left the zip code address in Virginia right after Labor Day.  Since then we have traversed across North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and into Kansas.  Our plans are to leave our current spot in Hutchinson and head south to Branson, MO, for a few days taking in many of the shows, exhibits, tours and having some just plain old fun.  From there we may swing north again to Elkhart, IN, to see Amish Country and the birthplace of our RV.  Since we are expected in North Myrtle Beach, SC, by November 1^st for a two week stay with friends in  our Cedar Creek RV Owners Club we will be “on the run” for the remainder of the month.

^[2]In case you didn’t interpret the mileage from our literary, a lot of diesel fuel has been pumped through the big Volvo fuel-injectors in the process.  One of the more beneficial programs we have been using is our  Good Sam/Pilot-Flying J RV Plus fuel charge card ^[3].  It has allowed us to simply pull up to the diesel pumps, swipe, enter our PIN then fuel and go – all with a generous discount below the cash price.  Once we fuel up I go online to pay my bill, which reduces the amount of cash we must carry.  Conventional credit cards have proven to be a pain due to limits placed by credit car companies on the single usage dollar amount for fuel and having to pay a higher credit price.  Having large fuel that we usually refuel with a 100+ gallons, with the program card we avoid 3 to 4 individual transactions required with conventional credit cards.  If you have not opted for this free program, it is something worth investigating

Another Good Sam program that gives us piece of mind is  Travel Assist Plus ^[4].  Being thousands of miles from home base we always worry what we would do if I were suffer an illness or injury that would prevent me from driving the RV.  The program would send a qualified driver to get the rig back home along with the DW and four-legged child.  There are many more useful benefits tied to the program – be sure to check it out!

In addition to our usual array of cockpit navigational and communications hardware, we were fortunate to have a brand new  Magellan Road Mate 9165T-LM GPS with a 7” screen on board.  This unit contains the complete Trailer Life Campground Directory for easily finding campgrounds along our route.  A major upgrade with this model is live traffic updates (without advertisements!) and lifetime map upgrades.  The live traffic feature turned out to be a blessing as we attempted to navigate through Louisville, KY, St. Louis, MO, and Kansas City during the beginning of daily rush hour traffic.  Knowing where the congestion was before we became grid locked in an unfamiliar city enabled us to select appropriate exits and detours that saved us a considerable amount of time and fuel.  I can honestly say that this is the best RV specific Magellan yet and it would be an asset in any RV.

^[5]

Many of the big trucks gathered together for a group photo.

The Hutchinson, KS, Fairgrounds (our current location) is the site for the National Heavy Duty Truck RV Rally.  We have a significant assemblage of RV’ers that, like us, use semi-class tractors converted to RV toters or motorhomes to enable our RV lifestyle.  We have met yet another group of some of the most innovative, creative, helpful and enjoyable fellow RV’ers imaginable at this rally.

.

^[6]

Inside the Salt Caverns – 650 feet straight down.

Yesterday, we toured a fascinating place just outside of town – The Kansas Underground Salt Museum ^[7].  Also, take a look at the  Salt Museum exhibits blog ^[8] for additional photos.  This is the same salt mine Mike Rowe featured on a recent episode of Dirty Jobs shown on the Discovery Channel.

Needless to say, this blog is only a teaser of the campground and product reviews, campfire stories, photographs and points of interest we are now a part of.

Now, all I need to do is slow down enough to gather my thoughts together for posting and sort through hundreds and hundreds of photographs and notes.  All will be expanded in detail in future blog postings

HAPPY CAMPING TRAILS TO ALL!

Last 5 posts by Professor95

• Sequester Delays National Park Openings ^[15] - April 23rd, 2013
• Got an iPad? Drive a RV? Check out this new GPS app from Rand McNally! ^[16] - January 10th, 2013
• OLD GAS PRESSURE LANTERNS - Restoring My Past ^[17] - January 3rd, 2013
• IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Revised by...... well, ME!) ^[18] - December 16th, 2012
• IT'S FINALLY HERE! (The 2013 Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Camp Ground Directory) ^[19] - December 12th, 2012

^{[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]}