Back Home in Mission!

We arrived back in Mission on Monday afternoon. It was hot, Doug fought head winds all the way down from Sattler, but I am glad we made it and are sitting still for a while now. The last three weeks have been crazy, so let me fill you in on what has happened.

First we were at the HDT rally in Hutchinson. It turned out to be a great rally with a pretty good turn out. I actually enjoyed the ladies outing that Thursday and as always the lunch was really good.

At one of the seminars, and there was a lot of them, one of the vendors brought this cool looking truck. Isn't it a beauty!!!

Friday came around and I was really excited, since we would finally get into the main picture without having to wait. I actually drove the truck to the meeting spot and parked it.

I think it is a pretty impressive picture to see all these big trucks come together for a week of fun and seminars. Here are some more pictures of some of our friends that were at the rally.




We left Hutchinson on Sunday and went 340 miles to Thackerville, OK. I love my new car so much!! Got into Thackerville without even feeling tired and went for a two day gambling session, since this is our last time gambling until we leave Texas in the spring.

Our next stop was Poolville, TX to go see 2L Custom Trucks for a quote on getting the truck repainted. It is not like it really needs it, but by now the front passenger fender has changed color and it is really annoying me. We actually got quoted a price that did not give me a heart attack.

We moved on the next day to go see Doug's dad and family in Austin, TX. I don't know what it is, but every time we go to Austin, we can't find room at a campground near by. So we decided to go down Route 281 to Johnson City and stay at a campground there. It was a straight shot from there to Austin. We will never (ever) do that again. I thought Route 281 was a four lane highway pretty much all the way down and I was sooooo wrong. Between it being a 2 lane highway most of the time and the steep hills up and down, our fuel mileage was lousy and Doug was not a happy trooper anymore. I thought it might be a pretty drive through the hill country, but I was wrong. We will not make this mistake again, but at least we had a nice dinner with Doug's dad, Vee and Jonathan.

Friday we moved on to our favorite campground in Sattler and rested up for next three days and went to our favorite German restaurant in New Braunfels, TX. I am glad to report that the food is still as good as we remembered. We wanted to go to Wurstfest, but unfortunately it is still a week away and we did not feel like staying at the campground for a week, when our lot in Mission is only 265 miles away. So on Monday we packed up for hopefully the last time this year and went back to Mission.

Kansas Underground Salt Museum

Hutchinson is known for its huge salt mine, which actually runs under the city. We did not have time two years ago to check it out, so we decided to do it Friday, before a lot of our friends were pulling in on Saturday.

When we arrived we saw this beautiful locomotive, which always remains me of my dad, who worked for the train company in Germany pretty much all of his life.

We went into the building to realize that the museum and the whole tour is actually 650' underground in the salt mine itself. We got our hardhat and a rebreather in case something would happen. In their whole history of being open since the 1920s, there had not been an accident, so we were pretty much at ease. However, the dark elevator going down 650' to the mine itself was not to my liking.

Arriving down there was pretty amazing. It is a comfortable 68 degrees all the time and a steady humidity.
The walking tour was pretty interesting. Since the shaft is so narrow, some of the equipment and cars that they use to get around in this vast tunnel system are just left behind, since it is to difficult to bring them back up to the surface.



Look at this awesome looking rock formations.

Saturday rolled around and right before lunch time the rigs started rolling in. I just love watching them come in, there is a lot of hugging the people we have not seen for the last six months and everybody just has a really good time, helping each other parking the rigs. We belong to a pretty neat group here!!!! And this year our big truck will be in the main picture!! I am so excited about this. We are expecting 40 rigs and here are pictures of a few of those.



Can you spot us in any of these pictures?

We are in Hutchinson!!

Actually,we got here on Monday and have been busy getting set up and ready for the HDT rally. It is nice to watch other people pull in and everybody gathers for hugs and greetings. We had our first happy hour two days ago and of course I forgot to take a picture, so I took a couple last night.

The weather has been beautiful and we are looking forward to getting together with a lot of our friends by the end of the week. Doug took the truck to a truck wash yesterday, since we will be line up with all the other big trucks this year for the picture and we wanted to have the truck look really good. :-)

As you must have noticed, it has been a while since I last posted, but between getting sick about two weeks before we stopped working and starting to move again, I just have not felt up to it. So let me get you caught up on what has been happening.

Our last working day was Sunday, September 26th, and we had planned on leaving Tuesday morning to go to a campground north of Topeka. Monday afternoon came around and I was still not feeling so good and we decided to stay another day, especially since we don't have to pay any campground fees until October 1st in Altoona. Next to the campground is a casino and Doug wanted to play in their Tuesday poker tournament since we got here in April. So far it was not possible, since his physical therapy had been on Tuesday mornings, but since he is done now and it also was his birthday, he decided to give it a shot. He left about 9:30 am and made it all the way to the last round, which started at 1 pm. Out of 120 people he came in 6th place, won $100 and I was pretty impressed with him. We went back to the casino in the afternoon to cash in our points and Doug hit a quarter machine for $375. It was a great birthday present from the casino, he cashed out and we decided that it was time to leave Iowa.

We left the campground Wednesday morning to drive 280 miles to our next stop. We have set all summer and I was a little bit apprehensive about driving that far the first day on the road again. I have to say, it was a breeze. We pretty much drove the whole way on the interstate and my new car is sooooo comfortable. I got out in the afternoon and neither my hip or back was hurting. What a nice surprise!! We set up camp that afternoon and decided to take it easy the next day. We had some amazing sushi in Topeka two years ago so we went back to the same place for dinner on Thursday.

It was not as good as I remembered, but for some strange reason it never is, is it? It was still pretty tasty and I am glad we came back.

Friday came around and we decided to go to Kansas speedway, since Nascar was there for the weekend. It sure was a long walk from the parking lot to the speedway.

There were vendors for all the different drivers and Doug got himself a Mark Martin hat, Unfortunately, Mark Martin had engine problems and we never saw him practice.


We still managed to have a great day and got home safe Friday evening. The weekend sure ended up being much colder and we watched the race on Sunday in the comfort of our home.

So now I am all caught up (I think) and will try to post more often again.