Loading up and getting ready to roll!

We have the motorhome all packed up and ready to roll for the weekend.... actually it is for a longer four day weekend!   We are going down to a cute little weaving studio in  a tiny village called Shopiere, WI.  It's owned by my friend Juanita Hofstrom and the name of the studio is called Vavning.   (about 200 miles from here)

She bought this vacant church and made it into the most comfortable studio, complete with lecture hall, studio space, kitchen area and offices.   It is in a tiny town about 4 blocks long, nestled in a vally along a bubbling brook and a tiny park.   I have been coming here for close to 10 years now.  I help Juanita hostess the event, and she contracts with Jason Collingwood to come and teach for the 3 day session.  He is a famous weaver from Great Britain,  son of the late Peter Collingwood, an innovator of a special technique for rug weaving called Shaft Switching.

We come early and help Juanita and Norm with some projects around the studio, and in return we can park for the four days in their parking lot.   Sure saves on the hotel fees and transportation from nearby Beloit.   Usually about 20 people attend and it's a very intense hands-on workshop with evening classes of interesting field  trips, swap meet of weaving supplies, show n tell, and eating out with groups for social times.

Being on site, I can unlock the studio early for weavers who want to come and get in some loom time before the classes start, or stay late into the evening after classes are done.  Also I am known as the Aide De Comp, or the Kitchen Wench...  we prepare various snack foods and lunches in the kitchen, and on the last day I prepare a full meal for all the weavers and their significant others to join in and wind up the conference.

Steveio finds many things to do while I am busy in classes.   He later joins us for socializing, eating out down the road at the restaurant, and just hanging out with many of the workshoppers spouses who are also looking for things to do.  Norm knows lots of cool things to do and see in the area, so Steveio hangs with Norm too.

In 1996 we were here in April in our Coachmen gasser motorhome... and Steveio took a ride on the scooter to get a replacement part for our Onan generator.  Lo and behold, he just HAD to drive past an RV dealer in Rockford, Illinois.  There he wandered among the rigs, and saw "THE MOTORHOME of his DREAMS!"    He came back all bubbly and excited and wanted me to go see it too!  But I didn't want any more payments and for sure didn't want another bigger motorhome.   But he was persistent.  Each week he would check the website and see if it was still there.  Each week it was.   Finally... finally.... (after some life-changing events)  I gave in to go and just "look" at the rig.   Three days later, it was ours!    So THAT is how we got our diesel pusher.

Cancer Benefit for Michael (Fuzz) Andersen from April 24, 2010

My brotherinlaw, Michael (Fuzz) Andersen has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Bone Cancer of the jaw, lymph nodes and part of the tongue.  He underwent intensive surgery to remove the bone, and replace with a bone from his leg, .. he is now going for 6 weeks of radiation and chemo back down to Ann Arbor, MI.  They have to stay at a hotel for the duration and are dealing with the horrible piles of bills and expenses.  They have no insurance.  

So everyone participated in a raffle held  by Linda's place of work, Stephanie her co-worker and Barb her boss, really did up a huge event, food was catered in by Ma's Cafe, Brenda, and plates were $8 each.  They had live entertainment, raffles, 50/50 and a silent auction.  We all chipped in items to be raffled off.....  We brought up a trunkful of sporting goods stuff, and some homemade wool socks.  Then the handwoven rug I donated brought in a wonderful bid of $1000.00  !!    

Library ladies selling tickets and collecting for the dinner at the door

   

A contest of guessing how much firewood was in the back of this truck...  and for $2 you could guess.   It was 267 pieces?  (I think that was the total) and someone guessed 266!   They win the wood! 

 

Me with my Sketti Boy! 

 

Quilt Donation

 

The Thousand Dollar rug!  lol

Many tables of raffle items

 

Silent Auction table

 

Kitchen crew working their food magic

great desserts made with love

Olympian snow boarder Nick Baumgartner made an appearance

more raffle picnic items with patio chairs donated too 

people bought tickets and placed them in the boxes of items they wished to win

our daugther Heather just put in another wad of tickets! 

M

Me and my sister, Linda... (Schmoo) 

Jameson colored a picture for his Uncle Fuzz

The anonymous donor of 1,000 bucks for the rug was none other than Fuzz's own brother, Jim! 

The event was held at the fire hall, so the kids got to go see the firetrucks at the end
(fluorescent lighting is hard on the focus of the camera) 

 

Nephews Dar-Bear (Darren) and Matt-toot (Matt) being their own goofy selves....

Darren won this hat.. .but later gave it to niece Allison because she really really wanted it... how cute! 

Steveio’s Spare Tire Rack is now Completed!

I had a previous post back in October when Steve started this project….. 
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2009/10/steveios-project-spare-tire-rack-on.html

Our purpose of carrying along a spare tire is one subject that is sometimes given a bit of debate on the RV lists.  Many folks just pay an Emergency Roadside Service fee to come and change a tire.  That is well and good.  But consider the difficult process of locating a spare when yours is shredded to ribbons on the highway… well, that is another story~! 

Trying to get a tire delivered to you roadside on a weekend can be a daunting task. Especially on the side of an interstate.  The sooner you get it changed and moved off the road, the better.  At this time in our lives, with Steve still in the work-a-day world yet, our only time to get away IS the weekends. So that greatly increases the probability of having a tire emergency on a weekend.  Tires for our rig run in the $500-600 range. We hear tales of gouging where people are being upcharged another $200-300 just to get the tire, not even counting the hefty roadside fee they charge to the policy or roadside assistance company. 

And then… there is the ever-so-predictable increased price gouging that occurs where you will end up paying ANY price just to get a tire of any quality on a Sunday evening.

Many RVer’s do not have the tools, strength or knowledge to change a 22.5 semi truck sized tire anyhow, so they take their chances and call an Emergency Road Service.  Steveio is able to change these tires himself, and he carries an on board air compressor, air tools, a Nut Buddy device, and a big breaker bar.  

We do have Emergency Roadside Assistance on our insurance. We also decided we are going to carry a spare tire on a rack on the front of the motorhome.  This will free up a lot of room in the basement storage area.  With an added bit of ingenuity, Steveio figured out a good way to lift or lower the tire from the rack... you have to read down to the end to see! 

Plus the added weight to the front of the rig helps with handling, as Safari’s are notorious for being back heavy.  Unless we are riding with tanks full of propane, full fuel and full fresh water (all which are located in the front) we do feel a difference in handling. The weight of this spare tire can help offset the weight. The 22.5 tires weigh over 150 pounds.

He measured carefully and made up this rack bracket himself.

 It bolts right to the frame inside of the fiberglass cap.

 

Then he cut the hole through the fiberglass.. drilling pilot holes first and using a sawsall to cut the lines.  I held my breath the entire time!  

Now he slid in the support bar for the tire. It is securely bolted into the receiver portion, just like a hitch. He put the rim on to see how it would look.

(he said these are locking nuts that won’t rattle loose from vibrations)

In this next pic, Steve got the tire mounted on the rim

and lifted up into place. 

Wanna see his cool invention

to lift or lower the tire

from the rack? 

IT'S A BOAT WINCH!     

  

The winch doesn't stay there all the time,

it stows away and he will only take it out if we 

need to get the tire off the rack. 

Now our spare tire is mounted on the rim
and securely put into place. 

I bought some really heavy silver vinyl naugahyde that is exterior boat cushion grade to make a fitted spare tire cover.  The silver color goes nicely with the stainless steel side doors and trim.

~~ I added the cover a few days later ~~

We will also have to relocate the front license plate bracket.  In Wisconsin, we do have to display a front license plate. We will put the license plate bracket to one side. 

And now it’s DONE!

Bits of this and that for the day….

Well, no camping this weekend.  Instead, we are heading up to Mom and Lowell’s house tonight to bunk out there this weekend.  We are spending the weekend up north in Iron River, Michigan for a cancer benefit for my bro-in-law Fuzz (Michael Andersen)  this weekend. 

He has stage four bone cancer and just underwent a complicated surgery where they removed his jaw bone, and took a bone from his leg to reconstruct it.  Some nodes and tissues were also removed and he is on the road to recovery from that.  Next comes the chemo and radiation for 6 weeks, which is going to be a long tuff haul.  No insurance, so we are helping with a benefit to raise funds to help them out.   I am bringing a big handwoven rug, some good woolen socks, and I found a whole bunch of good things to add to the silent auction and raffle yesterday after a visit to our local Pamida store.  Steveio is donating the extra gas grill he got for his birthday yesterday (I bought him one, and he went and unknowingly bought one for himself too!)    The kids are coming along, and they are adding more goodies to the pot.   Will post pics afterwards… its a spaghetti dinner being catered by a local restaurant and there will be a band for music… Linda’s friends at the library are helping to pull this all together.

 

Schmoo and Fuzz -- (Linda and Michael Andersen)

 

We sure have been hit with a lot of family illness lately. 

My mother-in-law, the sweetest lady in the world, MaryAnn Pfundtner is undergoing chemo and radiation for stage 3 breast cancer.  She is very brave in her battle.   Even with all her troubles, she still managed to get a package in the mail for Steveio’s birthday yesterday!   We are praying for a good result from all the chemo, and hoping that things will get better for her.

 

Then, our grandson’s other grandpaw, Kevin Wade (our son-in-law Jesse’s dad)  is battling pancreatitis and has been severely ill for 4 weeks in the hospital, hovering in and out of a paralytic coma and on ventilator machines.  It’s been really touch and go, and Kevin is battling hard to beat this.  His wife Lisa has been on a never-ending vigil at his bedside.  It’s been a very rough time for the family.  Our daughter Heather and sweetie Jesse are doing all they can to help.  Jameson has been coloring pictures for his Grandpaw, The Big Dude… as Jameson is his Little Dude. 

 

 

And now, to top it off, my nephew Mikey, son of my brother, Butch,  is having serious trouble with his stomach and undergoing more testing with that.  

We have just been hit from all directions with this… and prayers or kind thoughts are appreciated.  So many people all at once, none really blood  related to each other, but all are in our hearts and our thoughts each day.

 

A couple of cheezy granmuddah pics here to share of the grandkids:

Allegra Grace (4 months old)

 

Jameson Michael (21 months old)

 

and Chelsea Mae  (3 months old)

 

 

So today I will finish up the last few pairs of socks, and I am babysitting little Chelsea today till Erin or Mark comes later to pick her up.  Then when Steveio is done with work, we will head out.  About 120 miles up there from here.