Monday Monday back to routines

After such a nice weekend of good spring time weather, it was hard to get back into routines today.  Steve left early for work as he had some important meetings lined up.  Recently he has been interviewing the applicants for summer LTE workers (limited term employees) which will assist with maintenance, cleaning and customer service at High Cliff State Park.  The interviewing is an interesting process, complete with a few "head-shaking marvels" that apply.  LOL ...  but he will sort through them all to find his summer "crew".

Yesterday was so nice and warm, that in the morning we decided to give the dogs each a good bath... they still have Florida dust and sand in their fur, and both could use a scrub a dub dub.  Duke loves his baths, and now Finney is learning to like them too.  It's Finney's third bath since we got him in December.  We don't bathe them too often as it dries out their coats and skin during the winter months.

Finney went first and did very good but wanted to lick the bubbles!

Duke followed up second and he enjoys his baths soooo much, 

that if you hold his head up in your hand, he will fall asleep and float! 

Each one gets rinsed well and lifted out of the laundry sink and left to lay on towels on the floor.  Duke has never done the "shake shake shake" business like most dogs, and we hope Finney will follow his lead.  I rubbed them both down with towels and absorbed most of the moisture so it wouldn't be flung far and wide if they did decide to shake.  Duke did NOT want to get out of the bath, just look at his face!

We left the dogs at home to dry off in the kitchen and laundry room, but blocked them from running around the rest of the house while we were gone.  We headed over to Appleton to have a nice brunch with Steve's Dad and brother Peter.  On the way we stopped at Critter Sitters boarding kennel to pick up a cute little stool I bought, but I will show pics later of when I refinish it a bit.  

It was a nice afternoon to spend out and about. We went to Pete's for a while and the guys watched the Michigan playoff game... then we hit a few stores for errands and headed home. 

Our dogs were almost dry, so they were able to go out on the ropes for a bit in the driveway (but not in the muddy backyard!)  We did some training for Finney to sit, stay, come, and heel.  He is learning well and soon will be a good companion for walks.  It was such a nice day!  Snow is really melting fast now, and we soon will be down to bare ground.  But we won't hold our breath for Spring, because we have been known to get more snow or ice well into April.  Icky!

We relaxed for a while out on our front porch, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in our "second livingroom" out there.  The dogs settled into good spots for a nap, and we lollygagged around until it was time to make some supper. 

Two tenderloins had been marinating for a day in the fridge in some Andria's steak sauce (from St. Louis area... actually in O'Fallon)  http://www.andrias.com/sauce.html   Our RVing friends Jim and Dee introduced us to it several years ago.  It can be ordered on line, but last time we drove down in that area, our other RVing friend Donna went with me to a local grocery store that carried it.  We cleared out the shelf and stocked up my pantry!  LOL   It can be brushed on while cooking or marinating or of course while eating.   

Steve popped our steaks out on the grill while I made baked potatoes, wax beans, and .....

a special thing we have been making lately are these little packets of biscuit mix from Save A Lot stores... this is the cheesy garlic flavor.  They are 79 cents a pack.  Much cheaper than a tube of Pillsbury biscuits.... 

You quick mix them up in a small bowl with 1/2 cup of water, and drop them by spoonfuls on a tray (I like to bake with parchment paper)  Bake em for 12 minutes or so and they come out deliciously crispy around the edges and soft in the middle.  They remind me of the biscuits you get at Red Lobster! 

We only eat 2 with our meal, so I put the other six in a zip lock bag and toss them in the freezer.  Later we reheat them in the oven and they are just as good as the first time around!  

Okay.. enough about food! 

As I said, Steveio had to go back to work today, and so did I.  I worked on some sock orders this morning, and sent out some shipments of items.  The morning seemed to fly by, plus I was on and off the computer a lot today.  Had to slap my hands after lunch and set the computer aside.  

This afternoon I started tackling the cutting up of all of that denim fabric I washed up and dried that I had posted about in my last blog. 

I draped a 60 inch wide piece of fabric across the island in the kitchen. Each piece of the fabric is 25-30 feet long.  Although I am using a cutting tool that doesn't need a cutting mat, I put down my Olfa cutting mat to protect the surface of any accidental scrapes.  

Folding the fabric up in a triple layer, I start cutting into the denim ... making rows of one and a quarter inch wide strips.  Going through three layers of heavy denim is easy with the electric Rockwell Zip Snip tool, and I easily got a whole piece done in no time.  I did two complete hunks of denim, and never ran the charge out of the cutter. 

Next I will sew each of the ends of the 25 feet long strips to the next, making long strips of fabric to wind on the shuttles to weave rugs.

Of course, I had two assistants to oversee my process and make sure all of the strips were cut correctly and that the fabric now had the correct level of softness!

(their red doggie treat jar was on the fabric to weigh it down from slipping off the end 

so they were dutifully keeping track of that too) 

Oh.....

I had two questions on yesterday's blog:

Lona said...

Do you like the ZipSnip? I've been looking for an affordable motorized cutter to cut corduroy and denim... How long have you had it? Does it make your hand tired?

Answer:   I LOVE the Zip Snip. I have had it about a year now and am still on the first blade!  It doesn't make my hand tired at all.  The rotary wheel does all the cutting and it slides through the fabric like butter.  It has a 2 switch process to operate.  You need to depress the top button with your thumb and pull up the bottom lever with the rest of your fingers as you grip the tool to make it run.  The cordless design is nice so you don't accidentally cut the cord!  I did probably 50 cuts on each of the two 25-30 ft lengths and didn't run out of a charge.  Now it's back on the charger to be fully recharged for more fabric cutting tomorrow. 

Hazel said...

Washing your denim and carrying it outside sure looked like work! If someone hung the dry fabric and hosed it down, would that be enough to get the stiffness and /or sizing out of the fabric?

Your rugs are beautiful!

Answer:  Hazel, Thank you for the compliment!  Yes it was work to get it lined up on the washlines at 60 inch wide fabric, letting 30 inches hang down on each side of the line.  Not letting it touch the muddy ground either. Then of course, horsing up the length of 25 feet or more of heavy wet fabric the entire lenght of each clothesline!  It would have been easier with two people, I admit, but Steve was at work on Saturday so I did it on my own.    He did help me take them all off, and fold them over and over as we worked our way down the washlines to take each piece off. 

Hosing it down on the line wouldn't really work, but it's a good thought!   See, the fabric needs to be washed well in hot/warm water and have added fabric softener in the rinse.  This is a commercial grade fabric that is treated with very stiff sizing to make it firm enough to be run through commercial sewing machines and withstand being cut in multple layers with huge cutting tools.... and not shred or fray during the process where it's turned into a finished product.  This denim was originally used to make shop aprons for a custom order, and I bought the four leftover rolls of the excess not needed by the factory that was making the aprons.  This fabric is not like home sewing type clothing fabric you see in the fabric stores. (although they have some sizing in them too and should be prewashed)  But when using new heavy fabric in weaving, we need the fabric as soft as possible so it beats in tightly when on the loom, not stiff or unyeilding. 

And then there was a third remark, not really a question....

Merikay said...

There is a slight possibility we may be heading toward Wisconsin in August. We will keep you in mind. A week or two up North might bring back childhood memories.

. 

My reply: Oh yes!  We would really enjoy meeting you Merikay!!! As a matter of fact, we would love to meet up with any of our blog readers!  If you ever find yourself in the eastern area of Wisconsin, between Milwaukee and Green Bay, we are always ready to welcome visitors!  There are five or six campgrounds nearby, (of course one special one called High Cliff where Steveio works)  But we don't have any clout on getting a camp site, you have to go through Reserve America to get a site or take a chance on driving into the park and seeing what is available.  But other campgrounds around are very nice too and not as busy on the weekends. 

Well, it's time to get a few more things done before bed... 

and maybe read a few other blogs yet tonight. 

Sunny Sunday and some Rug Weaving Stuff

Ohhh what a lovely way to start a Sunday!  The sunshine is pouring in, and we might hit FIFTY DEGREES today!  I baked up some berry muffins this morning....   the house smells so good.

After church today we are going to meet up with Steve's dad and brother for a late breakfast/brunch, so these will hold us over until then.

Yesterday morning we were out on the front porch with our coffee... this morning it has to warm up a bit more before we head out there.  The outside temps are 25 and the porch is only up to 45 right now.  In another hour or so of sunshine, it will get much nicer.  The porch faces the east, so the sun will be doing it's solar thing and making it very comfortable after 9 am or so.

I just finished weaving that ten foot long runner rug for the porch, along with a six foot long one for between the outer porch door and the inner entry door.  I wove them from multiple strips of blue and white rags.  The random pattern is achieved by just winding all three strips of fabric onto the stick shuttle together and letting the colors lay where they come off as I weave.

Once the rugs are woven, I cut them off the loom.  Sometimes I have four, five, or six rugs in a roll on the loom to cut off at once time.  Then they need to be hemmed.  I fold them over twice, so the hems are three layers thick.  I sew them on my 75 year old Singer sewing machine that I got from my Grandma Groop before she passed away.  It's the only machine I have that is strong enough to handle the thick heavy hems of a rug. 

Speaking of rugs, earlier this week I stocked up on fabric for weaving more rugs.  A local organic clothing company in Oshkosh was having a warehouse sale of depleting some of their fabric stock.  I contacted my weaving friends to let them know of the sale and met with Jim and Norma of Pa and Ma Rugs in Beloit, WI to meet me there.  

Wowzer!!! We could check out rolls and rolls and rolls of fabrics for sale!   There was sooo much to choose from----  and I found myself dazed by the many types and textures.  The only thing keeping me in balance was the limited check book after our vacation and car repairs.  ACK!  

Here is Norma in the middle of it all, choosing roll after roll to be loaded into their truck.  (they weave hundreds of rugs a year so need fabric in large quantities) 

After we chose our rolls, we went up to the front of the factory to pay...  

this interesting fabric patriotic display is made of legs of denim jeans!  

(now THAT is Made in America at it's finest!) 

Jim and Norma got about a dozen rolls loaded into their truck to haul back to Beloit. 

Knowing Norma, these will be cut up into strips in no time, and Jim will have loaded shuttles setting there by his looms, ready to get weaving.  She does the prep work and he weaves.... 

My stash enhancement was not quite as impressive, but I did splurge on four huge rolls of 60" wide denim and a roll of burgundy wool, along with a smaller bolt of navy blue twill of about 5 yards. My expense was only $80.00   The sales staff estimated each roll to be about 10 yards (30 feet)   When I got them home and unrolled the smallest one, it was over 15 yards... so I would guesstimate the larger rolls at 20 yards?

Yesterday was such a nice day, I started prewashing the denim.  (to avoid shrinkage and remove the sizing and crispness in new fabric to soften for better weaving)   I unwound 2 of the bolts of denim and cut the portions in half, about 25 feet in each portion.  I stuffed them one portion at a time (that is 125 sq ft or so)  into my front loading washing machine in the basement.  Load by load, I did up only 2 rolls of the denim fabric and hung them out on my clotheslines to dry.  This is about 100 feet of 5 feet wide denim fabric on four wash lines out back!  Only half way done. Whew, what a job, but well worth it. 

Just imagine how many pairs of jeans I would have to cut apart 

to get THIS much denim to weave with? 

I cut them apart into strips with this cordless handheld cutting tool from Rockwell called a Zip Snip...  available for about $30 from Walmart, Amazon or Menards around here in the Midwest. 

We had so much sunshine yesterday that most of the snow is melted and we have grassy portions showing through.  Still some lumps of dirty crusty snow are sitting here and there, and big snowbanks leftover where it was plowed or shoveled.  But it gives us HOPE of Springtime....  we could easily get more snow, as it's still March.  So we are not holding our breath. 

The motorhome is patiently waiting for us to go camping again.  It is setting out among the melting snowbanks. We do have a few camping trips planned, plus a family camping weekend at High Cliff in the group sites.  In addition to that, we will be camphosts again for the campground at High Cliff State Park for the entire month of August. Come join us!  All reservations need to made through http://www.reserveamerica.com/ 

Well, my coffee cup is empty, and time to get a move on here. I am thinking two doggies still have Florida sand in their dusty fur coats and could each use a nice bath.  Now that it's warmer out, they can dry off all day while it's sunny and not be so damp when let outdoors to do their thing later. I am sure they will find a sunny spot in the house to stretch out and bask in the springtime sunshine.  

And special congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers for making it to the Final Four in the March Madness... Wisconsin is very proud and happy to have made it this far....  Way To Go! 

POST VACATION - Getting Settled in and Waiting for SPRING

We have been home now for two weeks...whew!  We spent the first two days unloading and of course winterizing the rig.  It is all snug and tucked away in the back yard on it's parking pad... waiting for SPRING!  The temps here have been hovering around 10 degrees or down to about zero at night.  And yes, we have still been getting *S*N*O*W*....

Some days it has been getting above 32 so we get a bit of melting

but then surprise surprise, we look out again and see this....

After we got back, we had to run our Lincoln Continental over to Manitowoc to get the transmission rebuilt.  We were originally quoted $3000 at almost every place we called to see about repairing it...  but once Al's Transmission started to work on it, they said it was only going to be $1,800 to 2,200.  Plus while he had the car apart, there were two sets of parts that needed replacing (a pair of suspension brackets and also 2 broken connectors for the sensors for the air ride devices).  He only charged us for the parts, and no additional labor to put them in.  So the final bill was only $2,400.  Still an "ouch" but not as bad as we thought it would be. 

The car works very well, but he would like us to bring it back after 1,500 miles to check on it and make sure all is good.  It has a 3 year warranty with the rebuilding job, so we will bring it back to get it checked out sometime soon.  

I know it seems like a lot for repairing a 2001 vehicle, but it's a nice car, in good shape, and the Blue Book value is worth a lot more than Steve paid for it last year when he bought it for me.  So we are still "ahead of the game" and I got my car back!   (this is a pic from when we bought it last year) 

Our first weekend back was busy, because we had a special little party to go to.  It was our grandson Mason's 2nd birthday!  Oh boy what a big kid he is getting to be.... 

 and we had such a good time at the party with ALL five of the grandtots in attendance! 

The little guy got a pile of wonderful presents, and a NEW BIKE!  

Of course, being away from all these little people for a whole month was hard on us, 

so we got in as many hugs and squeezes and cuddles as we could!

Now that we are back, the kids are making reservations on dates on our calendar to have us babysit for various events or weekends or playdates.  It feels good to be able to take them for visits now that we are home again.

In my last blog, I mentioned that we brought back something for the grown kids but I couldn't post about it yet because they hadn't gotten them.  See, while in Florida, I was searching for something unique and interesting to bring back as souvenirs for our grown children and spouses.  I saw some handmade birdhouses by a shop in Williston, but Auntie Lois said that Uncle Sam has been making some birdhouses and would LOVE an order from me to work on before we went back to Wisconsin.

He worked his fingers to the bone, getting each one done before it was time for us to leave.  He was out in his garage night and day, each time we saw him working as we drove by to mom's around the corner.  With a wave of his hand, he finally said come on in and take a look.  They were done!  The varnish was still drying on the last one as we loaded them up into the Tracker to get hauled back to Wisconsin.  Each one is different and creative and made by their 75+ year old Great Uncle Poop!

Steve decided each couple had to "draw straws" to determine who got which birdhouse....

Each girl is smiling, so they each got what they wanted! 

Thank you Uncle Poop for your creative folksy work on such wonderful birdhouses. 

(we made him sign and date each one on the bottom too) 

Well, it's getting late here and I think I am going to head up to bed.  I have a couple blogs yet that I need to write.... so the next few days I will get them done:

Linda Baldwin's Studio in Tennesse

Finney Reunites with his Mommy

Fabric Stash Enhancement

Working on Some Rugs in my Loom Room

and hopefully, we will have some posts about 

SPRING????

VACATION - Roof Leak - Two Days of Travel - then HOME!!!!

First, I would like to mention our son, Mike, would have been 30 years old today.

We miss you Mike...  and think of you every day. 

We wish there was another wedding, 

another daughterinlaw, 

another pile of grandtots to love. 

(we are home safe and sound as I type this --- trying to catch up the blog) 

My last blog left off on Tuesday with our good-byes to the folks --- and heading out of Florida about noon.  As we drove up near Lake City, we pulled into the Camping World to pick up some Dicor caulk for a leak that had developed around the antenna mount on our roof.  Many RVers' experience shows that Dicor is the best stuff out there for RV roofs, it stays pliable but doesn't break down under UV conditions.

As we pulled into the Camping World lot, we could not drive all of the way around the building to the RV customer parking area because there was a big truck unloading freight. We were directed wayyyy over to their far sales lot to park out of the way.  Oh well.  But a worker scooted up to us in his golf cart, and offered us a ride to the store!  Wheeeeeee talk about Customer Service!

Probably they give any customer who pulls up in a 16 year old motorhome the Royal Treatment in hopes they buy a new one?  LOL

Anyhow, we looked around at stuff in the store, grabbed our Dicor tube, and then asked at the service dept. to borrow a caulk gun so Steve could do the repair right in the lot.  "Of course" they said!  (hoping he's disgusted with our 16 year old rig and buys another?)   LOL again.

Steve has our collapsible ladder on board all of the time, so click click click he was set up and on the roof in 2 seconds flat to do the job.  Easy Peasy.  There was rain in the forecast that night, so we wanted to get the leak taken care of right away. This is an older pic, just so you can see the ladder from Ace Hardware called Xtend & Climb.

We brought back the caulk gun to the service department on our way out of the Camping World lot, and said our goodbyes with a thankful wave, but we kept our pennies in our wallet and didn't buy another motorhome.  Haha.

We drove on up Hwy I 75 to get going again, and saw this poor fellow having a rough day.  There was another truck stopped nearby and two guys sitting inside, so we assume one of them was from this truck.  An orange cone was set on gravel behind it, but cars and trucks kept whizzing by, some not even slowing down to gawk.  Not a firetruck or policeman yet on the scene.  I would have been scared to drive right next to it in case of explosion!

It was in the southbound lane and we were wayyyy over in the northbound lane across the median strip.  I had to zoom way in to get this pic, and cropped out all the surrounding stuff.  Even then, I felt funny about going past it, but nobody in the southbound lane was even slowing down or considering a blow up or flinging metal through the air?

We drove north out of Florida while munching on oranges from the fruit market, watching our Streeets and Trips computer GPS tick away the miles as we entered Georgia.

 Goodbye, Florida! 

Thank you for sharing your sunshine and warmth with us for a month! 

We drove on up near Perry GA and got fueled up.  Diesel fuel in Georgia is cheaper than anywhere else on our route home, so we topped off our tank and headed towards Atlanta.

We reached Atlanta about 8 pm, and took the route right through town. Semi trucks are all required to go around the town on the bypasses, but cars and RV's can go through the middle (shortest route).... 

We have done this before, and knew we could do it, but whizzing past us at night with cars in every lane, sometimes 8 lanes wide, and I swear those lanes are narrower and tighter!  Our motorhome is a "wide body" design of 102 inches, plus the mirrors, and we sure felt every inch as we squeezed on through that town! 

We found a comfy,  out-of-the-way spot at a Walmart near Cartersville, we were tired and gratefully pulled into a good spot.  We met a nice couple in a fifth wheel from Ontario as we headed into the store to ask permission.  (we always ask permission and thank the store for their accommodations) 

401 miles driven Tuesday

We woke up Wednesday about 7 am, refreshed and ready to hit the road.  We didn't have too far to travel today, just 175 miles up to Heiskell, TN, a small town 30 miles north of Knoxville. 

It was rainy and wind gusting as promised, and getting worse as the day went on.  We heard later that wind gusts had caused power outages among thousands around the Knoxville area, but that must have been after we were through.   We had a nice tail wind that was giving us 9.2 to 9.5 mpg readings on our Silverleaf diagnostic computer on the Safari.  Kinda neat technology for a rig that is 16 years old to have one.  It reads all the output levels and temps and pressures, plus tracks your average usages on fuel and instantaneous consumption use while driving. 

So at the end of the day, our readings were:

53.7 average mph   

314 miles driven since last fuel up  

33.7 gal used   

9.3 mpg average

61627 total miles on our motorhome

(plus all the current readouts on pressures, temps, and speed)

We got settled into the Escapees Park at Racoon Valley, just off I-75 north of Knoxville.  We unhooked the tracker and headed over 3 miles to my good friend Linda Baldwin's house. I saw these wonderful signs of SPRING in her yard and had to take a pic of them! 

There are two other miraculous signs of SPRING in Linda's little farm yard.... two new baby goats!!!  They are sooooo sweet!   And Linda scooped one up to let me hold it... awwwwwwww

(he was telling me secrets) 

These two sweet babies were born during the last few weeks since our visit on the way down to Florida. I am so glad we were able to stop by and see the result of that big huge mommy goat's belly!

Here is proud Farmer Linda with her offspring.  Both already have homes waiting for them when they are weaned off of momma at 8 weeks.  They are crosses of Nigerian Dwarf and Angora and will produce lovely fiber to spin on our spinning wheels.  Linda and I are both weavers, spinners and knitters.  Very Fibery Folks!

Just look at that sweet face!!!

The silvery white on this little boy is wonderfully marked ... the stripes along both sides of the head,, then fringey silver feathery wisps with black centers on the legs.  The little dots on the ears match the tiny dots across the top of the nose!

Here is Linda's Just Kidding Farm... ain't it sweet? 

Linda has been a friend of mine for a very long time. 

We met on the Internet! GASP!  

(It was on a weaving list and we have been sharing and creating together ever since)

Max, her Great Pyrenees dog who guards the goats from coyotes, wolves 

and nasty neighbor boys who try to torment the goats!

Two years ago, Linda bought a Newcomb Studio rug loom from me.  Now she would like to sell it back to me to make some room in her studio for another loom she just bought.  Sooooo we hauled out the tools and Steveio helped us disassemble the loom.

Ahhh this is where I belong, under the loom, tearing it apart piece by piece, carefully saving the threading so I can assemble it again fully warped and ready to weave.

The loom was quickly loaded up into the Tracker, and the other looms re-arranged to take up it's space in the studio. I will do a separate blog post on Linda's weaving studio at a later date. I took a bunch of pics of her special place and will share them later. 

We went out for a nice dinner and enjoyed an evening of laughter and good stories.  Soon it was nearing 8 pm and we were taking up valuable space in the restaurant.  Time to head out, we were very tired and said our goodbyes.  We drove back to the RV park and hit the sack, totally worn out, but locking our Tracker with my valuable loom safely inside. Ahhhh

We got up early, dumped our tanks, and headed out of the park.  It was time to put on some MILES....  we looked at the weather and Thursday was good to travel north from Tennessee, but Friday was going to be windier and some gusts of 30-35 miles per hour!  Moving a 40 foot long rectangle down the road in wind is not a fun task....   So Steve decided we should put on some miles and see how far we can get.  Home is 700 miles away, but we didn't want to drive that far... or so we thought! 

Through Kentucky.... zoom zoom.... Through Indiana ... zoom zoom .... into Illinois.... zoom zoom....

We hit Chicago during rush hour about 5 pm.  Oh well, let's wing it. If we get slowed up in traffic, I could get up and fix supper while we wait.  NOT!  We breezed right through!  Only in one part did we slow up a bit to 45 before a toll booth, but then it smoothed out again.  After $15.85 in toll fees spread among the five stops, we just blew on through Illinois. By 6:26 we were entering Wisconsin!  

By golly we were going to make it home from Tennessee to Wisconsin in one day! 

We did take one more break in a parking lot at Port Washington, to make up a quick supper on board.  We fired up the generator to use the microwave and warm up some shredded chicken we had in the freezer.  I took out some of those fresh Florida tomatoes and made up a batch of delicious tacos for our last supper on the road.

We let the dogs out to do their thing and oh my... it was a huge snowbank surrounding the entire parking lot!  No more sandy Florida ground, no more grass, no more springtime.

 "Where are we supposed to pee????"

Tossed the dogs back into the rig, and went the last 70 miles home in the dark.  We sure do not like travelling after dark.  The headlights are dimmer in the Safari than they should be, due to a problem in the original design.  We don't often drive at night, so we never considered re-working them.  Steve is now researching the "fix" that many Safari owners have done to increase the voltage drop and rerouting new wires through some relays to make them work at their normal capacity.  Just replacing the headlights with brighter LED bulbs don't make any difference, we have to do the rewiring to fix the problem.

We cruised in the last few miles, with relief and thankfullness... knowing our rig drove us flawlessly for 2,613 miles.  We pulled into our waiting yard, with very little snow on the ground.  We had called the neighbors ahead of time to see if we needed to alert the plow guy to come and clear a path for us. The new parking pad in the back was still frozen solid, so we didn't have to worry about sinking into the gravel.  The rig was parked, and we unloaded a few freezable things into the house as the dogs rushed into their little fenced in potty yard to do their thing! Ahhhh home!  Steve put a small heater in the water compartment bay to keep things from freezing up, as the temps were hovering at 32 degrees.

We carried up the two doggie bed pads into our bedroom, 

and both doggers gratefully went to bed...

at HOME! 

TRIP STATS 

Average speed 52.9 mph

Average mileage 8.9 mpg

293 gallons of diesel used

2613 total miles traveled 

$1,137.00 cost of fuel for our trip

MEMORIES----- PRICELESS!!!