Sam’s Back

Yep, got back from my latest bus adventure at 0600am I was supposed to be back at 2200pm Sat according to the work order, but the team played three games instead of one so we didn’t leave Conway AR. until 1930PM Sat which to go almost 400 miles takes you eight hours of driving time not including a rest stop every three hours so they can stretch their legs and use the facilities. So I dropped them off at the college in Fayette MO. at 04:30am Sun and then it was 45minutes to the terminal about 45minutes getting the bus ready to park and then a one hour commute home. Donna had the coffee ready and two plain cake donuts since I can’t have the good ones.

I may have said this but these college kids I have been taking are really great, this group was the ladies fast pitch softball team. Remember way back when President Nixon’s “Silent Majority”was his theme. Well these kids are like that, the face of America’s best, Just good kids, values, responsible, Polite, just really fun for an old guy like me to be around, don’t forget in my 30 years as a cop I saw many of the other side that were getting the headlines and the kids I have been meeting make you glad to see we still have a pretty good bunch of young people they just don’t get the headlines like the trash does. And for all my Canadian friends I know your colleges are producing just as many great young people, and really who do we have to thank for this but the Silent Majority of parents out there that took the time to instill these values.

Ready for another Riggen adventure , as usual after two days away when I hit the door my buddy was overcome with gladness to see his Dad, I got the full body wag and the licks and cries that go with it, it usually takes him 5 or 10 minutes to finally settle down. I  hate to see what he will be like in March when I have a six day trip scheduled.

Anyway there was a package waiting for me that arrived in the mail. It was a small box and inside packed and surrounded by Styrofoam was a rechargeable battery pack for my scanner from scanner world.

While I was downstairs in my office trying to compose something for this post Riggen stole the box off the kitchen table and proceeded to shred the Styrofoam all over the kitchen so it looked like it snowed in there , Boy was Mom happy.

                

                                  Here is with the box.

                     

                   

                       He just realized he’s in trouble again.

That's it for today, I have to catch up on reading the blogs I follow and then wishing I was sitting in the Pool like Rick, from Rick & Paulette's Blog. Or meeting other bloggers like the Bayfield Bunch have been doing. Until later, Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

Another Trip

Started the day as usual, coffee with Donna, she then left at 05:30am for the truck company, she also has restaurant duty tonight, a double shift for her. She hopefully will sleep in tomorrow as no truck company on Saturdays. Sam will be leaving shortly to pick up the bus and then take a girls college softball team from Fayette MO to Conway AR. Same school as last week but softball instead of baseball, don’t kid yourself as these college girls can throw a mean softball, I wouldn’t want one to hit me in the face.
Rigg’s wanted you to see an e-mail he sent his Mom after he got a present the other day Dad brought him home a new Ducky, his favorite toy, must be the bird instinct in him when he sees a bird on the ground outside he points and then inch by inch stalks them until they take flight then its run and bark. Here is his e-mail.
“Mom, Look what I got, Dad came home from the store and when he was emptying the bag he said he had something for me, it’s a new ducky mom, dad said it was from you and him for at least trying to be a good boy, you should here it,  It quacks when I bite it and I have been carrying it around showing it off to Andy and Zep. Oh boy, thanks Mom I knew you loved me but I really love getting presents and now I have a new ducky to play with. I love you mom”, Riggen…..

This was my first Ducky when I was a baby,playing tired me out then.

This is my new ducky, boy I sure grew in a year.
He really enjoys his duckeys but now they only last about a month before the head and wings and legs are chewed off.
Well I guess I better get going. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

Another Rigg’s Adventuring and other memories

I will start today’s blog with another Adventure of Riggen the wonder dog, first I have to lay the groundwork as there needs to be a little ground work so it can be better understood, First every fall Donna bakes Christmas cookies by the thousands to take to her work and mine,  This year (2009) was little different as we had to leave on a trip to my hometown in Scranton Pa. to visit with my younger brother Rick who was suffering from terminal colon cancer.(He passed away December 30th leaving a 17 year old daughter, Rick was 56 years old and a single father with his daughter at home with him.). Sam of course since he was very close to Rick wanted to see him alive versus at a funeral.

 

          Rick and his daughter Barb on a visit to our house in Mo.

             

When we returned from this trip in early December we found out about Riggens latest adventure.

Here it is. As related by Mom.

This fall has been really hectic and then with going out of town, my annual Christmas cookie baking

marathon has not materialized.

Riggins was so thoughtful while we were gone. He knew people would be disappointed if I didn’t have holiday cookies

that he went into the pantry and got out 2 bags of chocolate chips, 2 bags brown sugar (1 light 1 dark just like I like to use)

powdered sugar, brownie mix. choc and yellow cake mixes and some walnuts.

I guess he got really bummed when he discovered without the flour eggs and oil he couldn’t make those cookies, so he

ate some ingredients, others he shook until they flew all over.

now isn’t he just the most considerate dog you've ever heard of ? cleaning up all the vomit and diarrhea wasn’t so bad knowing

his heart was in the right place

We have always been a dog family, we have been blessed with some really memorable animals, Sam when he was a police officer had two Shepherds, Sir Coal and Heidi, both were exceptional and great family dogs as well, Heidi was killed by a car trying to save a puppy who had strayed into the street, Duke was the puppy and he turned into a very large Yellow Lab and Husky mix. Donna still cries when she thinks about Duke, he lived 14 years thanks to Heidi’s sacrifice.

Now we have Led Zeppelin,(Zep) a Rott and shepherd mix inherited from one of my sons girlfriends, he is 8 years old, Riggs the Black Lab who we got after Duke passed, he is one year old.

One more thing, on my trip to Visit Rick, he asked if I had ever had a colonoscopy, I told him no, and he said Sam when you get back get one your 62 and my doctor told me if I had gotten one when I was 50 I wouldn’t be laying here today, well a week after we got home Donna had made the appointment and I got it, luckily I only had two very small benign polyps that were removed and the doctor said come back in 5 years for another one. He stressed men over 50 should have this and a PSA test done at regular intervals to stay ahead of the game and detect cancer at early and hopefully treatable stages.

Well that about it for today, Be safe out there, Sam&Donna

Cars & Trains

The day started at the usual 04:30am reveille in the Weibel household, Donna & I had our coffee, and then Donna left for the truck company at 05:30am, Sam got Adam off to school and then when he got back he started on figuring a blog for today, Ladies you might as well take a break or go to a quilters blog because today's blog will kind of be a guy thing, Like the title says trains & cars. Sam has always been a train nut and motor head, Having built street rods, Harleys and dune buggies as the different phases would hit him, My son Andy has a car now that I think some of you guys will be interested to see

                                1995 Camaro Z28

Carbureted LS6,1000hp,2stage 200 shot NOS,9.00sec in 1/4 mile.

This is one go fast auto, of course it is not really practical for everyday use, but he enjoys taking it to car shows and the track.

You should hear this thing when it is fired up it sounds like a low flying bomber.

Sam’s model railroading is done in HO scale, since my grandfather, Bill Weibel worked for the Lackawanna Railroad and then the Erie-Lackawanna I have always liked to model these railroads, The  top passenger train of my youth was the Lackawanna Phoebe Snow witch

was the premier train of the road, it had a distinctive tail car that was really lettered Tavern Lounge on the sides, now that sure sounds good, kick back and have a cold one while relaxing and watching the scenery go by.Wish you could do that today. Here are a couple of shots of my Phoebe Snow.

 

I enjoy modeling passenger trains and I included a shot of a Union Pacific train I made. All of the above were taken at the St Charles Model Railroad Club in O’Fallon MO. which I am a member of. The trains are radio controlled and also sound equipped. Anyone who is planning on being in the St Charles Mo area before we leave on our journey can e-mail me and I will arrange a tour for you. They have visiting hours for the public on Saturday and Sunday.

Nothing much else going on I have to wait until Friday for a bus trip,nothing like being semi-retired. Be Safe out there. Sam & Donna

Cold again

Well it was 21 degrees when we got up at 04:30am another week and it will be march but we are still getting January temps, Donnas heading for the truck company and Sam is off again, he is scheduled to take the same college group as last week to Kansas this Friday-Saturday, Grandson Adam is going to spend the night so Sam will pick him up from school this afternoon, Riggs wants to say something on the blog so here it is,

“I know my mom works hards so I try to help her out whenever I can.

Christmas day I noticed the white thing in the bathroom looked uneven, so I grabbed one end....well, it spins ! so I ran through the kitchen

and down the hall to find Mom, but turns out she was in the living room, so I ran in there to show her how I was helping make

the roll of white stuff more even.  Dont know why but she didnt seem to happy about it.  so then I got that stick with the brush on

the end, it just clutters up the bathroom.  When I showed her how helpful I was all she did was say something about typical male didnt

know what to do with a toilet brush....after she chased me for a while yelling that's yucky I gave it back, I guess she's right as I've

never seen dad with one.   Dad's always complaining about taking out the trash , so I thought I'd help him out...He wasnt happy either

doesnt taking out trash out of the can count ?

Oh, well maybe tomorrow I can think of something else to help out around the house”.

Thanks buddy try to do better next time, Thats it for today Be Safe out there,See Ya. Sam & Donna.

A Day Off

Sam is off today, Donna went in to the truck company, Not much going on so far, we had a ton of rain last night and the alarm went off on my septic pump, it seems whenever we get lot of ground water the septic pump for the city sewer goes off, the pump still works okay and we have sewer service but you have to walk out and hit the rest alarm switch with something wood or you get a shock, this tells me something is probably wired wrong but I hate to mess with it when it is pumping okay. Want to say hi to Kenny and Angela, also Susan Bidniak who signed on as followers ,I hope you don’t get bored, but it will be life as usual for a few more months until Donna retires and we get the house sold, then let the adventures begin. I only have one errand while Donna is at work and that is a grocery run, course that doesn’t include several loads of laundry I am doing while I play around here on the computer. Yeah I am a little domesticated but when both spouses work we have always shared the good with the bad, no such thing as traditional male or female jobs in this household. Of Course Donna has always been the brains of the outfit and Sam the brawn. So until tomorrow I will say, see yah, and Be Safe out there.

Back Home Again

Got back home after a grueling 9 hour drive from Shawnee Ok. to Kingdom City MO. The trip down wasn’t bad because it was sunny and daylight most of the way but the going home from Wichita to Kansas City was nothing but sleet freezing rain and watching for ice on the road. I will say that I-35, which is also parts of the OK, and KS Turnpikes is excellently maintained and smooth but you can only go so fast for safety in those conditions, The young men played two day of baseball consisting of 4 games and cold (40’s) cloudy and misty conditions and split the wins and losses. College ball is really fast paced and these guys all play their hearts out, they are really outstanding examples of our good young people. We left the field in Shawnee at 4:30 PM and with a stop at the Golden Corral in Wichita for dinner we arrived back at 02:30am Sunday Morning. I got the beast back to the terminal at 03:30am and since it was a Sunday morning, no one else was around so since it is still right at or below freezing the lowly driver gets to dump the tanks, For all of you who love this chore with your RV’s I won’t go into the gory details, but imagine backing you rig over a 2foot by 2foot containment in the ground, lining up what is just a 4in outlet tube, same as on your rv except pointing down and then pulling the valve for the lower tank and then the valve for the upper tank, no hose is involved, the makers of motor coaches must feel hoses are for sissies,When you pull the valves it tanks some fancy footwork to retreat to the rear so you avoid any splashing. Don’t want to spoil the shine on those nice clean uniform shoes. The containment is made of concrete and reminds me of the toilet facilities found in some countries overseas. Of the hole in the floor variety. I  noticed quite a few Rv’s on the move while traveling in daylight most heading south so I guess there are some late starters from up north escaping still.

          Before I forget Ray from Gleeson left me a comment on changing some settings so I could preview my comments before they are posted to make sure they are of an appropriate nature, Since I don’t have a clue how this is done I will take Ray up on his offer of help in this matter as it sounds like a good idea to me. Thanks again Ray, these are the kind of things that I need help on since I am an analog guy in a digital world.

   I will post a picture of one of our coaches so if you see one in your travels and a fat guy is driving you can wave, it just might be me,I do try to give a quick glance at the rigs passing by so I can have an attack of jealousness.

                

The company I work for is Huskey Trailways, but the bus pictured says Show Me USA, they bought this company so a lot of the coaches have not been relettered . The red, white and blue graphics are the same on both and we have a few Show Me coaches that are yellow with the same style graphics. Well enough for now I am still tired and going to take a nap. Be Safe out there. Sam & Donna.

Posting from afar.

Wow, the mircles of the internet,I learn something new about this blog stuff everyday. I am now sitting in the Holiday Inn Express, in Shawnee OK. 500 miles from home on what should be n nice 3 day trip, I brought a college Baseball team down here from Central Methodist College in Fayette Mo. Yes you heard right baseball, you can be sure I will be watching from the safety of a cozy warm motorcoach. Anyway I decided to check out my blog and found out I could put a post in from sombebody elses compuetr, all it took was the secret words and there it is. I hope everyone has a good day and be safe out there.

A Short Note Today

Not much time for the blog today. Sam is going to get ready to leave to pick up the bus at the Kingdom City Mo. Terminal and then go to Fayette MO. to pick up a Central Methodist College athletic team and take them to Shawnee OK. for two games. Donna is leaving for work at the truck company and then another Restaurant night. We will be back together on Sunday morning, so the blog will sit a couple days. Now I can see why both of us are looking forward to retiring again and vagabonding around in the trailer. Boy you can tell Sam is going on a trip, Riggs has this sense of his leaving and is already moping, but when he walks through the door when he gets back and says “ How was my boy”, he will wag his entire body, its neat to watch.

Until Sunday, Be Safe out there.

A Busman’s Holiday

Before I get to the subject of today’s title, I have been reading my Canadian friend’s blogs and notice that many are in sunny California enjoying the hot sun, As you all know this winter has been unusual in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast for nasty storms, since I drive a bus I am sometimes at the mercy of the weather and so far the last three trips I have taken I have run into snow which makes the going tough. Just so our Canadian friends don’t get homesick for winter weather here is a picture taken on my last trip to Iowa.

                    

Now as a lot of bloggers do, searching for subjects to carry them through the winter when they are stuck in, rather than out in the RV. I decided to share my Busman’s Holiday, last July I received a set of trip orders to Lansing Michigan for a three night trip for the American Association of Railroaders. Whoa being the railroad fanatic and model railroader that I am I immediately went to the computer to see if the group had a website, it did and I found out that the purpose of their trip was a gathering called Steamfest in Owasso Michigan, where 8 live steaming steam engines of the past where going to pull excursions and have a big train festival in the town.

I couldn’t believe my luck, talk about combining business with pleasure, it would be like a group chartering a bus and going to a big RV Show. Here are some pictures for any of you who share my love of railroads. Any for those that don’t I hope you won’t be bored silly.

The above was the engine that pulled the excursion train I was on we were the second car back from the tender and with the windows open you should have heard the racket that engine was making, beautiful.

The rear was from a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha Train, and this view was through the crew car at the back of the tender.

The above is what is called a run by, where the train stops and everyone wanting to tale a picture gets off and then the train backs up and comes roaring by.

              

The  above is a happy camper, yours truly having scored a free ticket for the above excursion, one of the perks of being the bus driver, you also get meals provided by the group, but I had to turn down the cocktail hour due to rules about alcohol consumption.

On the home front I got the grandson off to school, and now I have a vacuum cleaner to hopefully fix so I won’t have the expense of replacing it, Donna is at the truck company and then goes to the restaurant afterwards as it it one of her nights to work, talk about long days I know she is looking forward to retirement, although she really enjoys the people at the restaurant.

More in the way of an introduction.

Well now that I have got the blog off to a slow start I better get you  acquainted with some of the players who will be appearing occasionally and in the case of Riggs not so occasionally .

Below is Riggen or Rigg’s as he is known around the house, Rigg’s is 1 year old black lab and is an inveterate stealer, let it be wood, paper,socks, underwear if he thinks he can get a chase out of you he will steal it, it is hard to believe the mischief this guy can get into, A real Dennis the Menace on four legs.

               

Led Zeppelin or Zep is the other mutt, he is Rott and Shepherd mix and is the old man at 10 years old, he tolerates Rigg’s antics to a point and then gives him the run.

             

Now comes the star of the show my Grandson Adam, he is already a seasoned camper and has accompanied us on many weekend and vacation outings in his 9 years of life.

             

He also helps with the setup when we get to our campsite.

               

Adam and Grandma play cards at Lake Rudolph Campground in Santa Claus IN. This is a great kid or grandkid place for a couple of days of fun, they have an amusement park and water park and it is affordable for families, free cold drinks all day at the parks.

                 

Donna has gone off to work at the truck company, and Sam has to get Adam off to school , he is off till Thursday morning when he has a three day bus trip to Oklahoma.

Be Safe and Have Fun.

Getting Started

Wow, this is my first post to my first blog, watch out because, this is a totaly awesome and new experience, Let the mistakes begin, As you can see Sam & Donna have been RV'rs for many years and now with a few months to go before Donna retires, we are looking forward to selling the house and out. We have been reading many other Blogs, The world famous Tioga& George ,the Bayfield Bunch, Rick& Paullette, Karen in the Woods and many others trying to get ideas and getting our questions on fulltiming answered just be reading about others adventures.

I must say I hope that we can be as successful and enjoy our new found freedom as much as the rest of you folks. We are currently living in Dardenne Prairie Mo. and yes we are still suffering through old man winter I just got of the tractor after plowing the drive and the parking area. Donna is working at the truck company where she is an accountant and then has a doctors appointment on the way home so I will have to wait to see what time to have dinner ready when she walks in, Our Grandson was supposed to come over as he has a snow day today but so far is a no show. Anyway not much going on so I will try to post this and see how it comes out.