Cow Pies!!!

Our little darlings have found Cow Pies.  It seems this is a quite a treat for our 2 little girls.  While walking them around the property where we are staying they came upon a rather fresh Cow Pie.  Still a little steamy and quite odoriferous.  I thought they would walk right by it, but NOOOO....

Coffee began licking it like chocolate pudding.  Being completely grossed out I told her to stop which, like a good girl, she did.  I walked by enjoying our little walk when I realized Sam was not in front of me.   She's usually in the trees looking and sniffing.  I stopped and looked around but can't find her.  I turn around and behind me I find her. Her face smashed into the cow pie like a kid in pie eating contest.  She is just going crazy over this SH**.  In my complete amazement I was speechless for a bit.  Then I told her in stern voice to "Leave It"  She turned around like a kid caught with their face in cow pie and flung what was outside her mouth on the ground.  She then came bounding at me cow poop squeezed between her teeth and cheeks happy as any dog could be.   So proud of herself and the discovery of this wonderful treat.  

She came up and sat down right in front front of me like to say "That was awesome"...."What did I do?"  I was laughing and disgusted all at the same time.  I told her to keep walking and we proceeded with our walk.  They got a little ahead of me and as I came around the trees I find them both now with their heads in another pile.  This time a big almost frozen one.  I think they thought they had chocolate ice cream.  At least that's what I hope they thought.  They both were devouring it.  I  told them to leave it.  Which they ignored for moment to get the last few bites and licks in.  Figuring I was far enough away they could get some more.  They got the message after I scolded them with a stern voice.  Now I am completely grossed out and want to give them both Listerine when we get back to the coach. 

Now they know about these little piles of Happiness and have set out to find them when we walk.  I don't think they know the Steer is the maker of them or they would just follow him around all day to get the freshest morsels.  

Tom laughs, I cringe when it happens.  These two won't be kissing my face any time soon.  Unless I brush their teeth....

They look so innocent !!!!  

A Few More Great Shots

Here's a few more shots.  

The Eagle got his prey in this one.

He or She was none to happy I was disturbing lunch.

Beautiful Hawk....

Looks like he's gonna get this one.

I don't think the fish planned on traveling this way today.

Pelican playing in the Lock and Dam waves in Iowa.  Pelicans in Iowa???

Woodpecker doing what they do best. 

We are currently planted in Idaho for a while looking for wild life to photograph.  We found some Elk, deer, and a Buffleduck.  Those photos will be coming.  Need better shots.  

Have a great day...

Temporary Roots and Tree Branches

We have arrived in Idaho and put down some temporary roots.  Since our travels have been a little rushed of late we decided to stay put for a while.  I know there's snow on the ground and it's currently a chilly 21 degrees but we just have to deal with it.   Here's a picture from my phone of where we are.

Better pictures will be forthcoming, I just wanted to give an update.  

On the way from Iowa we had all those crazy problems well they didn't stop.  Our drive North was a good one.  The weather was nice and the roads were fair.  Tom did a great job getting us over the pass into Idaho.  Upon arrival in Idaho we stopped at a Wal Mart parking lot to get organized and water the dogs before heading to our new home.  I opened the door to find our auto step go out and just as I was about to step on it the darn thing came right back in.  As I looked down puzzled not really comprehending what was happening, the step popped back out, then pulled back in.  Like an accordion being played by a master musician the step kept going out and coming in.  I started to laugh because it seemed so crazy that things kept breaking.  After a bit of watching this in disbelief I jumped out and just went on my way.  Coming back and going in was another story since it's a bit high to climb in but we did it and off we went to our new digs.

We are currently staying on a 9 acre Ranch with some really nice people who rent out an RV space they have. Upon arrival we realized our coach was too big to go under one of their trees, since a branch extended over the driveway.  They didn't want to cut it so the decision was made that I should go on top of the coach and hold the branch up so it could go over the air conditioners, the satellite dish and vents.   So up I go, let me tell you the roof was rather slippery with ice and snow which had fallen on it from the trees.  Tom had some difficulty getting into the driveway with the ice but all was well after he spun the drive tire a bit.  

I positioned myself at the front of the coach on the roof.  Tom began to push on the gas pedal but the coach spun the tires again.  He had to back up a bit to get a run on it.  When he did the branch came up and over the front of coach a little faster than I thought.  I grabbed it not really thinking about what to do with it since I was facing forward and not backward.  My body became the buffer between the AC unit and the branch as it moved over me, from my feet up my legs,across my chest and then over my head. I can honestly say you really don't want to be 12' in the air on top of a moving vehicle with a tree branch moving over you while your husband tries to get traction in the snow with a 45' bus. We just do what we have to do.   By radio I had to tell Tom to stop so I could get out and hold it up the rest of the way. I proceeded to then get on my knees since then if I fell I would fall a shorter distance and maybe be able to grab hold of something so as not to roll off the roof.  On my knees with Tom now moving again I walked the branch the rest of the way across the roof only losing my balance a couple of times. 

Now we are parked and will not be moving until the snow is gone and the fixes are complete.  

Our dogs can run around with their dogs and play.  Sam and Coffee have met a pig, two steers, and 4 horses.   We are all content and loving our new temporary roots.  

More pictures to come....

By the way Tom adjusted the step and unplugged the motor so the step just stays out, until he can fix it.

The journey continues.....

One thing after Another....

So much has happened since our last post!!   I will be updating you here.  This might be a long one....

While in Davenport Iowa we stayed at a Country Park which was really nice and would have been terrific if old man winter had not been there.  We couldn't use their hook ups because they would freeze at night and during the day for that matter because it got pretty darn cold.   Our hook up consisted of electricity.  The coach was getting low on water and we needed to dump so the ranger told us the only water source was the space next to us but we could only fill the tank and then unhook so that's what we did.  It worked out great.  Tom hooked up the sewer hose and hid it next to coach so we had a dump too.  All was good with the world.  Tom continued his hobby of photography and finding eagles.  He found a  Peregrine Falcon Like the one below.....

Peregrine Falcon

This guy cooperated for a long time and Tom was able to catch quite a few great shots of him.

He began getting a little irritated with us.  I don't think he wanted his picture taken any more.

I think here he finally told us to piss off and get out of his space.

Tom finally packed up his gear and we headed back North to find the Eagles again.  It was getting bitter cold by now and he decided to go out the next day in the morning which was Saturday and then again on Sunday.  The chill in the air was too much for me so I stayed in and Tom went out.  The eagles were not flying too much.    It seems the Mississippi River was not frozen over so the area these beautiful birds have to hunt is much larger and spread out.  Funny it seemed cold enough for me to freeze !!!

We finished our time in Iowa and planned on leaving Monday Jan 14th.  On Sunday evening we were getting ready when we realized our pipes in the waste water cabinet had frozen.  This caused the filter housing to burst because water expands when it freezes.  ( Who Knew!! )   Tom saw water on the ground, or should I say ice,  coming out of the coach bottom when he went outside.  This is never a good sign ad can cause extreme panic when you find this happening at 9:30 at night in 18 degree weather.  This is where our roller coaster starts.

Figuring out our filter burst and dumped 100 gallons of water under and around the coach making an ice skating ring around the coach was bad enough.  Then we found that Tom didn't make a fall for the waste pipe because he was trying to hide it from the ranger seeing it.  This meant the waste pipe was frozen to the ground and filled with a solid block of ice from our gray tank.  We attempted to pull the pipe from the ice and proceeded to shred it and break it into 4 pieces.  This was an expensive pipe and one we didn't want to lose.  So we drug the pipe across the park with solid ice in it to the garbage can.  It was darn heavy.  

We refilled the tank and tried to use it only to find that the pump wouldn't pump any water as it started shooting out the valve.  Now we thought we had a pump problem. Tom had the ingenious idea to heate the compartment with a light bulb and it seems to work well.  We just had ice in the pipes so once thawed all was well.  Our goal now was to head South and get out of this cold weather.  Seeing the temps at 12 degrees made this girl say " Go South NOW !!!"  We got up Monday morning preparing to leave only to find now that the water we had put in the tank was brown and rusty.  GROSS !!  This was not usable as we did not have our house filters since they broke.  

Then we realized our Satellite Dish was not going down.  WHAT THE HECK was going on.  We called Winegard and found some how our dish had lost communication and Tom had to climb up on the roof to put it down manually.   This took a while but we finally got out of there and dumped the rusty water on the way out on the road.  While driving I opened the fridge to get a snack and the small cherry tomatoes I stored in there for the ride fell on the floor rolling around the while I crawled around like Lucille Ball trying to get them as Tom drove.  One curve after another they rolled right, then left while I tried to grab them.  They were like balls in a maze and kept rolling and moving.  It was so darn funny I was cracking up.  At this point never ask what else can go wrong !!!  I must have done that because the universe opened up again.

I found a Casino RV park in Iowa that said full hook ups but it turned out they turn off the water in winter and neglected to tell when when we checked in.  I woke up with a cold the next day and felt like crap.  We decided to head West to Denver because the weather looked pretty good.  While driving we needed the heat and tried to start the generator.  Well it wouldn't start....SHOCKER !!!  Seems the motor home monsters were truly upon us.  We stopped in Omaha to have it looked at and found it needed a starter.  Well they didn't have one.  What else is new.  But one could be ordered and sent on to Denver where Tom was meeting his adopted son Kirk for dinner the next day.  So we high tailed it through Nebraska, much to the animals disgust !!!  Sam, Coffee, and the kitties were tired of traveling but we had to get there.  We finally made it !!!  Got the started in and they found it needed plugs to.  Let's just say this became a BOAT day  "Bust Out Another Thousand".....  

Next we find we had an air leak in the brakes.  Now we are ready to set fire to this thing.  Which brings us to this morning sitting in Fort Collins, Colorado waiting for service on the brake system.  Well they found we needed a new Air Brake can which of course they don't have the part in stock and have to order it.  We said button it up we're outta here.  Tom ordered it from the manufacturer and had it sent ahead to Idaho for him to install it.  

On top of all of this our Hummer sounds like it needs some work and maybe a belt is giving out.  Oh and by the way we found a loose wire last night when we couldn't get the bed slide out.  Tom was able to fix that thanks to our friends Terry and Kathy who had the same thing happen.  

I am still sick, the coach needs a good cleaning and we are both tired.  Not sure what today will bring but this is an adventure and we wouldn't have it any other way.  These issue come with owning a motor home and we just gotta roll with it.  I hope I have conveyed the twists and turns we have experienced in a few shorts days.  Let's hope this is getting  all the issues out of the way for a while.  

Our destination is still Northern Idaho for a few months at least.  Right now we are traveling North through Wyoming headed for Montana then Idaho.  Should be there in few days.  

Thanks for joining us on our ride !!!

A few more pictures...

He got his prey...

American White Pelican...Beautiful bird....

Juvenile Eagle.  Taken by Lorraine

The Eagles we found.

Hunting....

Going in...

Coming in for a landing.

Gotcha....

Mature Eagle and an Juvenile.  These were about 400- 500 feet away.






 

Bald Eagle photography...

Tom's new lens.  He is very happy...

St Louis Arch...

Stopping off in St Louis on our way to the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois.

The Arch was beautiful.

Until I saw the Jetson style compartment I had to ride in to get to the top !!!

Once up there I was okay.  It was just a little stuffy.  The view was terrific.

The Arch from our camping spot across the river.  Not a great picture, taken from my iphone.

Godzilla...

We left Tennessee on Thursday and decided to head North and West.  Tom finally purchased his 600 mm lens and we had to pick it up in Louisville Kentucky.  Tom is now on the hunt to find some Bald Eagles.  How much better can he get with that lens.  I call it Godzilla because it's very heavy and I will be carrying it from place to place. 

This is the lens fully extended and decked out in it's camo coat.  

My hand next to the lens so you can get some perspective on it's size. 

HUGE !!

We are traveling from Kentucky today stopping in St Louis tonight to do the Arch...Maybe we'll see an eagle or two.