Family in Nebraska, Part-1
Posted 07-22-2021
Arrived near Wood River NE around noon on July 22nd (Thursday) after a 2 hour drive from Arapahoe. We are at the Wood River I-80 Exit RV Park called Fire Fly Meadows. Lot of folks here that are working. Met one guy who is a crane operator and who is helping to build the large wind turbines that generate electricity. The Park has basically two sections, the old and the new. The old has shorter spots but are paved and they can be hard to get into. The new sections are concreate pads that can house several large RV’s and this is what we got. It works, FHU’s, inexpensive ($550 month, includes electric) easy to get in and out, but not much grass etc. Interstate noise is not a problem. We heard from a RV neighbor that the Kearney RV Park is full of full timers, more folks working on the wind turbines.
Went to Tina & Richard’s that eve (Thursday). They are doing well, not much has changed with them or their place. They have a nice home in Cairo. Got back to the camper and Rene fell, slipped on a rug in the bedroom that did not have a rubber backing. It immediately went into the trash; she was ok. Rene’e is one tough cookie! Asked the office if we could have stuff shipped here and they said no problem. So, placed an order to Amazon and Walmart for a few things and had our mail forwarding service ship our mail.
Next day Rene’e and I went to the new hospital to get her 1-week out BMP blood test done, then went to Walmart (new rug), lunch, and over to her mom and dad’s house. Dee (the devil sister from hell) was to be there in an hour, so we left after about 30 min. I unloaded three containers of books Rene’e wanted her mom to have. Made room in the back of the truck for the cooler that we keep dog food in that we had been putting inside the camper. Tina and Richard came over that eve for Valentino’s pizza, good stuff.
On Saturday (July 24th) we went to a small zoo with Tina & Richard and kids. Interesting place, all kinds of animals.
On Sunday July 25th we Face-Timed the kids, it was good to see all. Still not the same as being there. Then on Monday Rick and Kristen came to camper and we talked about all we had done to it. The we drove to Grand Island and had dinner with them; good food and good company. Rick and some friends meet there every week and they call the group “Kings of Leisure.” There is even a cooler name cover that says, “Kings of Leisure.” A long tradition of folks getting together. I think Rick and Kristen know everyone in town.
On one trip out of Grand Island Rene’s spotted a Cinnabon… ooooh good. 
Went in to do laundry that week and then on Friday we went to Kearney to have dinner with my uncle Gary and Ellen at their home. They have a very nice place and the burgers were great. Rene’e, on the way out, had a small fall on their front steps, nothing hurt, I think I was moving too fast. Need to be more careful.
Our cell phone company is T-Mobile and for the most part it does very well. We have two phones, a smart watch, a tablet, and a 100G hotspot with them. However, for most of Nebraska T-Mobile is on domestic roaming and we have run out of data very fast. So, we moved Rene’s phone and her watch over to Verizon and purchased a 50Gig hot spot for another $20. I thought about having two carriers before we left just in case one did hot have coverage… should have done it earlier.
It has been very hot, in the upper 90’s to even 100 one day. However, Saturday (July 30th) it was only 80 degrees, so I decided to work on the camper. Had a bracket made up at a local welding shop so as to house a second stinky slinky hose holder. The original hose holder was short, so, installed two new hose holders and also secured two scissor jacks about mid-way underneath the camper hoping it will better stabilize it and it has. Also installed a “rain” shower head (which works great) and started working on a new backup camera system. The one we had was a cheap one and even with an external antenna did not work well. So, we will see if this new one works any better. Also installed a solar light on top of our flag pole, turns on at night and off during the day.
The last few days we have experienced wild fire smoke from the North West & Canada. It gets real hazy and during the night you can smell it, like the smell of a camp fire. It has affected my allergies somewhat. Hope it goes away soon.
For dinner tonight (Monday, Aug 2nd), we bought some Nebraska sweet corn, a rotisserie chicken, and mashed potatoes… not loosing much weight eating like this.
