Page 7

Our First Trip - 2001 Next

September 5, 2001

In the morning, we were up bright and early so we could talk to the Kelly RV folks when they came to work.  Jim and Lee were up as well.  Jim told me a wonderful story about how he and Lee met.  They have been married only since New Year’s.  Both had been married for 45+ years and both were widowed.  He remembered his first wife telling him about Lee, that she was such a happy person and made everyone around her happy.  One day at a gathering at the RV park, Lee had brought her daughter, Melissa.  Jim decided to approach Melissa, and ask whether Lee had remarried or was "involved" with anyone.  She wasn’t, so she encouraged him to walk over to talk to Lee, but somehow he ended up more than a little tongue-tied.  He ended up blurting out something to the effect, “I have a proposal for you.”  Rather than embarrass him, Lee responded by talking his arm and saying, “Well, we better go tell Melissa.”  Within a few months they were married.  

We discussed the work we needed done with Dale, who assured us it could be done as soon as Fleetwood finished the warranty work.  We were invited to stay where we were until Monday when we were to take the RV to Fleetwood. 

Jim and Lee invited us to ride with them into Blufton to shop at a Super Wal-Mart and we were happy to join them.  We learned from them that if you use a debit card when you make your purchases, you can get up to an additional $200 in cash, thus eliminating ATM charges.  That has not been a problem for us so far.

September 6, 2001 

With a full day ahead of us, we decided to drive into Ohio, perhaps as far as Zanesville for the day.  At a stop for gas, Gerry bought several scratch offs and won $50 on one.  Just as we were about to continue on our way, we received a call from Dale that Fleetwood could get the RV in on Friday instead of Monday.  With much to do to get the RV ready, we headed back to Decatur.  The freezer had to be defrosted and food removed.  Personal effects had to be removed and packed, with not much room in the Saturn for everything.  The down side of getting it in early was that we would have to stay three extra days in a motel.  We dropped off the motorhome at the Fleetwood factory on September 7th and headed into the Quad Cities - Moline, and Rock Island Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa.  We visited John Deere in Moline where they have many very old tractors, buggies and farm equipment on display along with the latest and greatest.

 

Old Buggy Newer Equipment Bigger!