What in the World Happened to The Bowen's?

To find out what happened to the Bowen Family we are going to need to go Back in Time...

A new adventure is awaiting us. 



But first, I needed to hook up "Bessie" our families RV to our pickup for the first time.  In the end, there were five people advising me on the proper hook up procedures.  Ugh...What takes me only fifteen minutes now took well over an hour and several attempts to get it hooked up right so EVERYONE with on opinion was happy.

Once that was finished I decided that in the 100+ degree Fahrenheit heat that I needed another shower.

Finally, the job was done and I was showered, it was time for me to drove the rig to a local empty parking lot to figure out my trailer brake setup.  While the ladies and FurBabies checked our mail at the UPS store and picked up some lunch.  I had confidence that the setup was dialed in, my coffee was hot and off we drove.  The ladies drove in front of me with the Toyota "Ruby" since they had the GPS.   We had two brand new walkie talkies that refused to hold a charge and two cell phones.

About an hour into the drive we were still in North Carolina...when I had a serious miracle happen. A pickup decided to use my lane with me still in it. The pickup hit my drivers side mirror with it's passenger side mirror. I was very lucky there was no cars in the right lane as I swerved into that lane. I managed to pull off to the shoulder and I got out to look at the damage. The other pickup had pulled off as well. I walked the truck and trailer and looked for a blown tire or signs of damage. Go figure, the other driver decided to take off without finding out if anyone was hurt or if he had damaged the RV or pickup.

Sigh. I did have his tag # thanks to Heather jotting it down but what could I do? Spend the night waiting for the state police to take a report? Nah. His lucky day. A few scuff marks on the mirror was all the damage. Drive on. We had a lot of miles to cover before we could say that we were on the west side of the United States (west side of the Mississippi River.)

We drove all day, all night, and into the next day.  At around 10 AM, we were in St. Joseph, Missouri. Dead dog tired and ready to sleep. Heather and Mama found an RV park and we fell into a deep sleep for the rest of that day and night. We had driven like mad to try to get past the Mississippi river, beyond the insane traffic around Kansas City and St. Louis. We vowed to almost kill ourselves to get beyond St. Louis for Heather and I it was a major hurdle in our minds.

A big part of keeping me alert and awake while I drove on my own was that I picked out a large amount of audio-books from the Franklin, NC library. After we were done driving, we mailed them all back via USPS Media Mail with plenty of time to spare. Very painless and inexpensive. And I got to enjoy over 9 books on this trip. Sweet!

While I drove alone, the ladies had both cats and dogs in the car. While they had more to keep them awake and entertained, they also had to manage a zoo. Not as much fun that's for sure.

Our next stop was Presho, South Dakota where we decided to spend a few days to rest and recharge ourselves. We ventured out to the local bowling alley and enjoyed a wonderful meal of pizza. I even enjoyed a double shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Heather even tasted it and said she was on fire down to her stomach. Tasty stuff for me!

 

On we drove, our next stop was Columbus, Montana. A desolate RV park that provided us lots of peace, quiet, and 100+ heat. We decided to stay a week and tour the Black hills, a bit.

We drove the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone National Park. We vowed to take another trip back to that beautiful area and spend more time when the area is less crowded. Yellowstone, while very pretty was overcrowded and as such we didn't enjoy it as much as we think we might have.

As we came into the final leg of the move, we found the fires in Montana. The highway was still open but there were signs saying not to pull over and the smoke was very thick. We noticed the glow of bright orange that evening from the fires. Little did we know we would face smoke from those fires for the next two months. We ended the move in Kettle Falls, Washington State. After four days in a small RV Park just on the edge on town. We located a different RV park in Republic, WA. Where we could stay for a month.

We drove all over the area looking for a home we could call our own. While in Republic, WA we enjoyed Steve'Os Pizza and also discovered an issue with the pickup. A local repair shop took almost two weeks but they did a great job in fixing the pinion yolk, race, and bearings. They also replaced the seals and bearings on the axle (both sides.) This was a seriously costly repair, but well worth it.

Gold Mountain RV Park in Republic, WA was the best RV park that any of us have ever seen. And most likely the best we will ever see. The park was all 80-100 ft pull thru spaces, 30 and 50 amp, water, and sewer at each site. The clubhouse, bathrooms, and park were very modern and always clean. We stayed a total of two months and even now we miss that RV park.

On Wednesday October 4^th 2017, we hooked up Bessie “Our Travel Trailer” and left Republic, WA. Bound for...