TC travels, 2014 TR, Pg 904, 2015 TR pg 964

[sleepy]

Table of Contents
Our 2009 travels started here on March 1, 2009
The first pictures appeared at page 15. We couldn't get our data card to work with our new computer.

New Orleans and the Bayou country can be seen here.

Lake Charles, LA, Austin,Tx, and the LBJ Texas White House can be viewed here.

We enjoyed San Angelo TX even though we were sick part of the time... visit it with us here.

Our favorite winter hide-out...Phoenix,AZ and White horse Pass. Here.

Heading north in AZ, Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert Starts here.

Canyon de Chelly has wonderful cliff dwellings and a FREE campground.

Mesa Verde and the Lodge are breath taking in every way.

Sheepcamp, rv.net member, sheep rancher, and wildfire fighter invited us to visit.

Note: If you are scrolling from start to finish you'd see our Hawaii adventure here... I couldn't wait to post. It is really near the end of the thread and near the end of this page where it should be.

We traveled through Monument Valley and on to Page, AZ. after we left Sheepcamp and Cortiz, ColoradoTravel with us here.

We visited the Glen Canyon Dam and traveled to the North Rim of then Grand Canyon

Red Canyon Is a beautiful park on the way into Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon is one of the best parks on the country... unique.

Zion NP is Grand... in scale and views. to '55"

The Reagan Presidental Library. My wife proclaims it to be the best Presidental Library.

Booking our vacation to Hawaii while were in Simi Valley.

Visiting Sacramento , boondocking, the capital, and more.

Golden gate bridge and San Francisco are always special.

Revisited 2007 boondocking visit to San Quentin Prison with Reddog1 and his wife.

At this point we interupted our truck camper travel and vacationed in Hawaii and a cruise of the islands.
Please come with us.

.....Atlantis Submarine... we went down to 127ft for more than 1 hour. Wow!

.....Ship, island travel Neat stuff

.....Movie tour For memories... this is a must.

.....La'ua no trip would be complete with out one.

Back on the mainland and heading home... from San Francisco to Tennessee... through CA, NV, UT, WY, NE, IA, KS, MO, IL, and KY. We posted pictures all along the way... some favorite spots are listed below.

... Following I-80 we stopped at Donner Pass... where a party heading west resorted to canabalism... they ate human tissue to survive...

40 mile desert

Bonneyville Salt Flats

Contintal Divide boondocking and sunsets

Land between the Lakes

We returned home on July 24, 2009
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The 2010 trip started in June. See page 123.

Home to Silversands!

Table of Contents

Page

Table of Contents for 2010

Page

123 Heading North East from TN wirh a stop at Hershey Park

124 A visit with Suds54 and Birthplace of the US Navy

125 Vermont

126 US/Canada border crossing, to visit Silversands and Dunes

130 Canada/US border crossing, southern Maine woods, Sarampus

134 Sugar Loaf Ski area

136 Baxter State Park south western area

140 my visit to the now closed Loring Air Force Base

147 Long Lake, Sinclair, Maine

149 Long Lake Lodge, site of the USAF Recreation Center 50 years ago

150 a photo tour of the inside of Long Lake Lodge and the Cabins

154 The fort at Fort Kent, Me

157 Loring Military Heritage Center (Museum)

160 US/Canada border crossing, Limestone, Me to New Brunswick

163 Grand Falls, New Brunswick

167 Saint Quentin, NB

170 Boondocking in the dense woods of northern NB

173 a visit to Campbellton, NB

177 a visit to Bathurst, NB... concert

179 Acadian Peninsula... Grande Anse Light House, Sea cliffs, historic village

187 the bridge at Miramichi, NB... we are just passing through

189 visit to home made camper

191 the bridge to Prince Edward Island

195 a visit with the Jhawk's, touring, sail boat, and Windows on the Water

205 Sally's Beach Provential Park

207 Ship Wreck Point Light House, Naufrage Harbor, Boondocking

217 Cape Egmont Light House, Harbor, boondocking

228 Bridge to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia

237 Arisaig Light House

239 Face in Rock

241 241 Cape George Point Light House

245 Cape Breto Island, canso causeway

251 Louisbourg

254 Louisbourg Light House

262 Marconi Trail

264 beach

269 Boondocking Sydney, NS

274 Broad Cove Camp Ground, Cape Breton Highlands NP

282 Bay St Lawrence

288 Skiline Trail, boondock

291 Chetticamp, NS

294 baddeck, Alexander G Bell museum

298 passing through Antigonish

302 Special boondock



We are on the road again after a year sidelined for doctors. They went to a convention or something, we escaped.

We left through Level Pebble (Flat Rock, AL) and have made it as far as the BassPro shop in Plattsburg, AL.

Hope to get to Mobile or even Biloxi, MS tomorrow. I was stationed in Biloxi at Kessler AFB 51 years ago.

We'll be heading west from there... california in a couple of months... home in August
We hope to see some of you over the next 5 months.

Don't tell anyone where we are:W

Started this thread at 707 nights... todays subject edit on July 24, 2009
adding more and more pictures finally.

To find your way in this post you might like a table of contents... me too!

After you click on a link you can scroll up and down... or go to "prev" or "next" at the top or botton of the page.

Follow our 2009 truck camper travels over a total of 141 nights ...out of the 848 nights that we have traveled in the last 6 years

================================================================
Inquirees have made me think a bit...

and to share 2012 SPRING LOOP

the general plan... miss the tornados.... be home before the first of June

We are heading south thru Jimmy Carter country to Tallassee... and he coast... getting away from the middle America E/W interstates and the tornado alleys.

We'll be heading west and then down toward Brownsville... then follow the border to NM... North as far as rocky Mtn NP and then head east thru Nashville toward the end of May... we have never been inside the State Capital.

I'll be posting some as we go...

PS... the camperport did great in the storms, no damage that I can see... best $3500 I spent last year. I highly recommend it.

Chet and Janet

[sleepy]

Dale L

We've learned what a great effort it takes on the part of everyone in addition to $$$$$ to make this work.

We have been very lucky to have all of the friendly pieces fitting together.

Little did PJ know what a task he'd taken on when he decided to have Mike Lentz RV work on his 2005 Lance 1161...

first.. the hold up waiting on Lentz to recover from a a business totaling fire and the rebirth of their business as Southend RVRepair

then keeping up with the heart wrenching tear down of his camper Ashe watched areas of rot that he'd never suspected.

So many people would have given up.... but not PJ. He and M loved their 1161 and never looked back... they kept their eyes on the finished camper.

PJ visited and documented like others would have with a sick child. He shared everything with his friends and truck Camper family on the truck camper forum.

We had been friends for years and watched with curious interest, thankful that we would never have major problems like that.

I had been stopped in my tracks by medical problems, hospital time etc. for quite some time.

Our 1161 sat under our huge carport waiting.... with the front left corner of the cabover needing a little help. And maybe fix that rear passenger corner a little.... Oh heck! Maybe that area between the slide out and the propane locker.... but I needed fixing first.

As I recovered I marveled at PJ's repair and decided that we should take our camper to the same shop. We'd been all over and seen a lot of poor repair facilities encluding national chains... no, PJ's guys were the best.

I phoned PJ and lots of emails....

but knowing that I couldn't deliver the camper. I wasn't that recovered.

But how could I get it there... maybe get one of the camper delivery transports to take it back when the made a delivery from a manufacturer in the north west... the way I reasoned it though it wouldn't work. We'd have to ship it empty... and later we'd have to drive the truck up. We wouldn't have the stuff that makes our TC's home.

I mused some more... what if someone would deliver it on their vacation... Janet was thumbs down. "I don't want people we don't know in our camper, what about liability?"

I was still communicating with PJ... and had talked with Mike Lentz.

I came up with the one person in the world that had all of the qualifications to do it... but he had already scheduled his travel for the year... and he lived in England. I was determined and broached the subject with him a little at a time. But we'd have to wait a year. We started making plans and reservations for 16 months away.

I could have handled it this year but the plans were made, Steve would be flying in from India by way of London. How could I mess with that?

By this year another friend had slipped in and PJ was the eyes and ears for Harold who was a couple of thousand miles away. That turned out to be good for me and Harold... he got his 1161 repaired and Dave the chief rebuilder got even more experience ferreting out nasty areas of rot and ruin, cracks and breaks.

Without the Blessings of PJ, Steve, Dave, and Mike I wouldn't be sitting here waiting on PJs next report... I no longer hold my breath... but we get mighty excited.

[Naio]

Aw, Chet, that is a beautiful story about you and Steve! I had read his trip report, but didn't know the background.

[woodhog]

Shes getting quite the overhaul....


Anyone with a truck camper should take a look at this link to see the
well documented work on Chet's camper.

Very interesting and informative.

Lance 1161 Camper Repair link

[JoeChiOhki]

sleepy wrote:
Not that anyone is interested but just in case...

Our 2003 Lance 1161 has been stripped, the drivers side will be almost totally rebuilt, the rear passenger side will have extensive repairs, and the bumper area. Has water damage too.

The roof is in perfect shape... the front of the cabover is being rebuilt.

You'd be amazed to see the hidden areas and how much damage their is.

Capt Pjay9 is posting the rebuild on the Lance Owners Association webpage... lots of pictures. The title of his thread is "Chet's 1161 Rebuild"

Looking forward to get it back and on the road.

Welcome to the Gut and Rebuild Club :).

[jmckelvy]

Hi Sleepy,

Several days ago I was wondering how you were doing as you hadn't posted in quite some time. I always enjoyed your updates to this mega thread about your travels.

Hope everything is going well with your health and hope to see future posts of your travels.

[sleepy]

Not that anyone is interested but just in case...

Our 2003 Lance 1161 has been stripped, the drivers side will be almost totally rebuilt, the rear passenger side will have extensive repairs, and the bumper area. Has water damage too.

The roof is in perfect shape... the front of the cabover is being rebuilt.

You'd be amazed to see the hidden areas and how much damage their is.

Capt Pjay9 is posting the rebuild on the Lance Owners Association webpage... lots of pictures. The title of his thread is "Chet's 1161 Rebuild"

Looking forward to get it back and on the road.

[sleepy]

Getting our Lance 1161 repaired... we want to see how many more miles are left in us.

Subconsulting delivered it to Washington stare a couple of weeks ago

It was the third 1161 in a row with major total felon replacement

It is detailed on Lance Owners Association site.

Good morning all

Everyone mentioned is a RV.net member

Harold asked if #2could post on #3

Sir Harold of Smalltown We three of Lance 1161 rebuilds are joined forever with a history, a common bond, and a common goal.

Capt PJ inadvertently started our repair group as he followed his own path to restore his wonderful 1161 back to it's glory days.

Historically Sleepy had a hand in it many years ago when PJ visited him in Oak Ridge on a cross country trip, saw Sleepys 2003 Lance 1161 and started looking for his own on his way back to Tacoma. Later PJ and his wife returned to Oak Ridge for a visit.

Harold contacted Sleepy many years ago when he was searching for a solution to his 1161's slide-out sag problem.... and built his own unistrut brace.

I am Chet, and also Sleepy not to confuse anyone... but to me, names beat nicknames.

Capt PJ's Repair gave me and my wife Janet hope for the first time in two years. Just maybe.... Oh yes... just maybe. His modifications were promising and a possibility... sort of a nautical theme.

I contacted PJ and Southend RV Repair and panicked, I needed a way to get the 1161 across the country. I was having some seemingly serious but recoverable health issues.

I needed a can-do person to take it cross country, nearly 3000 miles. I looked world wide. I narrowed it down pretty quickly, I was online with some folks in sort of a think tank and there were two possibilities but only one had experiences that would insure a delivered camper. My target has truck campered all over the world, his wife was a skilled partner at extreme travel.... but he lived in England.

I was soon on the computer one on one with Steve... casually mentioning my need and that I would pay for the fuel too. That the friend that took the camper across would be able to take as long as they wanted and visit anything anywhere along the way. Steve had frequent flyer miles . I was fishing and he bit.... but his schedule for that year was already set... They were going to Norway with their camper.

We agreed to do it the following year... I scheduled a delivery date with Mike Lentz at Southend RV and started dreaming.

I received a phone call from out of the past. "Sleepy, what am I going to do my camper is falling apart?"

It was Harold... I hadn't heard from him for years... and I didn't want to get anyone if front of me at Southend. I could feel the despiration in his voice and knew what he was going through. I made a decision... do the right thing. I told him about Southend, and introduced him to Mike Lentz... and PJ.

OMGoodness... he immediately scheduled. I think he headed north from Texas that day... they worked for months on his camper as you've seen. PJ kept up with it in person and on film.

Southends Dave and Mike finished Harolds camper just as Steve was nearing Tacoma and Lakewood.

As you can see, we are so intertwined that the saga of the Lance 1161 repairs can't be limited to any one... I welcome any and all 1161 comments. I think PJ and Harold do to.

[sleepy]

I don't think that I'll be posting here for a while.

Just wanted to see if our old thread was still here.

Funny... Gatlinburg was burning the last time I checked in...

Gattlenburg has had 80 acres burning today..May 4, 2017

... . with 80 mph winds... restrictive driving... etc

At 6pm they have the fires 40% under control.

Be safe my friends... share your trips...we are looking forward to them.

Sleepy Chet

[sleepy]

skip... better check before you head this way...

Janet and I have followed all of the press conferences about the fire at Gatlinburg... and Pigeon Forge

more than a 1000 structures burnt

128 fire trucks on scene from all over

14 found dead so far

17,500 acres burnt

SMNP still has some forest fires ongoing

Dollywood reopened today

Sleepy

[skipbee]

Chet & Janet,

We will be more that happy to meet you both. You have been great inspiration for our forays. Thanks for the invitation, we'll do our best to Tennessee you !

Love to all,

skip

[sleepy]

Skip...If you get close let us know... or come by the house. Chet

[skipbee]

Greetings Chet,

Linda and I have slowed a bit (lost a step in NFL terms) but we're still in the game. Lots of family dynamics have kept us static. We are living in the TC in our front yard, which we really enjoy and hope to get back out ASAP.

"Life is what happens to you as your busy making other plans" seems apropos at the moment. We have had such great TC adventures should we not be able continue we can have no regrets. When we were sailing we had hoped to sail to Ireland, but when we began the refit of "Imagine" it became clear that it was way beyond our budget, and the TC then better fit our circumstances, and satisfied our wanderlust wonderfully! We still have high hopes of strolling in the Great Smokey Mountains.

Love to all,

Linda and Skip

[spacedoutbob]

Great Hearing from you again Sleepy! I hope you and Mrs. Sleepy are doing well and in good health. I look forward to hearing and seeing your road trips again!

Bob in Calif.

[GoinThisAway]

Good to hear from you! We spent a few days recently up in Knoxville and dry camped at the UT Med Ctr one night. It was way too hot to stay in the camper during the day but at least it cooled off at night enough to make it possible to catch a few hours of sleep. And it looks like excellent camping weather will be here in a few days. Woohoo! Oh, and for once our trip to a hospital was for a happy event but I'll leave that story up to kohldad 😉

[sleepy]

Have a great fall... it is still too hot to enjoy.... maybe by Halloween.

Hope everyone is doing well

Chet