etienettebluet

11:30... epp! meant to be up at ten.  Out for lunch and PO for hold.  Loaded wool blankets, fripping bag, scale, shoes, book/underwear drawer.  Walked Bonnie 3 blks.  Finished packing tote and loaded that.  Sorted Doggie Bag, Day Bag and loaded them along with game bag.  Helped Leofwyna attaching stuff to the top of the RAV.  At this point we decided it was late in the day and we'd stay to sleep here and go early in the morning to Coronation.

7am... up and ready to leave before eight.  Can't get the brake lights check on the trailer.  Took the RAV and trailer to Dave.  It was about three when the electrical problem was finally fixed.  We recognized we wouldn't make second court either and had already decided to skip feast.  We went home to change out of the garb we'd been in all day and went to supper at __ before getting on the road to spend the night at the Cracker Barrel in Independence. 

10am... let Leofwyna sleep later.  Bonnie is behaving reallly well.  We stopped at a few thrift stores that were open before heading to St Louis.  Was able to link up briefly with the gaming group but the wifi connection was baulky and I had to give it up.  The trailer bearings were grumbling loudly tonight and a servicing was in our thoughts for Monday.

9:30... let Leofwyna sleep and when she did get up she got right on the cell to find help for the trailer.  The trip is aborted, an era is ended, Al had died of terminal axle/ball bearing/brake failure.  We rearranged the load in the RAV leaving stuff in the trailer to pick up on a second trip and headed home, arriving after one in the morning and straight to bed.

10am... a little warmer today and we're headed up to Omaha to get the camper from the shop; hopefully the electric will work now.  Ate and Pla's and hit a few thrift stores... I found a couple pairs of pants and... eureka! an alligator-skin belt.  We had Greek for supper before heading home for Leofwyna to pack for her weekend.  

Thursday (noon) finished packing and loading up for the trip to Minneapolis. Got on the road before 5pm and drove to Sioux Falls, arriving about 9pm. Set up there at the Walmart before midnight among many, many RVs. Following the dash to set up for the night had an unpleasant 'episode'.

Friday in spite of a noisy morning slept until noon. Visited half a dozen thrift stores in Sioux Falls and stopped in at the park to see the falls (saw many big trout trying to leap the falls). Drove through the evening to Bloomington Walmart... then followed suggestion to go to Burnsville Walmart instead as sometimes Bloomington's gets towed. Set up abt 11:30 and set the alarm for eight.

Saturday (8am) joined up with Asa, Randy,and Volkmar for the Viking Exhibit at the American Swedish Institute which was very nice. Had an interesting lunch there before heading to the St Paul Conservatory. At the conservatory on the spur of the moment I splurged and hired a motorscooter. Turned out not to be as extended as I'd anticipated so could have saved the expense. Oh well, it was sort of fun. Said goodbye to the others and hit a couple more thrift stores and found Jaegerschnitzel at Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit... very good. If we're ever back we should split one order as they are huge portions. Back to Burnsville Walmart for the night.

Sunday... it drizzled all night and there was a tiny drip over the foot or my bed. Scarcely noticed it until I was well awake. Up about ten during a pause and got the camper closed up. Thereupon the skies cleared and there was no more rain. We visited several more thrift stores and took in a movie (Dobbs and Shaw from the Fast and Furious series). Back to Burnsville Walmart and set up about 10:30. Ate leftovers from last night for supper.

Monday I got up at ten and left Leofwyna sleeping in the camper. When she got up she dropped the camper herself before coming in to find me at the Subway. She found a bead shop to check into, then several more thrift stores. We had supper in Minnetonka at Christo's Greek before getting on the road to Ames, Iowa. Turns out the lucky pennies we'd each found came to our aid. The trailer wheel failed in north Iowa and Leofwyna called Farmers for help. We spent the night in Belmont at Cody Barnstetter Auto Body.

Tuesday while we were still sleeping Cody jacked up the trailer and the wheel FELL RIGHT OFF. Turned out the bearings were worn to a sliver and we were lucky it hadn't come off while we were on the interstate! When he checked the other wheel it was getting pretty thin too so he did them both. About 2:30 we were back on the road to Ames where we visited three thrift stores before finding a chinese buffet for supper then another movie... Angel Has Fallen. Coming out of the movie we saw there was a Walmart a block away and we set up for the night.

Wednesday it rained all morning. Although Leofwyna had caulked the fanvent frame again I had more wet at the foot of my bed worse than before. This time though we think its from the roof-wall join where a strip had come out; it was probably windy from that direction this time. Woke about 10:30 and waited for a break in the rain to stike the camper. Headed in to Des Moines where we visited nearly a dozen thrift stores before finding supper at another chinese buffet (International... sucks). Then on the road to Council Blufss where we were set up at the Walmart by midnight.

Thursday (11) visited half a dozen thrift stores in Council Bluffs before crossing to Omaha for another few. Leofwyna finally ran out of steam and we went to Pla's for supper before I drove us home before 9pm. Loefwyna's plan to stock up merchandise for Kris Kinder and Twelfth Night was a rousing success and she's ready to match up sets and make bags for the next couple months. We didn't get all the stores in Omaha so if necessary we can go back for a day this fall.

Friday (10:30) I headed out for lunch after noon and library computer time leaving Leofwyna loafing for the day. At the sewing table I'm still trying to use up the sniglets.

Monday woke at 9am to a bright, sunny day. Leofwyna and I went together to Asian Buffet for lunch before returning home to get the camper out of the garage and hooked up for her to take for repairs. Found the electrical connector on the RAV was broken now as well. I worked on the home computer this afternoon and also pulled a couple boxes from the spare bedroom to sort. At the sewing table tonight I went through the 1.5-inch darks looking for binding for the Loosy Goosy wallhanging that surfaced this afternoon.

Saturday pulled out of driveway about 4pm headed to Leach's because trailer brake lights weren't coming on. They changed the plug, tested and showed everything working in trailer and in RAV but somehow electrical wasn't connected. Went to Cichinsekis(sic) 'cause they dealt with electrical when we first got the trailer. Learned wiring was fried, apparently due to erroneous plug connections. 24 hours later (Sunday) the wiring is repaired but we're waiting for new trailer tires (I said we needed to check this some time ago) as originals were 'uneven'. So we're at the library computers awhile and later I'll surprise the gang at gaming when I walk in. Monday we will reload the cooler and pillows to head west.

Friday we loaded up the RAV and trailer and were heading out of town to Horse and Falcon at Smithville by 2:30 in the afternoon. A little sooner than I'd anticipated but later than Leofwyna had hoped. We stopped at a couple thrift stores in St Jo before heading on to Smithville where we were fortunate to get permission to park with the horse trailers near the permanent showers. Saturday we awoke to rain so went back to sleep. Didn't get dressed and out until after two when the weather cleared up some... though it did rain again during court. Gyda's laureling was a lovely rite and her scroll is pyrography on a loom... the tablet cards can be laid out together to show a laurel wreath. Very cool! Following court Leofwyna and I changed, dropped the trailer and were back on the road by 7pm. We stopped for supper at Red Lobster in St Joseph and got home near 10. The RAV was quickly unloaded and then loaded to Sunday's JAV duties. The morning is going to be early to get the sunshade set up and the camera key arranged to the afternoon's photo sessions.

Tuesday I went to lunch and the library and managed to lose track of time and miss FoodNet this week. Instead went to the grocery store to stock up a bit for this week. After supper I continued working on kronberg blends but wasn't able to finish another top in time to add it to the pile. Wednesday after lunch and genealogy at the library I unloaded the new table from the car, loaded up the quilt tops in the car and moved the gold key out of the living room into the garage. Then I was able to head out for scribes' moot with a clear conscience. Thursday I waited to help Leofwyna move the camper out of the garage to get ready for the weekend. Then after lunch, library and supper I packed and loaded, ready to go. Today my back near tire was 'squishy' and had to go get it filled.

Friday I got a late start but we got Leofwyna loaded up and out the door.  Then she was back... the trailer had bounced off the ball a couple of blocks from home and we had to jack it up to get it back on the hitch.  The pipe is bent so we won't be able to mount the front wheel on untill we get that fixed so we'll have to figure out a temporary support when we park it.  Anyway, once she was gone again I still needed to get loaded up myself, so it was after seven when I arrived and we put up our camp.  I spent the end of my evening taking advantage of tables and basted the purple and gold quilt.  Seeing it spread out like that, I'm liking it much better than I did initially.  Saturday was a full day of activities at Cattle Raids.  I offered to help at the steel table and spent time there, although only four fighters were available and I didn't have much to do.  During the afternoon I sat in at Natalya's show and tell session.  Court was busy with the changeover from Saraphina and Randwulf to Gyda and Villhelm, unfortunately some pretty intense rain came down on the metal roof so no one could hear anything after the elevation.  And then to top off the day, ALL the apprenti took the opportunity to head into town to visit Sashatec together.