Tuesday, July 31, 2012

McGee Creek State Park and Reservoir


Atoka, Oklahoma
McGee Creek State Park
Weather Condition; High 103 Low 76, Sunny

McGee Creek State Park is a hidden gem in my opinion. The lakes surface is 3,800 acres. This lake is known for the crappie fishing. The area is covered with large hard wood trees. McGee Creek natural scenic recreation (8900 acres) area loaded with 25 miles of trails. There are several trail systems such as multi-use, equestrian, hiking and biking. They ask that you practice Leave No Trace.



All together there is 18,900 acres of wildlife and scenic areas surrounding park.



They have 41 semi-modern RV sites. The sites are concrete and level. Most are located along the lake shore. 25 of the RV sites are located in the Buster Hight Area (This is where we stayed- Site #1). Each site has water and electricity (30 amps) a few do have 50 amps. Concrete picnic tables, grills and rock fire pit. The Potapo Landing area has 16 paved semi-modern RV sites.  Camping fee is $20.00 per night.$1.00 discount offered for Good Sam’s members



There are 200 unimproved campsites, 8 wooden lake huts, picnic pavilion, boat ramps, fishing docks, swim beach, 2 restroom/shower comfort stations and dump station.

The park is located half way between Antlers and Atoka off highway 3 in southeastern Oklahoma.


Our Review;

±     Shaded, level paved sites, grill, picnic table, Verizon Service, TV signal, wildlife, lake, 50amp, good water pressure, friendly staff, quiet.

-       Distance to shopping & fuel.

Monday, July 30, 2012

McGee Creek State Park

This morning we hopped back on the road and landed at McGee Creek State Park.

Neither of us have ever been at this state park. So far we are please. It's a small park with only 25 RV sites. A few have 50 amp and we got lucky and snagged one. Our site has nice shade and a view of the lake.
This park does not take reservations. It is a first-come-first- serve park. There are only five other RV's here right now.

We've decided we will stay around in this area for a while and do some exploring.
Lake view behind our fiver

Monday, July 23, 2012

Still Sitting


Rockwall, Texas
Weather Condition; High 99 Low 78, Sunny

We haven’t posted lately because nothing much has been going on. We are still sitting in the driveway taken care of much needed housekeeping items.

Well, I need to clarify the above statement. Besides the housekeeping items we have had the opportunity to meet up with friends and family.

We have had lunch with our old neighbors and dinners with close friends. We even shared meals with friends we haven’t seen in a long while.

We will be pulling out of the driveway soon and moving north for a while. We still need to map out our route and decide exactly where we are going. We do have a few places in mind but still need to decide the direction we will take to get there.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Wax On, Wax Off !


Rockwall, Texas
Weather Condition; High 98, Low 76, Sunny

We have continued to be busy while parked in the driveway.  We had a list of things that had to be done. Such as the following list;

Replace Fridge
Replace Waste Valve
Wash & Wax Exterior

That is a short list. The problem with this short list is all the things involved in getting the list completed. Replacing the fridge for example, we had to shop around and find the fridge we wanted at the price we wanted to pay. That took a couple of days. Once we found the fridge at the right price, then we had to remove the existing fridge. Next we had to spend a few hours cutting the cabinet opening widen enough to accommodate the larger fridge.  With that done, the fridge had to be installed, bracing the floor below the fridge to help with support of the weight. It weighs about the same but the weight of the RV fridge was more towards the front of the unit, which was attached by screws to the outer cabinet. But first a hole had to be cut in the cabinet beside it in order to get the braces in place. Once the braces were in place then the hole had to be patched with another piece of wood.

Replacing the waste valve was another trick all of its own! We drove to a local RV parts store and bought the external waste valve. With the valve in hand, all I had to do was remove the cap and twist on the new Waste Valve! Not so fast! Our friend, Mike and I had to crawl underneath the fiver, drop a portion of the underbelly skin and locate the valves for the kitchen and sewer, once located; we had to make sure to open the valves all the way. That took a couple of hours but we got it done. I now have to repair the hole we cut in the underbelly skin. That should be an easy fix!!!!!!

The reason we decided to go this route was due to horror stories we have heard from people that ran into problems with valve cables breaking with the valve in the closed position. Now we have that taken care of!  

Washing and waxing the fiver is time consuming as you already know. The washing was not a problem. It’s the waxing that takes so much time. While we were in Rockport this past winter, we put a good coat of New Finish on the fiver. The problem is that since that time we have stayed in a couple of places with many trees and the tree sap did a number on the fiver’s finish.

The tree sap and black streaks were plentiful and the whole thing just looked horrible.

We’ve tried many things to remove black streaks and haven’t been able to find anything that really does a decent job. That is until now. Meguiar’s Scratch X 2.0. It’s a fine scratch and blemish remover. You can only do a small area at a time but it works. Our friend Lisa is the one that told us about it. She said she bought it at Wal-Mart for about $4.00 a bottle.

It removes black streaks and polishes as you go. It leaves a great bead when it gets wet.  We can only do a little at a time because we work on it in the mornings before the fiver skin gets too hot.

We are getting it done. We have NO idea when we will be pulling out or where we’ll be going. We are just trying to get these things taken care of first.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

New Sign & Making Progress

We are still trying to finish up with some repairs so we are still living in a driveway. We are making progress!!!

I wanted to share a picture of a wonderful gift we received while we were at Beavers Bend State Park last week.

Our camp host Jim and Sue gave us this beautiful sign. He made it for us.

Jim and Sue are wonderful people and they made it really hard for us to leave. They made us feel like family.

Thanks Jim & Sue

Thursday, July 5, 2012

New Fridge & Other Repairs


Rockwall, Texas
Weather Condition; High 99, Low 75, Sunny

We spent 15 days at Beavers Bend State Park at Broken Bow, OK. It was a 176 mile drive for us. We attended the annual BBRT (Beavers Bend Reunion Tour). Every year this group gets together for two weeks at Beavers Bend SP. This is our second year to join the group.

These ladies are from all different areas such as; Oklahoma City, McKinney, TX and Pride, Louisiana. We have a few that were unable to make this year’s trip and we sure do miss them. They are from the San Antonio, TX area.

Everyone arrived safely Sunday. However, there were a few incidents that took place. Ginny & Dena backed up with their rear steps down and bent the steps bad enough that it wouldn’t fold up. I was dumping our black tank before we left Rockwall and the valve cable broke as I was closing it. Now our kitchen and sewer valve cables are broken.  A friend loaned us their Flush King to use as a control valve while we were at the park. 

The weather was hot but bearable. One of the great things about that park is all the wonderful tall shade trees and the cool water in the river.

We had a great time. We arrived back in Rockwall on Monday.

First item on the agenda, find a new refrigerator. We also have to buy an external waste valve. Then I have to crawl under the fiver and open all the valves.

We spent an afternoon looking for a residential apartment size refrigerator. We really wanted the Whirlpool 9.6 cubic foot but the Magic Chef 9.6 was a little cheaper at Home Depot. They come in white and we really wanted black or stainless. Whirlpool come in black but not Magic Chef.  We looked on-line and in stores for a good price. Everywhere we looked we found the prices were pretty much the same ($329.99 to $359.00).

We did get the waste valve for $27.00 and I also bought a water heater tank flushing wand for $2.00! So the day was NOT a total waste!

After much thought, Dawn and I decided we would have to bite the bullet and buy the Whirlpool in white and either paint it black or find something we could live with.

On the way to Home Depot we decided to stop off at Best Buy and see if they had anything on sale. We did well at Best Buy. It just so happens they had a Whirl Pool 9.6. They only had one, the floor model. It had a big red tag on it that stated $239.99. It is white but we can live with it for now at that price!

We bought it with a two year service plan for less than $300.00!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited. We now have a refrigerator again.

We called friends to come by and pick up the fridge for us.  Next we have to remove the RV fridge and trim the cabinet opening enough to accommodate our new fridge.

I spent the first part of the fourth with our friend Mike under the fiver removing the under belly so that we could pull open all the valves. We rolled around under the fiver for a couple of hours but we got that task done.

Now we will use our one external valve to empty our tanks. We chose this route because of the problems we have encountered with our valves and the horror stories we have heard from others.

The second part of the day was spent removing the old fridge and trimming the cabinet opening with a jig saw. All I needed was a half inch. I had to trim down both sides of the cabinet opening in order to get that half inch.  I took my time and it looks pretty good. The next several hours were spent cleaning up all the saw dust that was everywhere! I do mean everywhere!

 Before dinner Mike and his sons helped me install the new fridge. It barely slipped into the cabinet opening. But it did fit and now life is good!


I installed a couple of straps to make sure the fridge doors don’t come open while we are traveling. I will be adding a bracket at the rear of the fridge to keep it in place.
I also had to trim up some of the black plastic trim that was around the old fridge to close up a large opening under the new fridge.


WOW! I’m tired now.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Broken Bow-Beavers Bend

No we did not fall off the face of the earth! We were with friends at Beavers Bend State Park in Broken Bow, Oklahoma for the past 2 weeks and didn't have internet service.

We'll be giving an updated post in the near future. Right now I will leave you with a few pictures because we are on a mission to find a new fridge because our bit the dust.