Cross Country for Thanksgiving

We made it to Oklahoma and checked in at the Tinker AFB FamCamp.  We have many fond memories of the FamCamp at Tinker and often say, “This is where it all started.”  In 1996 we were stationed at Tinker AFB and took our 3-year-old son on a bike ride around base where we stopped at the base lake near the FamCamp.  We had been thinking about a pop-up camper and we saw a fellow near a nice Coleman unit.  I had no idea that Jim Bury would become a life-long friend.  We talked about the pop-up and some of the things he did to make it an easy set-up and tear down.  Within a couple months we purchased our first RV, a 1993 Coleman Sequoia pop-up.   That was a great unit to enjoy with a young family on a budget.  We could take short vacations in comfort and at a reasonable cost. 

While in OKC, OK, we had the AquaHot serviced and they found two of the four pumps were bad.  AquaHot honored their 2-year warranty (the unit had been installed just before we bought it) and they replaced the pumps.  Now we have heat, sort of.  It tends to turn itself off when it gets tired in the middle of the night.  We will need to keep an eye on it and schedule service again. 

We were able to connect with some friends in OKC, OK.  My friend Mike owns Custom 4X4 Fabrication and we have designed several Jeep products together over the years.  I mentioned to him that I was concerned about bending the tow bar brackets on the front of my Jeep when I go off-road.  This is probably not a concern for most people; but if you go off-road, it would not take much of a hit to tweak the brackets enough to prevent hooking up a tow bar.  Mike came up with an elegant skid plate design that can be quickly attached/detached as needed.  In a few hours he made the prototype and I later painted them to match the bumper.  They look good and will protect the attachment points. 

We also visited Ed Wright who I served with in the USAF, Ed has a beautiful home in OKC and he invited us over for grilled steaks and football.  It was good to see him and discuss the latest happenings in the USAF.

We departed OKC and spent one night just west of Memphis at a roadside campground before arriving in Tuscaloosa, AL.  My mom and sister live in Tuscaloosa and there is a campground about two miles from mom’s house.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving with her and my sister’s family.  I was able to help with some chores for mom and we watched the Auburn vs Alabama game together.  It didn’t end the way we would have liked, but Auburn gave it a good try. 

We left Tuscaloosa and headed to Auburn, AL just as the football crowd thinned out and were able to score a great campsite right on a little creek and spent a week visiting our sons and completing our annual doctor’s appointments.  We figure December is a good time to do it as we will probably be back in this area for the holidays each year.  Of course, we fed our college student sons and their friends a few times and somehow got suckered in to helping them cleanup around their house.  I thought I was finished with this yard work when we hit the road!

Our next stop will be Birmingham, AL at the Cummins Service Center to get The Bus’ oil changed.  From there we plan to go by Red Bay, AL and let the technicians at Tiffin’s service center look at our AquaHot system.  Until then, thanks for following us at keepingupwiththejonesrv. 

RV Tip:  Buy a couple foam yoga mat squares and keep one in a lower bay on each side.  It really helps when you get on your knees digging around the storage bays or working on systems below the floor.