Columbia, MO

Isn't it beautiful. This was the view out of our dining room window in the RV Park in Columbia. It was so cold but the snow made it really feel like the holiday season. With our Christmas cards done and our RV decorated, all we had to do was sit back and enjoy ourselves. We seem to keep going back to Walmart for one thing and another. It was our big outing while waiting for Rachel to finish her final exams.

Hopefully, you can see in this picture how the RV was decorated. The garland with lights was hung with care under the cabinets. Then we hung some of our very favorite Christmas ornaments (actually those that would not break) and some regular bright colored balls from the garland. In front of the driver's seat is a fiber optic tree that sits on a little table over the steering wheel. It made us feel right at home.

On December 12 we drove to Rachel's sorority house and got a nice tour. They have a very large rec room with a huge TV screen and a big comfy couch. The kitchen is open to them and they also have a lady that comes in and prepares breakfast and dinners for the girls. As you walk through the house you get a very comfortable and homey feeling. The living room is decorated in traditional furniture and beautiful colors. Her room was upstairs and was small but not as small as some of the others. We met her roommate who was very nice. She was studying very hard for a final exam so we didn't bother her long. The bathroom was large with many showers and etc. Rachel said if they had a big dance or another event, the girls would sign up for their bathroom time. Other than that she said it hasn't been a problem getting her bathroom time. There are over a hundred girls in the house so it was hard for me to picture getting any time in the bathroom.

After our tour we took Rachel to the Pandera Bakery restaurant for soup and a sandwich. Great food. Almost every table was filled with students studying for exams. We took her back to her house so she could get ready for her two final exams.

At 7:00 p.m. that night, Rachel called and we took her to dinner at a really nice restaurant. I wish I had taken my camera. The food was presented so beautiful that you didn't want to eat it because it would mess it all up. The steak melted in your mouth. It was a great night - the food was excellent and she was finally done with her exams. We made plans to meet at a freeway off ramp the next morning at 9:00 a.m. to caravan to St. Louis.

The next morning we got up and started our process of closing things up so we could get on the road. We got everything unhooked and the jacks up. We started to bring in one of the slide outs and it suddenly stopped. We went outside to quickly discover that all the slide outs were covered with a 3 inch block of ice. It was freezing cold and we didn't know what to do. I called Rachel and told her to go on home to St. Louis without us because we didn't know how long it would take us to clear the ice. In the mean time, Larry walked over to the office to ask their advice. The guy said, "get a hose and run the water over the top and hope that it melts the ice". You got to be kidding. Here it is 28 degrees outside and Larry had to stand on a metal ladder to reach the hose over the top of the slide out. It wasn't long before he was soaking wet including his gloves. The water helped a little bit but what really did the trick was a long metal rod with a hook at the end that we use to bring down the awnings over the windows. Larry was able to get it under the block of ice and pull it toward him. He then quickly dropped it over the side. CRASH!!! After one hour of freezing to death we had managed to get the bed slide done. Now we had to tackle the long galley slide. It was so long and it was hard to reach the middle. Larry just kept running the water on it and breaking up the ice. He was amazing. I would run inside every once in a while and try to bring the slide in hoping to break up the ice a little. (Also to warm up - but don't tell him.) After we finally got the big galley slide cleared, we only had the little vanity slide left. Hooray!! We could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

After finishing the last slide out, we hooked up the car and off we went. What an ordeal. It certainly was a challenge and we felt pretty good that we had conquered the problem. We left Columbia and drove 2 1/2 hours to St. Louis. Actually, we stayed in an RV Park in Cahokia, IL which is just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. It will only take us about 20 minutes to get to Melissa's house from our RV park.