Wednesday, 11-26-97

This morning I figured it was time to deal with the full holding tanks on the motorhome. So I thought I would use the opportunity to check out the local KOA campground. I found out that the Wichita KOA is a long way from town. It is farther than I like to go to dump the holding tanks. Also, the dump fee was $7, which is $2 more than a place closer to town. The campground didn’t look very nice either. Older or rundown RVs that appeared to be set up as permanent residences took most of the campsites. I probably won't be coming back to this particular KOA campground. (This campground is no longer part of KOA)

The motorhome needed propane, so I asked to get the tank filled, but I was told that the man that normally provides that service was not available. This gave me another opportunity to shop around. The place I normally get propane charged me $2.00 per gallon the last time we were in Wichita. So I looked around and found a place on north Broadway that specializes in selling only propane.

It turned out to be the easiest and fastest I’ve ever had the propane tank refilled. There were two pumps that looked very much like the pumps in a gas station. As I drove up to the pumps, one had a label that said it was for Vehicle Engine Propane. The other pump was labeled with a sign that said it was for RVs, separate bottles, and barbecues. So, being in a RV, I drove up to the RV pump. No sooner than I got stopped with the engine turned off, a man came out opened up the LPG door and commenced to fill the propane tank. It took all of about 30 seconds, then the man told me I could pay for the propane in the office. He was gone as fast as he appeared. This was almost too easy and the price for the propane was only 92 cents per gallon, with no minimum purchase. That is the lowest price I have EVER paid for propane.

When we got back to Jim and Donna’s place, we were told that Michael had called while we were gone. It seems that Michael had a problem with his airline reservations. There was a big storm in California and many of the flights were delayed. That and the fact that it was the busiest travel day of the year, Michael was having trouble finding a flight to Wichita. He finally was booked on a flight that would get him to Tulsa, Oklahoma tonight. So we planned to drive down to Tulsa to get him.

While we waited for the time to leave for Tulsa, we watched Jim and Steven put the Christmas lights on their house.

Jim and Steven putting up Christmas lights

It was kind of funny because Jim did not have a ladder long enough to get all the way to the top of the roof. He had to climb up on the roof to reach the highest part of the roofline. Kay took pictures of the operation.

Jim on a short ladder decorating a tree

Just as we were about to start our trip to pick up Michael, he called to tell us that even his flight to Tulsa had been canceled. So we did not have to make the three-hour drive to Tulsa. Michael was then scheduled to come in tomorrow afternoon. He will miss the Thanksgiving meal this year.

It was now too late to do much of anything, so I decided to spend my time getting caught up on my e-mail and to do a little work on the Varian Imaging Products website.