First stop was Jack Sisemore's RV Museum.
Jack Sisemore Traveland is an RV dealership that was recently bought by the group that owns Camping World. The museum is located at the dealership, but it remains in the hands of the Sisemore family.
Jack Sisemore's RV Museum.
Nice!
Most of them are open and you can poke around inside.
The kitchen actually had a bit of counter space.
Living area.
This old Airstream has done a lot of traveling!
Perhaps Sherman will hang here one day! :-)
Found in a barn.
Ruth in the kitchen!
The living area.
The world's oldest Airstream trailer.
Lots of camping been done in these things.
Flxible bus used in the Robin Williams movie RV.
The first Winnebago Itasco.
Ruth, using the kitchen again.
A good weather trailer.
Check out the 1970's colored appliances. The bathroom was the same.
Lots of fun for RV lovers... and it's free!
Then we went into the dealership show room to check out some new ones. We didn't find anything that could replace Sherman.
New RVs.
We were unimpressed. And so much of it seems cheaply made. The dining room table in one $150,000 motorhome was made of cheap plastic. That alone would have turned me off buying it.
Anyhow, Sherman will be with us a while yet. The more we looked at these expensive RVs, the more we could justify spending money to keep Sherman in good condition!
Next stop was the Gander Outdoors store (also owned by Camping World) where Ruth bought her hiking boots the day before. When we had got home and I had a closer look at the bill, I saw where it said "Club Price $93.09" and "You could have saved $46.90".
Huh? Nobody told us about that!
It turns out that if you are a Good Sam Club Member, many products at Gander Outdoors are discounted. It costs $27 to join Good Sam Club (also owned by Camping World). We went to the customer service department where they sold us a membership for $27, and credited us the $46.90 discount on the hiking boots!
So with the tax, Ruth's hiking boots turned out to be $22.83 cheaper, and we now are Good Sam members which probably means nothing to us since we don't often use campgrounds. Might be able to save $0.05 a gallon on gas at certain Pilot stations.
With that accomplished, we set out to Cadillac Ranch.
Cadillac Ranch is an art installation originally done in 1974. Like most "modern art", we don't get it.
The original Cadillacs in 1974.
It doesn't look like that anymore!
Now covered in spray paint.
If nothing else, it sure is colorful.
I can't believe they just throw the cans on the ground.
And then I can't believe that nobody cleans it up.
Like I said, I don't get it.
We were going to go to the Botanical Gardens but when we got there it didn't look worth the $5 admission fee so we just went for a walk in a park.
The water level is low.
Amarillo has only had a quarter of an inch of rain in the last year. They're actually calling for rain tomorrow, which has people here pretty excited!
We can't find out what kind of duck this is.
American avocet.
We arrived back to Sherman and they were able to put him back outside so we could sleep in their yard here at the shop.
Today, we're headed to downtown Amarillo. Hopefully this stage of the work with Sherman will be completed this afternoon, and we can then try and get the wheel alignment done.
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Black and Decker's top of the line hand vac at a record low price!
And in Canada...
"Bad Hair Day" Duck??
ReplyDeleteWe were wandering around outside of Amarillo one day and found a field where someone had stuck a bunch of combines in the ground, like the Cadillacs. They called it "Combinehenge."
We're sticking with our old faithful RV too. It's paid for, and we can do a lot of traveling in the old one for the cost of a newer one. It is fun to look at new ones, though.
Back in October 2015 when we were passing through Allaince, Nebraska we stopped and saw "Carhenge". I have to say that we enjoyed that a lot more.
DeleteThat is exactly how we feel about traveling in Sherman! :-)
That looked like a 1940's radio in one of the RV's!
ReplyDeleteIt is very possible, I think it was in the first trailer we have shown and that was a 1941 trailer so the timeline would be right.
DeleteCool old RVs, that first airstream looks like the one being pulled around in that old Disney Goofy cartoon.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention about the Goofy cartoon, I think I remember that one but I couldn't have told you without someone mentioning it and I really can't remember what the trailer looked like just that there was a Goofy cartoon with a trailer in it.
DeleteYour Good Sam card will also give you a discount at anything you buy in Camping World, tank chemicals, light bulbs, etc.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does but we have found that most items sold at Camping World are more expensive than what Kevin can find on Amazon.
DeleteI love to travel but probably can't live in an RV year around. I'm also a home body so if I get the itch to go somewhere, I plan a trip. Some of the old RV's look gorgeous...especially the real old looking ones. BTW Camping World seems to have monopolized the whole area and businesses. Glad you took Ruth's boots back to get the reduction.
ReplyDeleteWe love to travel and having traveled by "backpacking" around other countries, which we love to do but so many times we keep saying it would be so much easier if we just had the motorhome with us. It is definitely our preferred method of travel.
DeleteI think Good Sam members get a deal on travel insurance also...
ReplyDeleteThat may be possible, we will have to look into that the next time we are wanting some travel insurance.
DeleteNice RV museum. Amarillo is not among our favporite places in Texas, but you have to love the open spaces.
ReplyDeleteNo it isn't our favourite spot either but there was enough to keep us busy for a few days while we waited to have the repairs on Sherman done. The RV Museum was probably the best attraction there.
DeleteSam's Club in the US also provides free towing and changing flat tires. I've used them only once to change a tire on my Ford F-250 diesel. But it took a while for one of their service people to respond.
ReplyDeleteThe Good Sam's Club membership does not give you free towing or changing of flat tires but if you buy their roadside assistance then you will get that depending on which package you buy.
DeleteWe’re not equipped to boondock the way you do; so we always try to find a Good Sam camping ground whenever we are in the US as we find it cheaper than KOAs or some of the private campgrounds. Smart move on the Merrells. Thanks for sharing the RV museum tour....that was fun! And nice pictures of the duck and bird. Looking forward to ypur report on the antennas.
ReplyDeleteEven when we don't boondock it is very rare that we ever stay at a private campground. We would much prefer stay at a National, State/Provincial, municipal or county park. I doubt very much that we will even use the Good Sam's discount for a campground. We think if you are going to use a membership for a discount you are better off with the Passport America one rather than the Good Sam's.
DeleteI like my Merrels, they are always comfy and I have never had to "try" to wear them in.
The RV museum was really interesting and the best part was, it was free. :-)
https://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Crest/BRKCrestedDucks.html
ReplyDeleteThank you for the help in identifying the duck Sarah! :-)
DeleteYou will probably find that most Pilot and Flying J locations in the US will give you a 5 cent discount per gallon of gas -- that can really add up when RVing. We use the discount in campgrounds as well (10% off nightly rentals only, not weekly or monthly), as well an occasional Camping World purchase (sometimes they have sales that bring their products down to "regular" prices elsewhere!) Overall, we find the membership price worth it. With the discount on Ruth's boots, you almost paid for a year membership! :-)
ReplyDeleteKevin always uses Gas Buddy for finding the best prices for fuel and even with the 5 cent discount per gallon, Flying J or Pilot aren't always the cheapest, if they are then great we will use discount. As for campgrounds, we rarely ever stay in a private campground so the 10% discount wouldn't help us but we used it once years ago when we had a Good Sam's Club Membership. Again we don't normally buy stuff from Camping World, Kevin can almost always get a better price online even taking that discount into consideration. BTW, we did totally pay for that membership with the discount on my hiking boots and more to spare, that is why we bought the membership, it just made sense on this purchase. :-)
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