Paola

This is State Highway 68, which runs east and west just north of Paola, Kansas. We're sharing this picture because we've spent more time on this road over the last couple weeks than any other. We've traveled this route to make three (count 'em, three) stops in Paola during that time.

Paola is home to approximately 5,000 Kansans and our favorite and most trusted RV repair folks, A-Z Mobile RV Repair. We stopped by A-Z two weeks ago to take care of the problem with our air conditioner. They made super quick work of that job, so we filled our new-found free days with a quick trip to Lake Melvern. While we were in Monett, another problem raised its ugly head. So, we stopped back in Paola on Monday after the birthday party and made our home in this spacious site at nearby Hillsdale Lake State Park.

On Tuesday, the good folks at A-Z installed the least expensive of two potentially failing parts. After the installation, we spent the night at a city campground at Paola's Lake Miola. This 200-acre lake was constructed in the 1950s and served as the city's primary source of water.

Today the campground has definitely seen better days. But, on this sunny afternoon we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the view. We used our time here to test out the newly installed part and discovered it had not solved our problem. So, it was back to A-Z on Wednesday to order the big, bad (expensive) part that would finish the job. While we waited for that part to arrive, we made our return trip to Lake Melvern to meet up with friends Sandy and John.

Today we returned to A-Z and waited for an inspector from our extended warranty company to approve the replacement of this big ol' bad boy: the cooling unit on our refrigerator. This is the defective unit after it was removed from the back of the fridge. It took about four hours for A-Z to work their magic. They returned Bullwinkle to us with just enough daylight left for us to get out of town. We'd already spent plenty of time in this friendly little town!

Tonight, we're resting comfortably in a beautiful site at another Corps of Engineers park on beautiful Clinton Lake. We're oh so happy to report that our rehabilitated refrigerator is cooling just fine.

Here's hoping it'll be awhile before we find ourselves back in Paola. A long while!!!