Koehler's Karavan

Feb 13, 2012 Week in review

2012-02-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

We had agreat dinner and fun super bowl – and we were snuggled back in our condo onwheels by 9pm, and asleep before 10!

Mondaymorning we slept in – and then we got ready and went to a little hole in thewall place called ‘Gonzales’ burgers – where the burgers were so huge we sharedthem and it was plenty to eat! They mustbe ½ pounders! Of course, we also gotonion rings and fries! You would neverguess it is a restaurant – there are NO signs, and they do NO advertising –they open at 10:30 for orders and that place was packed by 11:30…people werestanding waiting on orders and places to sit!!! This is a definite do-over.

When we leftthere we went to Target, where I found my black and red rugs for the motorhome without rubber backing! Woohoo! It doesn’t take much to excite me :)

We then wentto the movies and saw Red Tails – I highly recommend it if you like movies aboutwar. We certainly had tears in our eyesa time or two! Of course we stopped atDQ and his ice cream for dinner…

Tuesday we hada plan and we pretty much stuck to it! We went to the little bakery/restaurant I discovered and had a fantasticbreakfast, Ron and Kathy also decided it was a keeper. The plan was to catch a boat tour of the RioGrande river, and we had reservations for noon. While having breakfast, they called and said the boat was full, would wecome at 2…so we went home a while, then off to the river tour. Remember, click on the pics to make them larger :)

It was $18for two of us, and well worth the money. We glided down the middle and got pics of both the Mexican and Americanside of the river. The guide said thatoccasionally they got stopped and everyone had to produce their picture ID’s,but that did not happen to us! He wasvery informative and there are a lot of disaster pictures that we took – ahurricane came through in 2007 (Alexander) and changed the course of the riversomewhat, and took out a restaurant/giftshop/boat tour place, and much of apark that had just been completed. Alsoa big Mexican park that was very well attended was actually cut in half by theriver. I’ll post some pics here but theyin no way do justice to what we saw!

After theboat tour we had decided we wanted to do a Mongolian Grill, as Ron and Kathyhad never been to one, and we had seen one on our travels up and down Hwy 83Expressway. So off we went, and when wegot there they were not open, only doing ‘training’ – so we followed David’scamera and went off to another one – and it was closed too! We ended up eating at a Texas Roadhouse, andit was very good – also we had enough for another entire meal with the additionof a salad later.

All goodthings must come to an end and on Wednesday we got up to rain rain rain – butbecause we HAD to be in San Antonio on Thursday we hooked up and pulled out ofMission TX, heading for Hondo. Our gpssent us up 281 and then onto Hwy 16…what a mistake! It did save about 23 miles, but the road isterrible – there is a lot of fracking going on along there, with big truckswhich made the road totally washboard – and when we were almost to Jourdanton,the windshield started whistling – and it got louder and louder. So we are going to have to call the insurancecompany and have it fixed before we start out trip mid-March!

We got backto LSC about 3:30, went to Social hour at 4, and attended a potato bake andbrown bag auction – it was great fun but I forgot the camera!

Thursday wewent to San Antonio for the appointment for David’s ears – there were nosurgeons available, so we go back on the 27^th. We DID go to a Mongolian BBQ for an earlydinner and it was fantastic – it was HuHot and we will go there again!

Friday wejust stayed home and tried to get some paperwork done – Saturday we weresupposed to go to the Winter Texan lunch in Uvalde, we drove over there andcould not find the place…we had lunch and shopped at Wal-Mart and came home –Sunday we got up to freezing temps, and David has some kind of stomach bug,lots of pain and gas, so we did nothing and it was a good day to do that!

That bringsus up to date once again!

Feb 5, 2012 Pleasant Valley

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We arrived here at Pleasant Valley on Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm, and then it was off to the races...no, not real races, but what we do when we are trying to pack in 8 months of visiting with our friends, Ron and Kathy Bernard, and sightseeing and eating in a week!!! Whew :)

First night - RV park put on a feed - burgers or hot dogs (2), chips, drink & dessert for $3.50 each - followed by some pretty fair Karaoke! Followed by several hours of chatting...

Thursday morning we got up and headed to Harlingen and the Tropic Winds RV park where Ron & Kathy spent the last two years - and Kathy's hometown. We picked up yet another friend, Doris Padilla and went to lunch at LaPlaya. This was undoubtly the best mexican food I've had in a long, long time. You know I always try different things, and this was no different - their 'speciality' is a fried avacado, so let me start by saying I am not a big avacado, but this has made a believer out of me! They skin and take the seed out, then put in fajita meat with seasoned cheese, dip in batter and deep fry...pure heaven! You do not need any kind of salsa on it or anything - it was so yummy! Everyone was happy with their meals!

After that we visited with Doris a bit at her house, then we went to visit the Marine Museum and ORIGINAL Iwo Jima Sculpture. http://harlingenedc.com/QualityOfLife/Recreation/Museums is where you can read about it! The 30 minute documentary is SO worth the time! We learned a lot about Iwo Jima that we didn't know. We finished off the day by having popcorn for dinner because we were still so full from lunch!

Friday Kathy had to work, so Ron, David and I took off to a bakery/restaurant that I found that had good reviews - they were not kidding - it was fantastic and on 1st Street downtown Mission. I ordered something completely different, and it was so good I couldn't believe it - and David got huevos ranchero and said they were the best he's ever had...Ron had biscuits and gravy and they were also excellent! Mine was shredded chicken inside whole wheat tortilla's, with a bean sauce, cheese and chorizo on top...the pictures don't do it justice, it was so very good! Then, because it IS a bakery, I got blueberry cream cheese empanada's for dessert for dinner. Since Kathy worked, I made dinner - Taco soup and it was very good :)

Saturday morning we got up and drove to South Padre Island for the Kite Festival. The kites were amazing, but we were not impressed with SPI - far too commercial for our taste, and if there was public beach access, we couldn't find it! We did go for a very late lunch (2ish) to Dirty Al's Pelican Station, where 3 of us indulged our seafood cravings...Shrimp bisque was good but not great, but the shrimp platter with fries and cole slaw was wonderful! We did not get dessert although it looked fabulous, since we planned to stop at the Hygeal Dairy in Harlingen for ice cream - and that is what we did!!!

This morning we got up and drove to the Don-Wes Flea Market in Donna TX - it was cold (54 degrees) and rainy when we started out - but the good thing was that many people did not show up, so it was good shopping! I got 5# of vidalia onions for $2, and a really neat foldable straw hat for $5...and a mah jong game for $35! We found some clips that we needed for our curtains for .50 each, and I got a few things for our brown bag auction at LSC when we get back...

Kathy is making a pork tenderloin for dinner and a salad, I'm making baked sweet potatoes and a lemon pie...and we plan on eating about 5 - followed by the Super Bowl and snacks...don't know OR care who wins, it will be fun to watch the commercials!

That brings us up to date...

Jan 30, 31, 2012 Blessing Hotel & Spaghetti Dinner

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Monday morning - take car to Craig's Tire to fix the lights on the car - the passenger side light was not working, and I got stopped Friday night and was given a written warning by a policeman...grrr. So, after an hour and a half they said they needed to order a part, come back tomorrow.

I came home and we decided to go for a ride - and ended up in Port Lavaca where we decided to drive on to Blessing, TX. Our friends, David & Janet recommended the Hotel Blessing - and OMG were they ever right! The hotel is fabulous, and they serve lunch on two old wood burning stoves, it is an all you can eat buffet. It is truly amazing - for a Monday here is what the pots and pans held: First of all, lots of salads...tossed, broccoli, coleslaw with apples, applesauce, pickled beets, fruit salad, fresh yeasty homemade rolls, cornbread, and on the stove - green beans w/bacon, hominy w/jalepenos, corn, butter beans, spinach. Mashed potatoes and fluffy rice. Beef tips with mushroom gravy, roast beef slabs, country fried steak, pork chops that were 1.5 inches thick, breaded and fried...apple cobbler and cake, ice tea and coffee...and the bill was $17 for both of us!!! WOWOWOWOW!!!!

On the drive home David slept most of the way, he gets tired so easily any more - it is worrying but we go on :)

This morning it was back to Craig's Tire to get the light fixed. I highly recommend this garage - they did the same thing that the Chevy garage did in Wisconsin the only difference is that the bill here was $43...and WI was over 200. Hmmm, stay away from dealers!!!

This evening we joined our friends Janet & Dave at their RV park, Coastal Oaks for a spaghetti dinner - it was excellent, but the best thing about it was the company!

We are now snuggled in for the night, and tomorrow we head down the road to Mission TX, where we will continue to eat our way through Texas :)

Dave and Janet - we had a wonderful week - and we'll look forward to seeing you in PA!!!

Jan 29, 2012 Butter Churn in Port Aransas

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Well, wecontinued to eat our way through Texas, being picked up by Dave and Janet and chauffeureddown to Port Aransas, where we met with Mary and Don at a restaurant called theButter Churn.

Once again,they didn’t steer us wrong – it was a wonderful buffet with country friedsteak, fried chicken, fish, pasta, all sorts of salads, cornbread, fresh yeastrolls, 8 or 9 veggies, and wonderful desserts. I did not take pics of the buffet – there were too many people millingaround, but here is one of the two couples we enjoyed with lunch!

We ate our way through the buffet, and thenwe shopped at the Dollar Tree, looking for ‘solar dancing flowers’…unfortunatelythey had none :(

We came homeand I did some laundry, and hit the hay early.

Jan 26 – 29 Eating our way through Rockport TX

2012-01-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

Well, we arepoorer by about $900 – new water heater plus labor :( The good news is that one of the places herehad one in stock, and the repair guy had time to put it in, AND we now havelots and lots of lovely hot water! Woohoo!

Friday was aget ‘er fixed day – and Friday we went to Port A Pizzeria where we hadwonderful salad bar and pizza buffet! Wewent with Dave and Janet of course, and with two of their friends, Don andMary. A good time was had by all! Then in the evening, we went to ‘Moon Dogs’ alittle restaurant/bar on the bay here in Rockport. It had been recommended by our repair man,who said go there and get their brisket nacho’s…he really knew what he wastalking about! I am not normally a fanof nacho’s, so I ordered a burger, and it was the best burger I’ve had in along time. Here are a couple of pics,but believe me, they do not do justice to the SIZE of these plates!!! Oh yeah, the nacho’s pic was after David hadeaten on it for 15 minutes!!! Whew, andit was the small!

Saturdaymorning I set my alarm (oh man, I hate that!) and picked up Janet at 7 am, pickedup Barb right after, and we headed overto the Allegro Key Women’s Rummage Sale, their biggest fundraiser of theyear. We stood in line for 1.5 hours, withprobably 300 people behind US…it opened at 8, they will only allow 25 in at atime because of fire code. I got a nicelong sleeved denim shirt with nautical theme and a waffle maker for $4.50 total. Janet and Barb got some nice things too! We then went to the Rockport Vendor Marketwhere we about got blowed away – wind gusts of 30 mph, coming off the bay andvery cold!

Saturdayafternoon was naps, (can’t miss that!) and then we picked up Janet and Dave andheaded for the Seafood & Spaghetti House in Port Aransas that they love,and boy, can we see why! I had theseafood feast, David had the pasta platter, there was a wonderful soup andsalad bar with fresh garlic rolls…and we had zero room for dessert. On the dessert menu was something we wouldhave loved to try…Butterfinger cheesecake with butterfinger sauce…now doesn’tthat sound SO good! We got back homeabout 9 ish and just sat around and moaned about how full we were!

We skyped with daughter Tanaya and the great grandbabies, Aliyah and Landon, and got our belly laughs in for the day - they are so very adorable! Aliyah has an amazing vocabulary for such a little one, and Landon in his 'jumper' was a dancin' fool. We really laughed a lot!

Update on Abigail - she is out of ICU, only has 1 tube left, the tumor weighed 5#, and she is doing as well as can be expected. I am still requesting prayers, as she has a long way to go for chemo - they said that she was born with the cancer but that it just became active the past couple months.

Dave and Janet,and David my love, thanks for helping me make wonderful memories!

Jan 26, 2012

2012-01-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

Once again,we’ve been too busy living life to write much on a blog, so an update is inorder J
We had acouple of days of getting the MH ready to roll, and on Wed, the 25^thwe headed down to Rockport, TX. Rockportis a lovely little town on the gulf coast of TX that we really enjoyed when wespent 4 months here in 2009/10.

But, beforewe left, we went out to dinner with Bob and Jan Wheaton, and Armando Vasquez,who will have left the park by the time we get back on Feb 8^th! I got to pick the place, so we went to Napoli’sin Castroville. Oh my, what a goodchoice! A couple of us had pasta combo’s,David had a Stromboli that he said was fantastic, Jan and Bob had fettuccinealfredo, 1 with and 1 without chicken ;) A great dinner with wonderful friends – what more can you ask for!

Once wearrived here in Rockport, we called our friends, Janet and Dave and we all wentto China A for a wonderful dinner. Ididn’t get any pictures last night, but I’m sure to tomorrow!

This morningwe had quite a shock – I turned on the hot water heater and we were just havingour coffee when we heard a ‘pop’ and then water running – we found that underthe refrigerator there was hot water running – outside in a bay…so we turnedoff the hot water, and then all the water…called a mobile RV and tomorrow theywill come and let us know if it can be fixed or have to be replaced :( I SO hope it can be fixed! Of course I didn’t get a shower this morning,this campground doesn’t have a ‘shower house’, so it was a cold wash and heateda pot of water on the stove to wash my hair. After all this mess, we went for a drive, had breakfast at Alice Fay onthe Bay restaurant, continued to drive around town, did some shopping at thehistoric district, stopped at Stevie Lew’s BBQ and picked up some ribs andpulled pork to bring home for dinner. And that’s what we did – came home, played ball with Cinder, and I madebaked sweet potatoes and salad to go with the BBQ – it was very very good andwe are now snuggled in for the night.

Abigail

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Abigail is the one all in pink...please say a prayer for her and her family..thank you!

Jan 21, 2012 Updates

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So…updatesince Jan 5^th We’ve been sobusy, but not doing really exciting things. I’ve found it is very hard to keep up a blog when you are just ‘livin’life’!
We havesocial hour at the clubhouse Mon, Wed and Friday at 4 – we go to the NutritionCenter for lunch most days when it is not chicken (David is allergic), andreally, the meals are great, can’t beat the price at $3.00 each, but we go evenmore for the social aspect of it. Youarrive by 11:15, sit with a group of people that you may or may not know, chatfor about 15 minutes and then get a really good lunch – then chat for anotherhalf an hour or so and then go about your business :) We really enjoy it!

We’ve alsoremodeled our shed and repaired the driveway here at LSC. Here are some before and after pics – it wasa very busy couple of weeks! Davidalready has two computers on his new ‘bench’ working on them! IF there is enough wifi mojo I’ll put somepictures up!

One of theother things we have been doing is seeing doctors – David has seen the ENTspecialist at Audie Murphy, and Feb 9^th he has surgery topermanently implant ear tubes – he met with the GI specialist last week, andthis past week he met with the pulmonary folks, the Optical folks for newglasses, the purple team Dr who put him on metformin – it’s official, he’slisted as a diabetic, and the pharmacy specialist to order all his newdrugs!!! We now have more appointmentsthe week we had slated for Big Bend :( Dang it!

Today at theclubhouse LSC hosted the ‘fiddler’s’, a great group of musicians that come heretwice a year and jam – we have a wonderful pot luck lunch (I made a terrifictaco casserole) and spent a couple hours listening to some pretty goodmusic!

Mondaynights a group of us ‘gals’ go for an early dinner and then play bingo at thelocal church – have a great time and make a donation every week! David and Bob usually go to a Mexican restaurantfor dinner – he won’t have as much fun now – he’ll have to eat healthy! Friday night it is bingo at the clubhouse,and Sunday is ice cream social followed by card bingo…all great fun!

We justfound out that they have found a tumor on my cousin’s kidney, it is cancer, andthey will remove her kidney at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh onMonday. She will then have to endure 21to 22 weeks of chemo…She is 6 years old, so if you could, please say a prayerfor her. Back at the beginning ofOctober, we had a picnic and the kids went on a hayride – Abigail is the onedressed all in pink.

Jan 5, 2012 Appts and 'stuff'

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We've been quite busy, and I'll post pics when the 'shed' is done, but we have a contractor here doing some deferred maintenance, and making our shed our home! There was a piece of siding that was cracked, and we lucked out on that, as they had stored several pieces they didn't use up in the ceiling - which we found when we removed the ceiling tiles that were stained. I'm so glad we don't have to try to match the faded siding! We are having the building sealed, painted and new flooring put down. Now, our shed is just 12 X 24, so although it sounds like a ton of work and money, it is just a modest amount :) We should never have to have this done again, considering we only spend 5 months or so a year here! We also are having some driveway maintenance done - which in this case meant cutting off the cement cap at the end, removing the crumbled stuff and then tomorrow we get new concrete! Yaay!

I've had two days of training on our Membership Committee here in the park, and it is very interesting. Don't know when they want me to go back, but I'm sure they'll let me know!

Today was 2 appointments at the VA in San Antonio for David, a blood draw at 10 am, then an appt to see the ENT specialist at 3:30...he goes back in 5 weeks and they will put permanent tubes in his ears - YAY! He should never have to go through another 5 months of agony with his ears!

Between the two appointments we went to the golf cart store in and got a mirror for the golf cart - it is hard to see behind ya without one! Then we went to Sam's and got some much needed supplies - I'm planning on making Chili for a group of us for dinner on Sat evening - looking forward to that!

Thought you might want to know what our plans are for the next year...our plans are always set in jello, but here goes:

Last week of Jan we are going to try to get to Rockport to spend a couple days with our friends, Dave & Janet, then Feb 1 - 7 we will be in Mission TX with Ron and Kathy (yippee), then back here to LSC and a possible trip to Big Bend with some folks from the park...then mid March we will head toward New Orleans, spend a week or so down there, then make our way leisurely up the Natchez Trace, and on into PA, arriving there around the beginning of May. We will be spending the summer there, clearing out the house, having yard sales, and making the house 'ours', and if all goes well, we will be spending lots of time with our grandkids that have been in Japan for 3 years...Yaaay! It's possible we may have the with us for 5 - 6 weeks!

We plan to be in Myrtle Beach for the USS Tolovana reunion, which is the ship that David served on in Vietnam. From there we will mosey on down to Pensacola for the Blue Angels 'Welcome Home' show...then make our way back here to TX by Thanksgiving. That's the plan...and it can change at a moments notice...follow along and see how we are doing with it!

We love this RVing life :)

Jan 1, 2012 Happy New Year

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I started out the New Year by forgetting my camera for the NY Eve party...not good! I also started out the year by making 3 commercial pans of yummy cornbread, to go with black eyed peas, corned beef & cabbage, and too many finger foods to name! All this with about 80 of our friends at the clubhouse here in Hondo, TX. We had a very nice time, eating and chatting with friends! We were home by 9:15, David was asleep in his chair by 9:45, and I was playing solitaire and watching the ball drop in San Antonio on TV...then the fireworks started here - whew, they went until about 1:15am. Happy New Year!

I thought about the past year - Last Jan 1 I flew to Pittsburgh because my Mom was ill - and after one thing led to another she passed away March 8. I love you mom and miss you everyday - but then you know that!

I flew back to San Antonio on April 11th, and on April 25th we started our 'summer' trip, which took us through NM, AZ, UT, CO, WY, NE, IA,WI, MI, IN, OH and back to PA. It was a simply marvelous trip, where we were blessed by the birth of our first 'great' grandson, with few problems and was very healing.

Aug 9th we were in Cortland OH when my Dad called, said he wasn't feeling well, could I come - of course I did and within a few hours the diagnosis came back that he had pancreatic cancer. The docs said 3 months at best, we called in Hospice and we had two and one-half marvelous months! Dad had no pain, and we did everything he wanted to do. He was at peace and ready to go be with mom. We did a lot of serious porch sitting, which was what he wanted. Dad passed away Oct 23rd. I love you dad and miss you everyday - but then you know that!

On Nov 15th we started our journey back to TX - via Tampa to visit with our precious daughter, Dawn. She came through the fire of a year in Afghanistan, and the loss of both her grandparents. She is a strong, compassionate and amazing woman - I'm so very proud of her! We got to see her 6 nights, and each one was wonderful! I love you Dawn..but then you know that!

We went through MD, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, MS, LA, and finally back into TX.

Throughout the entire year, the love of my life, David and I stood hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder, enjoying every vista, every experience, every sorrow. Darling, I love being with you every day - but then you know that!

Dec 28, 2011 A day in the life!

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A typical day in the life of a full time RVer!

We got moving around 9 this morning - had our coffee and banana, talked about our day. Did a little paperwork (today this was getting the paperwork done for the lot improvement committee), showered, took Cinder for a walk, chatted with a couple of neighbors (the whole park is considered 'neighbors'), stopped at the office and got copies made, dropped them in the correct boxes, drove to the Nutrition Center and had lunch.

That is one thing that we do take advantage of being seniors - the lunches are very good, today was pork chop w/gravy, sauteed squash, peas, fresh baked wheat biscuit, cupcake and ice tea/coffee, all for the incredible price of $3 each! It also is a very social gathering - you go in around 11, choose a table and chat until 11:30 when the food is served, then you chat and eat, and chat some more! What a deal!

We then drove to Castroville (about 15 miles) and ordered a windshield for our golf cart. Believe me, when it is cold and rainy, you really need a windshield! We will be picking it up tomorrow afternoon I hope!

We will be going to social hour - today is Wacky Wednesday, and I don't know what that means, but it is sure to be fun! After social hour we will come home and have leftovers - after we take Cinder for her run.

It is very funny to see her running ahead like she is pulling the golf cart! Here is the only place she really can run and stretch her legs - she doesn't like to run in dog parks (too busy sniffing), and I certainly don't go fast enough for her to really run, but here where we can run the cart, she goes over 17 mph!!! It is very good for her to stretch those legs like that!

We'll settle in tonight and watch a movie maybe - or whatever we can pick up on our antenna...we don't pay for dish/satellite etc., and the park does not offer cable, so we are at the mercy of our antenna, which actually is pretty good!

There ya have it - a day in the life of...and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Merry Christmas 2011

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Yesterday at 6:30ish am, I headed to Walmart to pick up a few groceries...stopped at Mickey D's and picked up breakfast muffins and I was home by 8:15 am. We ate and then went and visited a couple of friends, then I made my dish for Christmas Eve - made the burger/rotel/velveeta slow cooker dish - yum!

We all met at the clubhouse for caroling at 6:00, ate wonderful finger foods at 7, and then about 8 ish we had a round robin gift exchange...oh yea! We scored a tin of 3 kinds of popcorn an LED candle and a box of wonderful chocolates!

This morning we greeted each other with 'Merry Christmas, love you' and just relaxed in front of the computers with our coffee. I called Nancy in PA to tell her Merry Christmas and after we hung up I just cried, because I so badly wanted to call Mom & Dad and tell them the same thing. David just held me while I cried - I love that about him :)

We got ready and went over to the clubhouse for dinner at 2 pm. They served ham, scalloped potatoes, peas with pearl onions, coleslaw, pineapple chutney, and desserts. It was all very good!

Somehow or other I got 'volunteered' to make cornbread for the New Year's Eve party...so, on the 31st I will be elbow deep in cornbread fixin's...Someone will make black eyed peas, so that will be that! Looking forward to it!

Now it's time for a nap...and then go play card bingo at 6:30...

To all my friends, family and followers - I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Dec 23, 2011 Home to LSC

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Left Ernie's yesterday morning, here are some pics of the completed carpet in the coach - so beautiful! Love it!

Drove to Fredericksburg where we checked into Oakwood RV - I called ahead to see if there were pull through spots available because I didn't want to unhook the car - lady said yes - and they were in the Passport America book, so figured that would be great. However, when we checked in, the lady informed me that the PA rate was only available on back in sites - so we ended up paying more than $30 for a site :( so based on that, I would NOT recommend this park. Also, their 'dog park' is a muddy pig sty...strike 2 - and the laundry room smelled of mold and sewer...strike 3!

We started the last leg of our journey stopping at Hill Country Propane and filling our tanks - it is COLD here...okay, 45 might not seem too cold to you folks up north, but here it is cold!

We arrived here at Lone Star Corral about 11:30ish, and got caught up with some friends, I took off with Bob & Jan Wheaton to see Bonnie Mason, who is in the hospital - I would request you say a little prayer for her, as she has a collapsing back and will need to have intense physical therapy and pain management. Not a good time for her and her family. Had a wonderful dinner at Johnny Carino's with Bob & Jan - now home and snuggled in for the night.

If I don't post tomorrow, please have a Very Merry Christmas - be safe my friends!

Ernies driveway Part 4, Dec 20, 2011

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Not much to talk about - Ernie's buddy Bim came over to help today, and what a difference it made in demo! Demo all done, and carpet in passenger area, pilot area, and under desk - I'll let pictures tell the story :) One of the things that I didn't get a picture of was the 'doghouse' in front, David spent over 4 hours out in the cold, using tools to get the carpet off it - what a yucky job!

We have no snow here, it is north of us, but boy is it cold! Wind is howling and it didn't get over 46 today - brrr!

Dec 19, 2011 - Ernie's driveway part 3

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Oh man - I didn't think I could get tireder than last night, but tonight we are so exhausted don't know where to put ourselves! Seems like everything we do demo wise there are issues...

Cockpit by drivers door - because of shoddy workmanship in Elkhart, IN our floor is soaking wet - and some rot as well, so Ernie is going to have to replace some sub-floor :(

Some of the carpeting is not only stapled but glued down - and let's not even talk about under the slide!!! Ernie called in a friend to come help tomorrow - David and I are just shot!

We do however, love the bathroom which is finished, and we know we are going to love the new carpet and entry - if we can just get this demo DONE...

Here are a couple pics - enjoy!

Dec 18, 2011, Ernie's driveway

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So..bathroom floor is done - and David and I did demo for hours - our backs are sore, my hips are killing me, shoulder hurts, hands are incredibly stiff from pulling staples...this is not a job for the weak!!!

We dismantled the dinette and have the carpet off that area, now there are just more staples to pull on there - we got the entry way ready for Ernie and I think he's going to do that first, since it is supposed to rain in the afternoon and he will have to be outside to do it!

I don't know if we will get any carpet installed tomorrow or if will just be more demo...ouch! I think we're still mostly on track, but it's gonna be close! I'll post pics tomorrow - too tired to find the darned camera tonight!

We did go out to dinner with Ernie & Brenda to a place called Montana's - the food was good but the company was better :) We're snuggled in now having taken a couple of pain pills...

Dawn ready for holiday party!

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Oh my gosh - doesn't she look just so fantastic! Very elegant!

Dec 17, 2011 Remodeling at Ernie's

2011-12-17T16:25:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm updating this blog because I think it is important for people to know that you really can change things in an older motor home and come out with something fantastic!

David and I are totally exhausted, because we are not used to physical work like this! After all, we're retired :) Anyway, we arrived here in Weatherford TX Dec 15th, met Ernie and came up with 'the plan'!

Morning of Dec 16th, Ernie started the bath remodel, and David and I moved stuff and watched...now that was easy! Then we followed Ernie to Fort Worth where we picked out some absolutely gorgeous carpet to replace our 14 year old yucky carpet! Then it was off to Lowes to get the wood laminate for the bathroom - with the lifetime warrenty...yaay! The bath demo continued - Ernie left about 4.

David and I went out to a lovely Italian restaurant named Pasta Fina which was very good - and yes, I did take pics of our food, half of which we brought home!!!

I got the house dressing, which I assumed was italian, and it was, but it was tomato based, very unusual but excellent! I only used about half of it for the whole salad, and the garlic knots you can see in the background were excellent too!

This one was mine - I got the sampler platter. It has cheese tortellini, canneloni, and lasagne, and penne pasta with cheese...SO good!

David got the lasagne - as usual. He said it was excellent too!

This morning it was time for Ernie to start laying the floor in the bathroom - and David and I, under his direction started the demo in the living area. Whew, they put this carpet down with about a ZILLION of staples, every single one of which had to come out!!! Oh my aching back!!! David is just beat meat - he should sleep very well tonight!

If you want to see more pictures than I post, you will need to go to Ernie's Yahoo group and join - then go to Peggy & David's Dolphin - you will find pics under cookone01 and under Ernie - unless he can figure out how to put them all in one photo album!

erniesremodelingandrepair@yahoogroups.com

If you or anyone you know want to do flooring in your units, please message me and I will give you Ernie's contact information. We are very impressed so far, and I have no doubt that will continue! Now I will attempt to show you what we have done to date!

Dawn Interview

2011-12-16T09:47:00.000-08:00

This is Dawn in her dress blues - ready for a VERY important interview! Love you honey and know you'll do great!

Dec 15, 2011 Ernie's Weatherford TX

2011-12-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

We left Betty's in Abbeville, LA, yesterday morning by 8:30 - knowing we had two long days of driving ahead of us. We drove to Tyler TX where we stayed at a so so RV park - it was ok for a night, but wouldn't want to stay there longer!!!

Got up this morning to pouring rain - and 160 miles to go, through Dallas and Fort Worth...to Weatherford. It was terrible driving and very heavy traffic, but we were here by noon! We are set up in Ernie's driveway, and we are having the floors re-done in the motorhome. The carpet is shot, since it has not been replaced since 1997, so 14 years old, and we do live in it! We are excited to get new!

I will do before and after pics side by side...it is gonna be gorgeous! Oh yes, we are not replacing the carpet in the bathroom (don't you hate carpet in a bathroom?), we are putting wood in and will either match it to the kitchen (pretty near impossible) or put in some type of light wood.

This is our beautiful granddaughter, Ariel - ready for her performance in A Christmas Morning at school. I wish we could have seen it - her mama said she did great!

Dec 13, 2011 Betty's RV Park, Avery Island

2011-12-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

We arrived here in Abbeville, LA at Betty's RV Park, and it is everything we heard about. Betty is a wonderful warm, welcoming lady, and the 4:30 happy hour is just that - each couple brings what they want to drink, from ice tea to scotch (me, I took wine:), and something to munch on. What a kick it was! There was lots of munchies, and didn't break up until after 6...both nights! Met some terrific people!

Today after we got moving (at the crack of 10 am), we headed out to Avery Island, the home of the McIlhenny Tabasco company. The tour was very interesting, and we did learn some things - about Tabasco, how they make it, and the different varieties they make now. For example, they now make a buffalo hot sauce that David likes, as well as a habanero blend - whew hot hot hot! I particularly liked the spicy teriyaki version - and bought a bottle of it.

One of the interesting things we found out is that there is a salt mine under the island - they have drilled down more than 2200 feet and still didn't make it through the salt! They use the salt in the Tabasco, and they also put a layer on top of the barrels which ferment for 3 years - very interesting.

However, the best thing was the 'store' next door, where any and everything Tabasco is sold! David sampled Chili, and 9 different varieties of hot sauces, and then he had jalapeno ice cream...no wonder his tummy was upset this afternoon! Whew! We did indulge in a few things, but didn't break the bank :)

We then drove all around this parish! Lots of swamp and water - thought about taking an airboat tour, but it is just not the season for it. We ended up going to Sweirs (rhymes with Beers) for lunch, had a terrific shrimp po boy...forgot to take pictures sorry, but take my word for it, it was worth taking a picture of! We then stopped at WalMart where we made our usual donation stopped and bought a bag of satsuma oranges and a bag of fresh dug sweet potatoes, and came home...where I made a really nice plate of layered Mexican dip and headed over for happy hour :)

We'll be heading out tomorrow, and I will tell you that I have not finished with this area :) So many places and so little time!!!

Dec 11, 2011 Summerdale AL to Houma LA

2011-12-11T18:21:00.001-08:00

Oh my, we've been busy the past couple days! On Friday it was clean up day at the ranch - so I took off and did laundry, at least that was the plan! I left the MH and went over to the laundry, only to find out that there were only 3 washers and 5 dryers...the washers were full and there was already someone waiting for them next. I got there at 8:15 and got back to the MH about 12...NOT a typical wash day! While I was there, David dumped the tanks, did the dishes, vacumned the MH...and played on his 'puter!

When I got home we were starving - and hungry for chinese, so off we went, and had a very reasonable buffet for 13.50 for the two of us - it was excellent! I had about a half a sore throat, and when Ellie called to see if we wanted to go along to a country jam/line dance place, I said no...and I took nyquil at 4 and again at midnight.

When I got up on Sat morning, I felt pretty chipper, so off we went to Mobile, where we toured the USS Alabama. USSALABAMA.COM This is a battleship, and David wasin his glory! We spent about 3 hours touring, and got some great pictures,
however you are better served clicking the link - gives you a lot of history that we read but couldn't share here because I don't do very well with statistics!

When we got home we napped, then went over to visit with Ellie & Jim - chatted for about 2 hours - and I know that we will see these good friends down the road! We had hamburger helper cheeseburger macaroni for dinner...nothing fancy but comfort food all the same :)

We got up this morning and were on the road by 9:05 - we had tentatively scheduled a day that would be about 3 hours long, and instead we just kept rolling until 2:30, when we located a campground in Houma LA. We stopped, set up and I made a great dinner, Salisbury steak, bakes sweet potato, brussel sprouts and biscuits...it was very yummy and heated the MH up nicely!

2011-12-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

This is my gorgeous grandson, Branden. I rarely get photo's of him - he is dressed for something called the Madrigal dinner :)

2011-12-08T19:43:00.001-08:00

The motorhome did not get out of the garage until about 4:15 yesterday, and the bill was atrocious!!! Yes, we did have to have the work done, and they did the best they could, but still...sigh.

We had a terrific lunch with Jim and Ellie at Daddy's Grill - I had shrimp and it was just to die for - so fresh it popped! Yum! oh yeah, sweet potato fries too :) David had the shrimp basket too...it was lovely, and we sat and chatted a while with this wonderful couple! Hopefully we can get together with them again before we head down the road!

This morning we got up and went to Pensacola to the National Naval Museum - all I can say is WOW! It is free...extremely large, wonderful exhibits, spotlessly clean, and free! David was in heaven - lots of tv's with clips about carriers, planes, and submarines, very well done - took us 4 hours to walk around and we left a second building because we were tired...and it was free! The pictures do not do it justice as usual - it was just awe inspiring walking around and touching a part of history! Of course, per our friends here at Rainbow Plantation, no visit to the museum is complete without a visit to the Cubic Bay Cafe/Bar. The story goes that when the US closed the base in the Phillippines, they dismantled Cubic Bay and brought over every plaque and picture that was there...and it is totally amazing - many of them have been touched so much they are hard to read, but David was able to find the USS Wichita that he BOARDED IN THE PHILIPPINES!!! How cool is that - and he took a picture of it too! We were unable to find the USS Tolavana, the other ship her served on, but was thrilled to find the Wichita. Oh yeah, Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels :)

I drove home while David napped, then walked Cinder, and it was time to go to the clubhouse where we had signed up for chicken (me) and pork (him) and the dinner was excellent - both came with baked mac & cheese, black eyed peas, roll, salad and dessert, and drinks for $6 each - what a bargain! I brought David back to the MH and I went back to the clubhouse and played 9 games of Bingo - didn't win but had a good time.

Now we are snuggled in, and I'm having a glass of wine...yum! Do you know that the $4 buck chuck at Wal Mart is pretty good wine? I like it pretty well - of course, I've never been an expert :)

Rainbow Plantation Dec 5, 6, 2011

2011-12-06T17:54:00.001-08:00

Dec 5, Sunday we got up and moving pretty quickly, David was concerned about going through Pensacola, however our journey was very smooth with little traffic. We arrived at Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale AL by 11:45 am. We got parked in site 61, and right across the street are friends Ellie & Jim Meecham!

However, once we got set up it was pouring rain, and we immediately got on the phone, David calling to make an appt for a oil change, lube job, transmission flush and brake inspection at B & D RV repair in Robertsdale - about 8 miles from the park. We went to the post office to see if David's drugs were in, and they were there BUT David forgot his ID and they wouldn't pass over the mail without that! However, we found out that we could get our passports processed at that post office. I also found a guy that would come wash and wax the MH for a reasonable amount, so that will happen on Friday morning.

We finally got settled in for the night, had ramen noodles for dinner - then I called Ellie and said hey, we're across the street and we both laughed - and set up a date for lunch on Wednesday.

This morning we got up and headed to the garage where things did NOT go as planned - the transmission needed flushed, and that went well, the oil change and lube job - everything needed new filters and 'stuff', and then the brakes - total new brakes needed all around - no parts available except in Indiana - they are air freighting them in tomorrow...so we are staying in the MH in the repair facility - it's all gated and we're secure, but not exactly where we wanted to be this evening...sigh!

We went to the post office and got our passport applications processed - got the pics done too! Passports are expensive!!! Here we are, gettin' processed!

While this was all going on we went to Wal-Mart - David had broken the bow on his glasses, and unfortunately they had nothing like it, so it looks like a trip to the VA for glasses is in our future!

We then moseyed over to Foley, AL where we had lunch at Lambert's Cafe, the home of the 'throwed' rolls. Oh my, because of all the other rver's whose blogs I read, I knew to tell David 'only eat a small amount of your entree and fill up on the 'pass arounds'...we did and brought home enough food for at least 4 more meals! I got roast beef, mashed potatoes w/gravy, baby carrots and cukes and onions, David got fried ham, mp w/gravy, and baked beans...the pass arounds are: black eyed peas, sauteed cabbage, fried okra, macaroni & tomatoes, fried potatoes w/onions, and of course their yeasty hot rolls that the waiters throw to you - you've gotta be quick and have a place to dump em, 'cause they are HOT! What a great time we had - were there for over an hour :)

We had signed up for the potato bake at the park, so we locked the gate and drove to the park, where we had a marvelous meal - we each had picked white potato (we eat a LOT of sweet potatoes), and there was every topping imaginable, butter, sour cream, bacon, onions, chili, cheese...and turkey rice soup, drinks and dessert for $5 per person. We really enjoyed our meal, and funny thing, we sat at a table with a single lady, Shirley, and a couple, all of whom remembered us from the park in Hondo...woo hoo! They said oh yes, they want to go back to Hondo and they told others at the table that we made them feel very welcome...wasn't that nice! Gave us a snuggle feeling!

Keaton Beach to Bonifay Dec 3, 4, 2011

2011-12-04T12:37:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a LONG day - we hitched up and hit the road in Tampa at 9:15 am, figuring that we had about 10 miles of city traffic on Hwy 19, then we should be out of the city - ha ha, joke was on us! 45 miles later we were still in city traffic - even though it was a Saturday the traffic was pretty heavy and every couple blocks we were stopping at red lights - we drove and drove, stopped on the side of the road at a rest area and had some brunch - got back on the road and managed to get to Keaton Beach to The Old Pavillion RV park about 3:00 - way too long for David to be driving - he was beat!

However, the park was very nice, especially the deck -where we joined the owner and another couple watching the sun set on the gulf...OMG...pictures can speak for themselves!

This morning once again we were on the road before 9:30, the roads were great, driving was easy - we stopped at Bonifay at Florida Sprins RV Resort/Campground, which is a Passport America park - so for the amount of $17.99 we have full hook-ups, and nice park! We're exhausted...tomorrow we head for Summerdale, AL where we may stay for a week :) It depends on what we can get done on the MH, we need the brakes looked at and packed, and possibly an oil change & lube job - David will look at figures tonight and make that decision!

My wonderful aunt, Nancy Gindlesperger got a laptop and is now on facebook, and I figure she must be reading our blog - Welcome Nancy!

2011-12-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

2011-12-02T17:06:00.001-08:00

Mercy me, I don't know where time gets to! Seems like I was just so excited to see Dawn...and now we have had to say goodbye :(

She came over to the motorhome today and we went to the Citrus Mall shopping, and she was pleased to find several gifts she wanted for the family - David stayed home with Cinder, so we had lots of 'girl' time!

We came back and got David and headed for a Mongolian BBQ - which was a blast and the food was healthy and delicious!

Dawn is now headed back to her hotel to get some rest before she gets back on a plane and heads to Okinawa...sigh!

Nov 30, 2011 Good Times

2011-12-01T08:54:00.001-08:00

We have been having SO much fun! On Tuesday evening we went to PF Changs for dinner, where we thoroughly enjoyed our daughter, Dawn, and the marine assigned to keep her safe in Afghanistan, Fred (didn't catch his last name, my bad)! We had exquisite food, then walked around the WestShore Mall, where I visited the Hickory Farms store for a few goodies for our 'happy hours', David got prescription sunglasses for driving down the road, and I got my 'shopping with daughter' fix in!

Wednesday we got up and headed for Venice, FL, my old stompin' ground! It was so great to be able to show David where I used to live, some of the special places, and we had a fantastic lunch at the Crow's Nest - Oh man, the seafood bisque with the sherry topper was out of this world - creamy and just loaded with shrimp, scallops and crab meat...and then the fresh grilled grouper sandwich - it simply does not get any better than that!

Venice beach was great, although the wind was howling, and as you can see from the pics there were real waves, highly unusual for the gulf!

OK - internet connection too slow to add more pics...maybe later :)
I drove over the skyway bridge twice, I'm proud to say, and it was spectacular as always.

We came home and settled in before dark - and I got involved in a good book and read until 2 am...but I finished it!!!

Tomorrow will be our last full day here in the Tampa area...on the road again :)

Nov 28, 2011 Dawn's here!

2011-11-28T18:39:00.001-08:00

So...we waited all day - we went to Wally World and got a few groceries, made Dawn a goodie bag (fruit, oatmeal, chocolate, chips), then did some cleaning, dropped a fedex pkg off for the Grand Junction girls, then got naps...all leading up to:

Yep, two very happy girls! You can tell that I was overdressed, my face is red from the heat, but the smiles are genuine! We had a fantastic dinner, and over 2 hours of excited chatter!

I don't know what else this week will hold, but I know we will have a great time, and I plan to enjoy every moment possible.

Nov 27, 2011 Bay Bayou Tampa FL

2011-11-27T06:22:00.001-08:00

We are SO enjoying our time here in Tampa! On black Friday we shopped - very discriminately :) We found the camera that David wanted, a Canon Ti3 Rebel which was advertised at Best Buy, Target, Walmart - however it was also advertised at North Tampa Photography, Inc., at 1020 W Busch Boulevard - which is an owner operated camera shop. We bought the camera with an additional lens for less than we would have at the big box stores. David is a happy camper...ha!

Here are a couple pics he took with the new camera...looking behind our site!

This is the view in front of our site :)

We did some domestic stuff (cleaned out the car, the MH and laundry) and yesterday Cinder went to the groomer, and while she was there I got a haircut, manicure and shopped at Target, Michaels and Best Buy...scored a 600 thread count sheet set (the set on the bed is 4 years old and pretty threadbare) for $35.00, and a faux leather jacket for cool mornings for $15.00. Felt pretty good about those buys!

Last evening we went to a place called Cody's Original Roadhouse for dinner - holy moly, we got queso and chips for an appetizer, followed by the early bird special of prime rib with baked sweet potato, salad and yeasty rolls...OMG it was so good! We haven't had prime rib since we were in Hudson WY back in May! They serve the salad in these huge stainless steel bowls, and you put it on your plates...it was wonderful! The prime rib was tender, flavorful and NOT all fat! Here are a couple pics...yes, the prime rib was mine and it WAS med rare :)

Today is a new adventure - I'll try to take some pics and put 'em up -we're gonna have a blast!!!

Bay Bayou RV Park, Tampa FL

2011-11-24T12:35:00.001-08:00

We arrived yesterday, Nov 23 here at Bay Bayou RV Resort - and don't get me wrong, it is a lovely place! Couple hundred sites, 3 laundry/shower buildings, several ponds, dog park, heated (85) pool, etc, etc. However, the price is simply outrageous! The only reason we picked this park is because of the proximity to downtown Tampa so we could spend as much time with our daughter as possible. With our good sam discount, and an 'early bird week special' it was $483 for 10 days!!! Whew, we won't be back here again!

On the good side :) we are within 10 miles of any shopping you could possibly want - we plan on going out at 10 tonight to Wal-Mart, there are a couple things I want from there, and tomorrow we will go to a wonderful Mall, called Citrus Mall, that has tons of stores - not really to shop, mostly to watch the crowds!

Today we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at the social hall - the park furnished Turkey and gravy, and everyone brought dishes to share. Surprisingly enough there were NO stuffing dishes, and only 1 mashed potatoes that disappeared long before we got there in line - but there was plenty of sweet potato dishes, I made my slow cooker corn dish, there were even saurkraut balls! David was in charge of pictures and he didn't take any :( Anyway, it was a good time with great people and lots of good food!

Happy Thanksgiving to all - and David, thanks for agreeing to this lifestyle - I wouldn't have it any other way!

Nov 21, 2011 Bushnell FL Escapees Park

2011-11-21T15:36:00.001-08:00

We were on the road by 9:45 today, filled up with propane and gas, and headed down the road to Bushnell, home of Sumter Oaks RV Park. We had 1 pitstop and pulled into the park at 12:05 pm. What a lovely place! They have an indoor heated pool (that is pretty cold!), pool table, lending library, craft room, movie room :)

We settled into our spot (right by the activity center so David doesn't have to walk too much), and headed out to Sonny's BBQ pit...Oh man, I so missed their baby back ribs! We pigged out big time (brought 1/2 of everything home for dinner tomorrow night) and then we just drove around Bushnell, giving it a look see. We made the mandatory Wal-Mart stop, got very few things but had a good time walking around and looking at all the people shopping like mad!

We talked a bit about staying here and not going to Tampa until Sat or Sun, but I want to go shopping on Black Friday, and really there is nothing here! So, we will keep to our original schedule and leave Wed morning.

We came back to the park and started out to 'social hour'. For those of you who are NOT Escapee's, all Escapee parks have social hour at 4 (except LSC who has social hour Mon - Wed - Fri). Well there were only 5 other people there, and they were all new like us! They tell me that they have a 10 am coffee every morning and that is when everyone gathers to chat - we shall see tomorrow morning!

When we came back to the MH, there were 3 beautiful Sandhill Cranes (per a park member) who put on quite a show for us - they were literally 6 feet from us. They began to dance, with 1 at a time jumping into the air and waving their wings, each taking a turn - it was fascinating! We felt very privledged to see the show!

We're in for the night now - see ya'll tomorrow (I'm back in the south, I can talk like that now:)

Nov 20, 2011 SC to FL

2011-11-20T14:29:00.001-08:00

We started out this morning about 9:30 am. We debated last night stopping at St Mary's GA and then after looking at webcams around Jacksonville, decided we would just head south...and that is what we did!

Once again it was oatmeal with blueberries, then about 10:30 we stopped and walked around, had an orange and started down the road again. By 12:30 we were in Callahan, FL and had missed all the Jacksonville traffic! The plan then was to stop in Starke FL, have a late lunch/early dinner at Sonny's BBQ (a fantastic chain - where I used to work in Venice FL for a while).

We got to Starke and pulled into the KOA, which is where the fun began. First they said - oh no, you can't stay here, because we don't allow chows...we said no problem, we'd go on down the road. However, they have more than half of their spots empty, and after we went through a song & dance where the man came out to the MH and Cinder wagged her tail at him and did the sit command perfectly, they decided we could stay. After the usual Keep On Adding fee of $39.00 we parked in a very nice pull through site. We hooked up the water and elec - oh yeah, we had to turn on the AIR CONDITIONER 'cause it was 86 Degrees!!! We then unhooked the car and got ready to go into town and get us some BBQ...and wouldn't you know the danged car was DEAD!!! No lights, no horn, de nada! Good Sam Emergency Road Service got a call, and I got put on hold - she came back after 8 mins and said that she was trying to locate a provider, could I hold - yes...20 mins later she says she found someone and they would be here in 45 mins...sigh.

We came into the MH and each had a nice icy beer and some cheese and crackers. The garage guy came and jumped us, and we were off - first to Wal-Mart to have them check the battery, 'cause we bought an expensive one from them last July! They tested it and said it was fine. This is the second time it has died on us in 2 months, so we are going to have to get it looked at by a Chevy garage to see why it is draining the battery.

So...we stopped by a wonderful fruit market, got some fresh huge navel oranges, some fresh tomatoes, a watermelon and a couple banana's. Yum! Then we stopped at Wendy's for some dinner...'cause we were not hungry for BBQ any more :(

Tomorrow we are heading down the road once again...next stop, Bushnell FL - one of the Escapee parks :) Looking forward to it!

Nov 19, 2011 Hardeeville SC

2011-11-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

Last night we stayed in a campground...somewhere after Columbia SC - it was an OK park, but yu only got a discount if you stayed 2 or more nights, was about 15 miles off the interstate...we learned from this experience! The park we originally were to stay at, which I had researched and knew exactly where it was - David was feeling good so we kept on driving - then we stopped for gas and decided we would use his campground app to find a local campground...huh! I won't say never again, but it really was out of our way...

This morning we were on the road at 9:45. We had wonderful oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast, so we had good fuel to travel on :) We drove until we got to Exit 8 in SC, Hardeeville, where we had called for a spot - and what a gem!!! David said this was the best place we ever stopped - beautiful long wide spot, no leveling necessary! It is passport america and we were allowed to use it even if it was a Saturday!!! Woohoo - $20 for full hook-ups with cable and wifi!!!

By the time we got set up it was 1:00 - and we were starving! On the advice of our campground host (and some research on line) we went to THE PINK PIG...OMG, I had bbq chicken, slaw & brunswick stew, David had pulled pork with same sides. It was so good we asked it we could buy a quart of the stew for dinner, however they were running low because they were slammed...nevertheless, here are some pics of the restaurant and our food (sorry, we were eating when I remembered the camera!)

11/17/2011 Mt Airy NC

2011-11-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

After two days driving, David was ready for a day of rest, so we slept in, and by the time we got out of the MH today it was almost 11 o'clock! We went into Mt Airy and I got a shopping fix in :) We had a great time walking and browsing - we had lunch at Snappy's Lunch http://www.visitmayberry.com/Snappy_Lunch_.aspx which was the first place from Andy Griffith that had a mention on the show. They are famous for their pork chop sandwich, but we had hot ham & cheese, recommended by our waitress.

Don't forget, you can click on any of the pictures and they will come up larger for better views!

We also stopped at Floyd's Barber Shop, Opie's Candy Shoppe, and more that I can't remember - of course we stopped at the T-shirt Souveneir shops :)

We hit the local Wally World for some groceries (I did buy some wonderful stuff at the local stores to eat, unfortunately nothing very healthy!) and we came home for naps. The campground manager said we should have dinner at The Depot, http://codycreek.net/index2.php#/home/ and we are SO glad we did! What a wonderful place, and fantastic food! I had the special of Bourbon Glazed Steak, Baked potato and corn with hush puppies, David had the shrimp stir fry with rice and baked beans - the food was every bit as good as the pictures :)

We're now snuggled back in the MH, watching TV and having a cup of tea - it is very cold here right now - yesterday when we got here it was tshirt and shorts weather, now it is see your breath weather!!!

Tomorrow...well, let's see, we're going on down the road. David, Darling, thanks for the memories!

Nov 15, 2011 On the road again!

2011-11-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

So...a quick update on what we've been doing! I've dealt with financial planners, insurance agents, bank reps, until I am very sick of it all!!!

We finished the kitchen, with the back splash being finished on Friday, Nov 12 - just in time!

I had wonderful lunches with Debbie & Donna, both good friends in school with me, and also both Hospice ee's...you don't get better than that. I had a terrific lunch with my friend Marsha - the food was so so but the company was fantastic! We went to Oakhurst for Smorgasbord on Friday night with Nancy & Harry - hoorah! I took my cousin Donna to Italian Oven for dinner, then to bereavement group at Hospice house.

We cleaned, packed the motorhome, cleaned, and continued to say goodbye to wonderful neighbors - Jim & Carol, Georgia and Eddy, Larue and Ron!

We finally got out of town at 11 am and headed to Sutton WV, which is about 168 miles. Well, by the time we arrived at the campground, we were both SO exhausted! David has not been feeling well, and he has been coughing his head off. Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable first day of our trip. However, we got up this morning to rain - heavy rain, so we got around and had a decent buffet breakfast, then hit the road.

We stopped at Mayberry Campground in Mt Airy, NC the home of Andy Griffith. We parked, walked Cinder, got showers and headed out to a wine/beer tasting place. Hhhmmmm, I sampled 6 wines, and David sampled 4 beers...we bought 3 bottles of very nice wine! Have to have a glass of wine now and then right?

We had an amazing dinner at a place called "GOOBERS' where the food was amazing - and I forgot to take pictures!!! I promise food pics will be in future postings!

That brings us up to date - I'll post a couple of pics to bring us up to date as well.

Kitchen Dining Bath floors

Countertops and backsplash

Yep, this is our Halloween snow storm!

The cousins - Donna, Jill, and me :)

Oct 23 2011 Tribute to Dad

2011-11-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

On October 23, 2011, Dad passed away peacefully at home. We were very fortunate to have had 10 pain free weeks with this wonderful man, doing everything he wanted in that time. We went to orchards, rides, restaurants, picnics, and mostly had a lot of porch sitting time!

We could not have done this without the help of Hospice,who I am convinced are Angels on earth. They made it possible for me to be able to keep Dad pain free and comfortable even at the end.

Dad - miss and love you every day - and Mom, you too! Here are some pics of my wonderful parents.

Sept 20, 2011 Jubilee, Fall begins

2011-09-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since I updated, so here goes :)

Went to a Labor Day picnic at my cousin Tim's house - lots of fun :)

Went to Farmers & Thresherman's Jubilee in New Centerville, a festival that has been going on for many years. Last time I went was probably 30 something years ago - it was very nice...here are a couple pictures of big old time tractors - coal & wood fired!

Remember, just click on the picture and it will get bigger for better detail!

We've gone looking at fall mum's, and bought two beautiful baskets for the front of the house - we met some friends at a restaurant called 'Traditions' and had a great fish dinner, we've been to Chinese food TWICE in the past two weeks, David got his flu shot last week at the VA clinic in Johnstown - we've eaten lots of good fresh corn, much fresh produce, and now the weather has turned chilly and rainy, so last night was a pot of Chili and a pan of cornbread - yum!

This morning I made a corn shock (Thanks for the stalks Len N Shirley), and here are some pics of the house...oh and Cinder went to the groomer yesterday and got a fall bandana and ribbon in her hair!

Sept 5, 2011 Labor Day picnic

2011-09-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Have not posted much - it is hard to find stuff to write about when we aren't doing much, and Dad is doing wonderfully well right now - no pain and that is a good thing!

Cousin Tim had a Labor Day picnic yesterday and I made baked beans, and the cream cheese with chipotle raspberry sauce - there was so much food there it was incredible! Ham BBQ, Sloppy Joe's, Kielbassa & saurkraut, hot dogs, meatloaf, stuffed peppers, potato salad, scalloped potatoes, rigatoni casserole, asian slaw, vegetable salads, and the desserts...cherry delight, gob cake, peanut butter pie, strawberry cheesecake, fruit salad, cherry pie, zuchini cake, texas sheet cake...holy moley, anybody that went away hungry was just crazy!

No pics of the food (David had the camera) but here are a couple of the people, with special emphasis on a couple pics of Dad...and the little ones :)

If the weather cooperates we will be going to the Farmers & Threshermans Jubilee in New Centerville this week - and Mountain Craft Days on Friday in Somerset. Hopefully we'll remember to take some pictures!

I hope everyone has a great holiday - although it is pouring down rain here at the moment. Thanks for reading the blog...and leaving comments!

August 12, 2011

2011-08-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to update those of you that may want to know what is going on in my life right now.

Last night at Dad's request we had sausage, fried potatoes, cherry cobbler...he had a good day and was quite content.

Hospice came this morning and checked his coumiden levels, and they seem to be ok. Still waiting for the Doc to call and tell us how many to take tonight :(

Big news of the day - we got the MH parked alongside the house - and David did it in just one back-up! Woohoo! Yippee - now we get to start the 'unloading' process. I've emptied the freezer in the MH into the freezer in the garage, and tomorrow I'll do the fridge part - then we will defrost and turn that off. I want to do some laundry too - been 10 days since I did any of that!

Jane dropped off some fresh tomatoes, cukes, green peppers and zuchini for us...anybody have any good zuchini recipes??? I've got LOTS! I fried 4 skillet fulls on Wed night - and we ate every drop! I will be making some zuchini bread tomorrow - have a recipe that calls for pineapple - it is very yummy!

We're going to Boyer's Orchards in a bit to get some fresh peaches and nectarines - we want to go and do as much as we can while dad can still go and enjoy :) I'll try to take some pictures!

August 10, 2011 Berlin PA

2011-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

So - Hospice came in this morning, and they are on board. Dad can eat most anything he wants at this time - it will progress where he won't be able to eat, but until that happens, it is ice cream every night :)

This morning he had scrambled eggs and donuts :) For dinner we are having country style ribs in Gold Sauce, baked new red potatoes, fried zuchini, and apple crisp (thannks Donna)!

Lots of phone calls today - cancelling different appts for dad, making a vet appt for Cinder (check up and wellness), Comcast for internet, electrician to get a 30 amp plug in outside the house so we can plug in the MH. SO very busy - oh yeah, doing laundry too!

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts - we appreciate it so much!

Aug 5, 2011 PA

2011-08-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call on Wed morning from Dad, asking me to come home. He said he was in severe pain and he wouldn't go to ER until I got there - needless to say, I hit the road and drove like a maniac, arriving in Berlin at 2:30pm. I had Dad at Somerset hospital by 3:15 pm.

He has been having stomach pain off and on for many years, so for the first time they did a contrast cat scan of his stomach. Doc came in right away and said that he has a softball sized tumor above his pancreas. They transferred him to Good Samaritan Hospital in Johnstown, where we continue to go through tests, pokes and prods.

Dad has a living will, DNR and I am his POA - he refuses to let them do surgery, so our options are limited, and I don't know yet what they will be. The oncologist has said that if we do pallative measures only, he will have months, but not a year. And with Dad's mindset, I expect it will be very few months.

I may not post to this blog very often while this is going on - I don't know how much time/energy I will have as I travel through this journey called cancer.

If you are the praying type, please pray that God takes Dad quickly so that he doesn't suffer. Thank you.

July 26 through 31, 2011 Shipshewana, Mishawaka, Van Wert, Cortland

2011-08-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Playing catch up on the blog!

On the 26th we went for the front end alignment, and turns out that the front tires were shot, so two new front tires - $720...and they were unable to do the alignment - they called some experts and were going to call and let us know what they said. Apparently our tires are set too far back and the machine won't line them up :(

So, back to Elkhart campground, walked Cinder and went to visit the RV Hall of Fame. I must tell you that I was NOT impressed. It was OK, and I suppose we got our $12 worth, but we walked the exhibits, watched the movie, read all the 'reading' stuff and were done within 90 minutes. Somehow we expected more :(

Wednesday the 27th, we went to Shipshewana to the larges Amish fleamarket in the US. Once again, we were kind of disappointed. The flea market is amazing, and we did get some things we 'couldn't live without', but very very little true 'amish' things. We were able to get a doz just picked corn for $3...yahoo, and a basket of peaches for $3, and vine ripe tomatoes for .89 a pound...OMG they are so sweet and juicy that you can just eat them by themselves like an apple! We've had several dinners of tomato sandwiches and corn...yum! After we walked around at the flea market for several hours, it was time for lunch. Per our friend Kay we went to the Blue Gate Restaurant and had the 'family style' meal - our meats were chicken and meatloaf, served with dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, grean beans, homemade bread with apple butter, beverage and choice of pie - I had butterscotch and David has lemon merengue...

Thursday morning we got up and drove back to Mishawaka for the front end alignment where they used a special setting and didn't do the back tires. We finally left about 12:30, and drove to Van Wert OH where we stayed at the county fairgrounds. Because it is an Escapee's spot, we paid $12.50 per night - for full hookups. We stayed there for 2 days, and there was not much going on, it was just too hot to do anything!

We got up Sat morning and headed up the road - to Cortland OH, where we are staying at a Moose lodge, with 30 amp electric and water, dump station for the sum of $5 per night - I think we will be here a week. Can't beat the price - and the folks here are very nice, the lodge cooks 3 meals a day for very reasonable prices - we each had cheeseburger, fries and soda for the sum of $7 total for both of us - what a deal!

Last night we drove about 20 miles to a place called Pasta Oven, and had wonderful spaghetti & meatballs (me) and Chillitini (chili with onions & cheese over spaghetti noodles) and a plate of 'garlic balls'. It is bread dough, knotted and deep fried, then drizzled with garlic butter with chunks of garlic - OMG is all I can say :)

July 25, 2011 Newmar Tour & Bontragers

2011-07-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

This morning was a hurry up morning, because we went to the 10 am tour at the Newmar motorhome plant. All I can say is WOW. Pictures were not allowed, but we got to see MH's built from the chassis up - and those folks really know their business. If you ever get to the area, please do stop and take the tour - it is quite worth the trip, and it's free! However, we really liked the King Aire, which was priced at 750,000...yep, 3/4 of a million dollars.

After the tour we headed to Bontragers, which is just about 15 miles north in Michigan...we've been shopping for dinette cushions and what we've been able to find are about $350 to $400 for the set. I found a brand new set that actually looks great for $120. Yahoo!

We have not gone for our swim yet this evening, don't know if we will...we are pretty tired from all the shopping. Tomorrow we have to be at the garage about 15 miles away for our front end alignment - which means we will be setting the alarm clock for 6 am :(

I'll tell ya all about it when I update tomorrow night!

July 22, 23, 24, 2011 Elkhart, Shipshewana

2011-07-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

We got the call at 8 am on Friday to take the MH over to Total Value RV repair…of course, it was the hottest day so far, at 98 degrees and 89% humidity! We took the MH over – their customer lounge is NOT air conditioned, so we got in the car with Cinder and started exploring. We didn’t want to go too far, in case they called us to go look at something.

First we went to 2 different RV salvage places that allowed us to take Cinder in with us (too too hot to let her in the car!), and I found a set of dinette cushions that we will go measure tomorrow morning – they are about $200.00 and ours are surely shot, but pricing them on line they are over $450 for the set. That is all we could find that we couldn’t live without – yaaay!

Then we drove into downtown Elkhart, and got some great pictures of the ‘ELK’. In Cheyenne, there are boots, somewhere (CRS) there are painted cows, and here in Elkhart they have painted Elk. The expressions on some of them are priceless! I don’t know if they take them inside during winter, but they sure are cute! We walked along the Riverwalk (Cinder and I did, David went to the bridge and took some pics) and admired the landscaping. Very nice! I shopped in quite a few stores (bought nothing) and we ended up back at the RV garage about 4:30.

So – they fixed the door, we had to have the electronic step replaced (comes with a warranty), new hood over bathroom fan, driver and passenger windows were taken out, cleaned, reset and caulked, plus 8 hours labor for the sum of $1120.37. Not as bad as we feared, but not as good as we hoped. They really did do a great job, and the contact info is: Total Value Rec Vehicles of IN, 2510 CR 4 East, Elkhart IN, 46514 phone: 574-262-4460. They are right beside Elkhart Campground!

On Saturday we drove over to Shipshewana, where we spent hours in Yoder’s Hardware and Mercantile – I bought a jar opener (my hands are not as strong as they used to be)and an led flashlight and there were beautiful quilts hung up on the walls…we asked for a recommendation for lunch from the young lady that checked us out, and she steered us to the ‘Daily Bread’ – which is on the third floor of Davis Mercantile Center…holy cow, was she ever right! Their special was Chicken & Noodles over Mashed potatoes, corn, applesauce, homemade roll & butter…thought I died and went to heaven! Comfort food to the MAX! David had ½ a taco salad, and it was huge, and we shared a piece of apple crumb pie with ice cream. On the 3rd floor they have a carosel (sp). We were terribly full, so we shopped, walked, shopped, walked for over an hour. As the temps were in the mid 90’s, we spent much time in air conditioned stores!

Oh yes, can’t remember the name of the store, but it was a huge bulk foods store, and I got lots of dried fruit to send to Dawn in Afghanistan…I have a smidgen of space left yet in her box, and I’ll be adding to it and mailing it sometime by Friday – she should have it when she gets back from R&R!

Here is a picture of a flower garden in the colors and shape of a quilt - they are all over Amish Country here in IN - once again, the pictures do not do it justice, they are SO gorgeous!

Last stop was at Yoder’s meat & cheese store – where I got some Lebanon bologna, a ham slice and some apple schnitzel for Dawn’s box. We came home and crashed for an hour or so, then we went to the pool and got our daily dip in – the water is just barely cool, because we had quite a rainstorm – the day before it was too warm. With temps in the 90’s, you really want the pool water to be at least 85 so you get some refreshment out of it!

Today was a take it easy day - we putzed around most of the morning, then went for a drive up through Nappanee, and Wakursa, stopped at a roadside market and got a watermelon and blueberries. It is rainy and grey today, so we are home now, getting ready for a nap, and then we will have spaghetti & meatballs for dinner, along with fresh peaches and blueberries for our salad...and watermelon later :)

Wonderful memories - David, thanks for helping me make all these great memories!

July 18, 19, 20, 2011 Charlotte to Elkhart

2011-07-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I have internet for a while – but I’ll tell ya, we have terrible electric here! We have 30 amp svc and our AC kicks off constantly, and we have the refrigerator on GAS! Too ridiculous!

Anyway – we did move on Sunday afternoon over to the Eaton County Fairgrounds, where we had GREAT 30 amp service, water and a dump station, once again for $15 per night. We left Wendy & Wayne’s house about 5 pm, after we had eaten much more steak, chops, mac & cheese, and mango salsa that Wayne made – it was so good buy spicy! We settled into our site, and out of about 70 sites, only 3 were occupied. I highly recommend this campground – quiet, almost in town, but lots of squirrels, rabbits, and even a raccoon was seen wandering around!

Monday was a busy day – we took Cinder in to Petsmart in Lansing to have a bath – it is so hot and humid that she was miserable even though she was not really ‘dirty’…while she was at the salon, we had breakfast at Cracker barrel, then shopped at Lowes, Gander Mtn, and Michaels – by then she was ready and we headed home.

Wendy stopped over after work because Wayne works until 8:30 on Mon nights, and we made a plan to go to Dark Horse Brewery on Tuesday evening for dinner.

On Tuesday we got up and headed to Muskegon, where the USS Silversides submarine is open for tours, as well as the US Maritime Submarine museum. First of all, the museum is a bargain at $6 per person – two stories of memorabilia about subs, including locations of where they were lost, why (if known) and what they were doing there. It was so interesting that we spent almost 3 hours in there! We did NOT tour the silversides, since we’ve toured subs before, and it was $15 each, so we skipped that portion!

We left there and stopped by Muskegon beach – what a lovely beach! Lots and lots of sand, life guards and not crowded at all – and the water was a balmy 68 degrees (brr) but there were a lot of brave souls in there!

When we got home, we had time for a nap, then Wendy and Wayne picked us up and we went to Dark Horse Brewery. They make LOTS of different beers, and I tried a raspberry ale – it was very nice! They have fantastic sandwiches, and they make their own ‘spelt’ and ‘pretzel’ rolls – oh man, talk about wonderful! Very dense, salty & sweet, perfect for the bacon, lettuce, tomato, beef & turkey I had…sorry, did not take any pictures L

Wednesday was our last day in Charlotte, so I went off to get a pedicure & manicure, since the weather has been so hot my feet really took a beating in my ‘flops’…went back to the MH and we had a bite of lunch, napped and then waited for 5 o’clock and our last supper with Wendy N Wayne. We met them at Eaton Pub & Grille, and once again had a fabulous meal! Goodbyes are the hardest part of this lifestyle – but then again, if we didn’t live this wonderful lifestyle we most likely would not have been able to visit with them in the first place!

We got up this morning and got ready to head down the road to Elkhart, IN, the RV Capitol of the US…and wouldn’t you know it, the darned steps would not retract…grrr. After doing everything we knew how to do, we just headed down the road.

For those of you that wonder about this type of life, we have a ‘list’ of stuff to get done while here:

a tree limb came out and swatted our cover over the bathroom fan yesterday L

the door does not work right (doesn’t want to open/close),

the step went out yesterday and won’t retract today,

the 30 amp breaker probably needs to be replaced,

the two cockpit windows need to be taken out, cleaned, caulked and replaced – in a rainstorm they leak like crazy

We need to get a front end alignment….

We are at Elkhart Campground and paid for a week $175 ouch! – the place next door said they would do all the work – they’ll call us tomorrow and let us know when to bring in the coach. We will get an estimate before they do all the work, and since they don’t do the alignment, we’ll get it scheduled for a day they won’t have the coach. Biggest problem now is what to do with Cinder while they are working on it – too hot to let her in the car, and since she likes to ‘taste’ the servicemen, that would not be good! We’ll figure something out!

Tomorrow we’ll…aw, I’ll tell you about it after we do it!

July 16, 17, 2011 In the driveway!

2011-07-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

This morning we got up to HOT - temps as well as humidity. We are running our AC otherwise David wouldn't be able to breathe! I took off at 8 to the local farmers market, (forgot the camera!) where I got fresh corn on the cob, homemade wheat bread, garden lettuce, cukes, onions, and mashed potato doughnuts...oh holy cow, they tasted just like my grammy used to make - you can taste the nutmeg in 'em. It was worth the trip just for that taste - took me back in time!

When I came home we just vegged for the rest of the day. It is wonderful here under the trees in the driveway, and we finished off the day with steak, chops, rosemary potatoes, fresh bread, butter and corn on the cob...YUMMO! Here are some pics of our spot at the Economy Hilton :)

This morning I promised sausage gravy & biscuits, so I was busily cooking sausage at 8 am and realized the milk was just about to turn :( David took over the stirring duties while I went to the store for milk. We baked the biscuits in Wendy's oven, and I sliced up a wonderful canteloupe - oh it was so delicious...here is a couple more pics of breakfast!

Wendy and Wayne moved here 7 years ago, and there was no landscaping, decks, flowers, etc...they've worked very hard to turn this into an oasis of colors and shade! Here are some pics of their place - they built the pergola and deck, and did all the rock work themselves. They have a wonderful garden and a red raspberry patch. What a testament to elbow grease!

This afternoon we will be moving over to the fairgrounds where we will have 30 amp electric...so we can run the AC full time! Also, Wendy will need to get her car out to go to work tomorrow...:)

I doubt that we will have any wifi over there, so I may not blog again until end of the week.

Wendy & Wayne - what a great time we've had...hope to see you in PA or TX sometime!

July 10 through 15, 2011

2011-07-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm playing catch up on the blog, and I just know I'm going to miss some important exciting stuff, but I'll try. First the reason I'm behind - David 'forgot' we were on our MIFI and downloaded ALL the updates to our Gypsy (Rand McNalley RV Edition GPS), then he downloaded 1,500 emails from a secondary account - and used up ALL our available bytes - we get 3 gigs a month, and he pigged em all - is that fair? Shoot! Anyway, we are 'leaching' off Wendy (more later).

We left Manistique and drove to St Ignace - and our wonderful Gypsy took us straight to the Moose Club there. They have 30 Amp Service and water...no dump station :( We paid $12.50 a night, and there was 1 fifth wheel there - and they have 10 sites, nestled in the pines (but NO shade where you park until late afternoon). We had good intentions of going to Mackinaw Island, until we realized that it would cost us $44.00 for the round trip ferry ride - and seeing as how there are NO cars allowed on the island, and you catch the 'carriages' in mid-town, and with David not being able to do a lot of walking (especially up hills!), we decided we would forego that trip. It is a good thing we did, because it poured down rain all morning on Monday the 11th!

Two days before when I was reading through the blog that I had been following for years, http://because-we-can.net/index.html I realized that Bob & Linda were essentially going to be in the same place as we were. Having never met them face to face I fired off an email, and as happens in the full time rv world, Linda emailed me back, a date and place was set - Monday, 11:30 at the Mackinaw Grill! Well, we were all soaked to the skin when we got there, and they had the AC cranked, so we were cold! We settled down for a wonderful 2 1/2 hour lunch, talking about all the things that full timers talk about - coaches, routes, gps devices, dump stations, campgrounds, fairgrounds, food, restaurants :) What a wonderful time we had getting to know these wonderful folks - and we know that we will meet again down the road someday!

The next morning we left St Ignace bright and early (ok, 9:30ish). We went across the Mackinaw Bridge - 5 miles of suspension bridge over lakes Huron and Michigan - definitely high pucker factor there!

We went as far as Mt Pleasant to the Isabella County Fairgrounds, where they have 97 sites with 30 amp, water with good pressure and a dump station. We were the ONLY ones there, and it was wonderful - we took the time to hook up an extra hose, give the MH and car a bath, scrubbed and cleaned everything, and were ready to RELAX...

We drove to Big Rapids in the car, just to say we were on the 'west coast' of MI, and it was of course gorgeous. It is a college town, so lots of kids, even in summer, and lots of activities. We stopped in a little restaurant downtown and had lunch - it was wonderful! On the way home we stopped at a Mennonite farm and I bought some fresh green beans, cukes and blueberries - then we stopped at a roadside stand and I got some fresh tomatoes wow, love this time of year! Of course for dinner we had cheesewheels (from Lander, WY - thanks Christy), fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes and cukes - yum!

We got up yesterday and took the 70 mile trip to Charlotte MI (which they pronounce Shar Lot here!) where we settled into Wendy and Wayne's driveway - a Economy Hilton (free = economy, Hilton = close to friends) and we spent the rest of the day catching up! Wendy and David and I all in another life, worked together in WY, and Wendy moved about 7 years ago to here, we've been talking about visiting for years, and finally made it! We sat around last night drinking lots of beer (they have a keg in the garage - so handy!) and were up far too late, but we had a great time!

This morning we got up and headed to Lansing and Washington Square, where we saw the historic courthouse, and I had a brief tour of the Michigan Pie Company Restaurant - OMG were the line not really long, I would have been in trouble! As it was we had a lovely lunch at Jalepeno's...then, being true tourists we went shopping ;) I did buy a new pair of flops (Nikes) because the ones I bought at Cabela's at the end of June are showing serious wear - guess I wear 'em out walking! Here are Wendy, Casey and I!

We visited Meijers (pronounced MEYERS) where we got some scrumptious vittles for tomorrow nights dinner - pork chops, steak and polish sausage...Wayne is gonna grill, and I'm making potatoes and a big salad (we're going to a farmers market in the morning) and hopefully corn on the cob!

This evening we went to Reidy's for pizza with neighbors...sorry, names are gone, I'm sure I'll get it right by the end of our visit :)

This blog was brought to you by Wendy & Wayne's internet connection - Thanks so much for letting us 'leach'!

July 8, 9, 2011 Manistique & Munising MI

2011-07-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

So - yesterday we got to Manistique - parked at the Moose Club here. It is about 5 miles from town and very very quiet - they did open last night for a fish fry, of course we attended and they did a good job - yummy perch, baked potato, cole slaw, all you can eat for 10.95 person. Fish was fresh and crisp - great!

We went to Lake Michigan, which we actually saw in Marinette, got some pics and stuck my toes in the water :) Lovely travel up Hwy 35 & 2 - lots of lovely coast views! Can you call it a coast even if it is not? Looks like the gulf of mexico to me - huge body of water, no waves :) Biggest difference is that lake is black...not green or blue. Kind of scary to someone who has always loved big bodies of water!

Today we got up and drove up to Lake Superior, where we once again saw lots of big water...we took a Shipwrecked Tour in glass bottom boat out to three different ship wrecks - we did take pictures, and I will post one, but through the water and the glass, and then the camera, it does not do it justice. The skipper of the boat quoted 1027 wrecked ships in Lake Superior, the most famous is the Edmund Fitzgerald, which actually lies in Canadian waters! If we had our passports we would definitely visit Canada, after all, we're in spitting distance :)

For anyone with pets - they offer FREE kennels while you are on the tour - Cinder got a nice big clean kennel all to herself, with lots of ventilation in the basement of the tour building - also someone was there to chat with her and the other pets while we were gone...there were 3 other dogs and 1 cat!!! They said they never had a bird, but there's always a first time!!!

While on the boat we met a very nice couple who had their grandson with them who was so much fun! Reminded us of how much we miss our grandkids and how many trips we made with them - hope to do more of that in the future if we can!

David napped the entire 48 miles home (he was wore out from jumping around on the boat) and we had supper at Big Boy. When I was growing up, Mom and I and my aunt Joyce and her daughter Susie would go to Monroeville shopping, and we always stopped at a Big Boy and had lunch and strawberry pie. Of the 4 of us, I'm the only one left, but hey you guys, this pie's for you :)

We did have a wonderful day, and I took many pictures, here's just a couple I culled out for you to see.

Hey - my cousin Donna Huston has a birthday today - Happy Birthday Cuz!

July 5, 6, 7 Marinette WI Moose Campground

2011-07-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Marinette WI to the biggest Moose Campground we've ever seen! There are 102 spots, with about 90 taken by seasonal moose members. What a wonderful park! Their lodge is open Thurs, Fri, Sat, & Sun, so we were only able to participate in Hamburger night on Thurs nite, it was fantastic as all hamburger nights are - we both got cheeseburgers, 1 order of FF and 1 order of onion rings, and our bill was $8.00...can't beat that with a stick!

There are twin cities Marinette and Menominee, separated by the Menominee river. Marinette is in WI and Menominee is in MI! While we were driving around on Wed, a very nice guy on a scooter pulled ahead of us and said we had a brake light out - so off we went to NAPA - and of course we have the kind of lights that you just can't replace, you have to go to a dealer - so we found a chevy dealer, and they took a look - yep, need entire new circuit board - part ordered, go back Thurs for appt...$100 later we're out the door. Wow...for a brake light! That included the time they took the day before to diagnose the problem :(

Here are some pictures of the Marina at Menominee (yes, right on Lake Michigan) and some fantastic food we had at a place called Railhead - David tried their oatmeal stout beer and he was in heaven :) and lastly some pics of the campground we stayed at including a golf cart that David loved!

July 1 thru 4, 2011 Madison WI

2011-07-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

We arrived here at the University of Wisconsin Medical Center July1, early in the day.

We came here to talk to the counselors and tour the facility, because David was told by him pulmonologist at Audie Murphy that he would be a good candidate for a lung transplant. We now know that he will have to undergo at least 3 days of testing to see if he really is a candidate, and what the alternative is to having a transplant.

The statistics are that 1 in 20 die within 3 months of having a transplant, and the most anyone has managed afterwards is 10 years - so we will be asking some hard questions - like if he doesn't have it, how long can he have some quality of life - and how long until the end???

We've decided that he will start the process next year, Jan or Feb of 2012, and see how it goes. If he is NOT a good candidate, that will make the decision for us. If he is, we will explore alternatives and answers. We will NOT give up, and we will live every moment that we can as best we can, enjoying every precious moment that God gives us together!

Now, enough about that - here's to living life to the fullest!!! You know that for us, much of that is good food - both what I cook and what we eat out :) As luck would have it, they have a marvelous Brazillian Grill here - and that was where we had Sunday Brunch - yum yum...here are some pics of course :) Oh never mind, the internet connection is too slow!!!

We watched wonderful fireworks from the parking lot where we are parked - wonderful seats :) The hospital has let us stay 5 nights with electric for no charge - that helps the pocketbook!

Today, being the 4th, we went to Biaggi's and had Italian...I had butternut squash ravioli and david had seafood cannelloni boy, it was fabulous! Of course for dinner tonight we had cereal :)

Found the biggest Whole Foods store I've ever been to - we now have our favorite granola to top yogurt with...yay!

We also found a Camping World and bought a new GPS - it is the new Rand McNally RV Edition - it is our Christmas gift to each other - because there are many roads where we are going with low bridges and narrow roads - we put in our length, width, weight, with and without the car, and David has been playing with it. We were done with our Garmin - it kept putting us in downtown areas so with a MH pulling a car there is not much fun there. I'll let you know how we like it :)

June 29 & 30 - Webster County Fairgrounds, IA, Kieler, WI

2011-06-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got up and hit the road by 9:15, and drove to the Webster Co Fairgrounds where we parked for $15 per night - which we think is pretty spendy for 30 amp electric and water! However, the fairgrounds were lush and green, very well taken care of, no thistles or goat heads for Cinder to get into, and we were the only people there! Gotta love that! We sat outside and had happy hour, while throwing the ball for Cinder and just enjoying ourselves. We did not even unhook the car! I made a terrific dinner of pasta with olive oil, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes & broccoli...best thing about it was I had already cooked the pasta (see spaghetti dinner at Holyoke), and had the rest in the fridge and freezer. Did not have to buy anything :) We also had leftover angel food cake with fresh peaches...yum!

This morning we started out just fine - we knew we had about 200 miles to go, and there was a heat advisory out, so we started the generator and ran the AC while going down the road. Now don't you know that when we stopped for gas the AC blew fuses or something - David wiggled some wires, clicked the breakers and we had AC again. Then we stopped for lunch at a grocery store, and of course, bang, no AC again. David was too out of breath to go out and try to fix it again, so we headed down the road with just the dash air - wow, it was hot hot hot!!!

We arrived here at Rustic Barn RV park where we didn't realize there was no 'sewer' hookup until after we were parked - The inside of the MH was showing 104 degrees, so we will dump on our way out in the morning - this is an 'ok' campground, but we would not stay here again. $32.75 for elec & water...I don't think so!

We did go out for dinner - even with the AC running we couldn't get it below 85 in here, and we were HOT - so we found a place called Kall Inn Supper Club where we had an excellent meal! I did take pictures but I'm too tired to load 'em up tonight.

Tomorrow we head into Madison Wisconsin...I'll try to catch up with pics and stuff then.

June 28, 2011 Blue Ox

2011-06-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

We spent a very restful night, and this morning bright and early - ok, 8:45, we talked to our rep, he took our tow bar in to have it x-rays, tested for stress, etc, etc...and sure enough, it showed some wear...imagine that, it's only been pulling vehicles since 1998!

So, instead of paying $280 to fix the problem, and having a 13 year old tow bar, we bit the bullet and upgraded to a new version. Better than losing the car - but definitely not easy on the pocketbook! Just go see what a new Aventa 10,000 lb tow bar runs..ouch!

We did get a tour of the factory at 2:30 - that lasted until after 4! Did you know that Blue Ox is truly an american made product? Yep, completly made here in Pender NE...where they employ 110 people, and some amazing welders! It was a great tour!

We went to the local pizzeria for dinner - not healthy but oh so good! We're just in for the night, I have fresh peaches sliced in a little splenda to go over a little angel food cake...night all!

June 27, 2011 Pender NE

2011-06-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning, did the usual, and bid farewell to Mike N Carlyn and hit the road at 9:15. Here are a couple pics of the park in Polk…very nice :)

We spent a couple hours going 137 miles, and rolled into the Blue Ox RV Park in Pender NE about noon. We pulled into our site that had been assigned to us a week or so ago.

I checked my email and there was one from our friends from LSC (Lone Star Corral), Jim N Sharon Guthrie giving us directions to McCook Lake SD where they are working for the summer. Well, since it was only 46 miles, we decided to head on up. We went over to Blue Ox and checked in, met our rep Mike and talked to him about refurbishing our system. We then headed up the road to SD.

We saw LOTS of water – some ramps on I-29 were closed, and the water was more than halfway up the light poles!!! Holy cow, that river is way over its banks!

We got to the Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve where Jim and Sharon are work camping. Sharon toured us around the visitor’s center while Jim went after a golf cart – and we toured as much of the area as we could. Unfortunately the lake is so high, and the corp of engineers were working on levees…Normally you can go 10 miles of trails – now you can go about 3. Here are a few pics, but it would serve you better to go to their website for the full story.

We visited for hours – then we went out to dinner at a Casino – it was buffet, the price was great $9.95 – second one half price :) and included drinks N dessert What a deal!

We visited some more, then we headed back to Pender, because I don’t like driving on roads I don’t know at night…and gypsy, our ‘usually’ reliable gps took us through down town Sioux City on the way there, and I certainly did not want to experience that in the dark!

We arrived safely back here at the park, and are now snuggled in for the night.

Mike N Carlyn, thanks for a great time.

Jim N Sharon – had a great time, thanks for the memories!

June 26, 2011 Polk NE

2011-06-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today started the usual way - we had a pop tart early, then puttered around - then it was NOT usual...we got ready and went to church with Mike & Carlyn!!! Yes, I know we don't normally do that, however, it was a service that is held only once a YEAR. It is a Methodist service held in an old Swede church, in Holder, NE. When they told us about it and invited us, we just had to say yes!

The grounds are a bible camp, and the deal was struck 25 years ago to move the church about a mile up the road for the bible camp to use - but they must have a real Methodist service once a year to keep the church. Through the years they have done an enormous amount of work on the church, both inside and out, and it is amazing...you really feel you've stepped back in time. The service was very nice, and lots of old fashioned hymns were sung and enjoyed.

After the service, they put on a wonderful roast beef lunch, with full salad bar, and several kinds of pie - cherry, peach, apple, strawberry rhubarb...everything was wonderful, and we thank Mike & Carlyn for buying our lunch!

Afterwards, we came home and just got in the door in time for lots more thunderstorms. Such booming and banging! There is much soggy ground around here, but it sure makes for beautiful green lawns and flowers! We all got naps during the rain, then we both loaded up our laundry and drove to Central City to the nearest laundromat (15 miles) about 4...did all the laundry, stopped at DQ for dinner & dessert, and came home to yet more thunderstorms! There are severe storm warnings all round us, as well as tornado warnings...scary scary stuff! Hail, lightening, rain, wind...but we are snug in our MH and the tornado shelter is about 25 steps from us, so if the radio alert goes off, we're outta here!

Our friend Jimmie Schader, at Lone Star Corral, sent us this picture of the Pride of Barbados plant that is blooming on our lot...number 24! They only bloom when it is VERY hot - so I hope to only see it in pictures :) Thanks Jimmie!

We're heading to Pender NE tomorrow - stay tuned for that adventure!

Mike & Carlyn - thanks for the memories...see ya down the road!

June 25 - Cozad to Polk

2011-06-26T18:17:00.001-07:00

We got under way by 10 am from Cozad, with approximately 150 miles to go to get to Polk, NE, where our friends Mike & Carlyn Drew from Lone Star Corral spend their summers.

Once again, I must say that the Muny Park in Cozad is quite a bargain, with 30 amp electric, good water and a dump station – cement pads and beautiful grassy sites. Within ½ block there is a municipal swimming pool, a lovely ½ mile paved trail through trees and fields, with lots of benches to sit on if you get tired, and lovely open areas for your pets! We really enjoyed it there :)

We got to our exit at Aurora (322) and filled up the gas tank again…we are averaging 7 mpg so far on this trip, grabbed a couple of Arby sandwiches and headed up 14. We arrived at the City Park in Polk NE about 1 pm. There are only 2 RV spots, but they are paved with full hook-ups, 30 amp electric. First 2 nights are ‘free’, thereafter $5 per night donation!

Oh what a lovely little town! There is a post office…a bar…a senior center….an all in one hardware store and several churches. No grocery store, no gas station…but believe it or not, several ‘brick cobblestone’ streets, and many really nice old homes. The population is 322 now, down from a high of 562 way back when.

We talked with our friends and decided to go to ‘The Lincoln Manor’ in Central City for dinner. We had a wonderful prime rib dinner (the special)…and more chatting, then we came back and I had baked an Angel Food Pineapple cake and cut up strawberries and blueberries to go on it, topped by some whipped cream! We enjoyed it under the pavilion where we continued to talk! It is amazing to see how long it takes to ‘catch up’ on everything!!!

June 24, 2011 Holyoke to Cozad NE

2011-06-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

So, many wonderful days at National has passed in the blink of an eye! I'll just let some pictures tell the story!

So, all good things must come to an end, and this morning after a fabulous omelet in a bag breakfast put on by the Black Hills hillbillies, everyone packed up and hit the road. We traveled about 156 miles to Cozad, NE, where there is a simply lovely little city park called 'Muny', where there is 30 amp electric and fresh water, and a dump station for the princely sum of $10 per night. We are watching a baseball tournament from the comfort of the motor home...it doesn't get much better than this!

We got to Skype with Tanaya and family (actually new baby Landon who is now over 9 pounds...woohoo, what a gorgeous little man!

Then we got to Skype with Daryl, Branden, Devon & Ariel (next time she gets to go first, we didn't get to talk to her much!) but they are in the tail end of yet another typhoon, so the connection kept going off :( BUT we are thankful we got to actually see them! -

We also went into Lexington and re-stocked at Super Wal-Mart...yippee! The grocery store in Holyoke had atrocious prices!

Tomorrow we intend to see friends Mike & Carlyn Drew in Polk NE...stay tuned!

June 19 & 20 National's

2011-06-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

We are at our Red Dale Wagon Train, National Rally in Holyoke, CO. Sunday morning started slowly, it was Father's Day and I made sausage gravy & Biscuits for David, and he thoroughly enjoyed them! After breakfast we walked around the still pretty empty fair grounds, chatting with folks and saying 'Hi'...

David got on a 4 wheeler with our friend Ron Bernard, and they started parking rigs as they came in. It is quite a job parking these big rigs, making sure everyone has just enough space - and it is a tight fit for two big rigs in a fairground lot!!! They did a great job!

I went walking around with Cinder, then moseyed up to the event center and got registered - got our meal tickets and badge for the 2011 rally. It is really so great to see folks that we haven't seen for 2 years! Woohoo!

The Directors (courtesy of our sponsors) put on a hot dog feed from 12 - 2, hot dog, pizza bites, nacho's w/cheese, lemonade & ice tea...great lunch!

A bunch of us played Bingo from 3 - 4, then 7 of us went to the Golden Dragon, the local Chinese restaurant - and was it ever good! Wow, small town feel and fantastic food...good friends! Did NOT take the camera, but here are some pics from the day. Oh, I didn't mention that while we were having our evening entertainment, the tornado sirens went off, and we all went into the tornado shelter - it touched down about a half mile from us! Scary, but all were ok :)

Hospitality - this morning was bagels :)

Barb Pindell, Joyce Parker, Greg Sluyter

Washers game - Center is Shirley Marsh & Joyce Parker.

June 18 Chappell to Holyoke

2011-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

This morning we got up with 11 units of Jackalopes in the campground! Yes, the club that we used to camp with once a month was at Chappell! We got together for a lovely pot luck breakfast - it was all so delicious, but most of all it was seasoned with the friendships we have forged over the years!

Do you know that you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger? Please do so if any interest you!

After a quick meeting Pam & Gary took off for Holyoke, CO...David and I were about 20 minutes behind them. It was a short travel day - only about 50 miles, which was very pleasant!

Statistics: We are at the Red Dale National Wagon Train 2011 Rally. It is being held this year at Holyoke, Colorado. It runs from Sunday, June 19th through Friday, June 24th, which is hitch up and go day :)

We actually were members of the Jackalopes, and the Longmont Red Dale Drifters. We are now classified as Members At Large, because we no longer have a stix and brix house here in the mid-west! So, for the next couple days, I will attempt to show and tell - show you in pics what we are doing, tell you in words!

We came in a day early to 'help' the Drifters park the clubs as they come in. It doesn't sound like a very hard job, but when you are expecting 75 to 100 BIG rv units in one location, it is quite a task! Thankfully, we had Ron Bernard from the Drifters who got here early enough to map our the parking and started us parking in the different locations! We got a spot pretty close to the building, where the events take place, which is wonderful - so David can walk to stuff and not have to drive the car!

After David backed in the MH, we immediately started chatting to friends :) This went on for hours, in the sun, the result of which was: TOO MUCH SUN

The Drifter's then gathered together and had a wonderful Salad Supper - there was SO much food! All kinds of salads, including crab, tuna, pasta, potato, macaroni, jello salads, cheese & crackers, fresh fruit, french bread, chocolate chip bars as well as rice krispie treats...It was all delicious! Then there was a short meeting and it was time to come back home. At the beginning of the meeting a front came through and it got very COLD...we had to put on jackets!

The day ended with playing with Cinder, relaxing in our home and chatting about the day...it was wonderful and we anticipate many more this week!

Oh yes, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there...to my dad, Chauncey Friedline, I love you more than words can say, and to the love of my life, David, you are a wonderful father, and a spectacular Grandpa!!!

Here are a few pics of the Drifter's Salad Supper!

June 16, 2011 Sidney

2011-06-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I've written this entry twice, both times BLOGGER lost it - would not save and would not copy..grrrr!

We took a trip to Sidney NE today, to Cabela's - got out with less than $50.00 which is a minor miracle :)

We're under severe thunderstorm warning right now - know where the shelter is if the weather radio goes off!!! Dark skies, lots of lightening...

Since I didn't take pics the last two days, here are several of my oldest Grandson, Devon and his girlfriend Vanessa going to Prom a couple weeks ago.

June 15, 2011 Chappell NE

2011-06-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days where we did domestic stuff...I defrosted the freezer, and we drove to Julesburg CO (16 miles away) and did laundry.

Julesburg is a very nice little town, lots of big beautiful cottonwoods (aaccchhhooo) and very well manicured lawns. We got some very good ice cream to eat while the washing machines were running!

I also took the opportunity to read - I have a kindle and I love it! Especially since I've joined Pixel of Ink on facebook and they send me messages about free books every day - I have about 40 downloaded that I haven't had time to get to yet!!!

It got to be 86 here yesterday - the hottest weather we've had since we left Texas. We did run the AC for about 2 hours, then we sat outside after dinner and when it was cool enough, we turned it off and just run the fans.

There was quite a light show last night - a little bit of rain but LOTS of lightening! Not a lot of thunder either...kind of weird!

Because I was in a 'domestic' mood, we had taco salads for lunch, followed by fish, baked potato & cole slaw for dinner...unfortunately the fish tasted like 'freezer' and we had to toss it :( I hate it when I let food go bad!!!

This RV park is very nice - 30 spots, some 50 amp and some 30 amp, 1/4 mile off I-80, and very quiet except for the trains. However, having lived about a block from the trains in Cheyenne for 14 years, we like lto hear them and we sleep very well!

No pics today - I'm sure no one wants to see me defrosting the freezer, or washing windows :)

June 13 & 14 Goodbye to friends in Cheyenne

2011-06-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

Our day started just fine yesterday - June 13th. We got up, had our coffee, and talked about what was on tap for the day - at 9 am we were at Cost Cutters, I got a haircut, as did David AND a beard trim...he looks so young and handsome when he is not a 'mountain man'...See...

After that we went and picked up my jacket that I forgot at Sanford's last Thursday evening - returned a dress to Sam's that I loved on the hangar - not so much on me :) Then we met Marsha and Megan at Twin Dragon for lunch - what a great time we had! Marsha was one of my ee's back when I was a 'working girl' in a previous life. Megan is her daughter that just graduated - Megan also kept my grandkids in the summer for me when they were in Cheyenne.

After far too much chinese food, we went back to the MH and got naps - and my friend Lynn came to visit - she is a terrific lady who lived 5 houses away from us for 13 years! We had a great visit and hope to see her down the road!

Our friend Janet stopped over to visit about 4 just to say good-bye. I find that they are very hard in this lifestyle, especially when you are as close as Janet and I. Yes, tears flow, but plans are already in the works for her to come to PA to visit us! Yaaay!

Then we got a call from Dwight and said meet them at Don Rey's Mexican Restaurant at 6:15 for dinner...of course we did. We got to meet their new adopted daughter, Juanita (Wanny) and we agree that she is a treasure! Of course, no blog post would be worth it's salt without at least one picture of food...and I had a 'torta' for the first time. It was wonderful! Perfectly cooked pork, with avacodo, mayo, cheese, something spicy on a freshly grilled handmade bun...YUM! Here is also pics of Soni, Dwight & David!

This morning we got up and got everything ready to go. I had someone ask the question, what do you do on a 'travel day'...well, we put up the lawn chairs, pack away any outside 'stuff' we have out, (mostly dog toys, leash, etc.) and we really do make an effort to put stuff away the evening before! The toaster, Paper towel holder, fruit bowl and the basket with the condiments in go under the table where they ride nicely!

David does the 'outside' stuff, which means dumping the black and gray tanks if we have a hookup, rolling up the water hose, and unhooking the electric. I make sure the windows are shut, the rugs put where they won't interfere with the slide, cutting boards secured, bathroom door locked, refrigerator door locked, all loose objects in shower and kitchen and bath sink are corralled into baskets, from curtains open and tied back. We check and make sure the antenna is down, and hook up the car. FINALLY we are ready to head down the road, after at least one walk around and a light check (make sure the lights on the car work in conjunction with the lights on the MH). It sounds like a lot of work, but really, we can get it all done in about 20 minutes..not hurrying!

That's what we did this morning, except that we didn't have a sewer hook up so David took the MH to Flying J where we paid $3.45 a gallon of gas (Cheapest since we left Hondo in April), and then he went down to the visitor center where there is a pretty nice dump station. While he was doing that I went for a grocery run at Safeway. I met him at the visitor center, we loaded up the groceries, hooked up the car and away we went...bye Cheyenne until the next time!

We drove about 150 miles to Cheppell NE where we are set up very nicely! Full hookups and long level grassy sites for $12.50 a nite...passport america rate! I'll get some pics tomorrow I hope - we plan on cleaning windows and the rest of the coach - got to do those deep cleaning things when you have hook ups!

June 12, 2011 Breakfast w/friends, hangin' w/Janet, Dinner with the Ashby's!

2011-06-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Oh what a day - we're exhausted, but happy!

This morning we hosted breakfast with Ray n Sandy and Joe n Donna. I made sausage gravy and Sandy brought biscuits, Donna brought juice...and we had some jelly and watermelon too! 'breakfast' lasted almost 3 hours - so much fun! No pics, too early :)

Then I went over to visit with Janet - again time flew by too fast, and once again, no pics! We hung out on her deck for hours just chatting and reconnecting.

Once I was home, I put together a lovely rhubarb blueberry crumble...it was supposed to be strawberries, but Safeway had them on sale and they were sold out, so I got blueberries...and off we went to Matt N Brit's house. In their house live two gorgeous little ones, Alana and Aubrey..you will agree they are adorable! Matt grilled steaks, Brit made a great asian salad with baked potatoes, boy dinner was yummy!

What a great evening...thanks for a great dinner Brit N Matt!

To all our wonderful friends - thanks for the memories!

June 11, 2011 BBQ & Pizza :)

2011-06-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

This morning once again was a 'hang out' morning where we really didn't do anything - we were going to have breakfast at the Moose club, but when we walked over there was a sign that said NO breakfast...:(

We were invited to a BBQ at Cindy Love's house at 1ish, and I put together a nice tossed salad, using fresh lettuce and onions from Maureen's garden! We got to Cindy's and boy, she sure puts on a BBQ! Unfortunately, her bubby Shawn was called out to work, but another of our friends, Deena was there, along with Cindy's daughter Stephanie and her two children (totally adorable) and a friend of Shawn's, Dave. There was pasta salad, veggie tray, marvelous potatoes in foil, ribs, sausage, chicken breast, burgers & dogs...oh my!!! So much food!

This was my SECOND plate...

Of course, seeing our friends and having such a great time reminiscing and solving the problems of the world really takes precedent over the food...or the food is the excuse we use to get together to do that. Here we are :)

We finished off the day by running some errands and having the best possible pizza in the world (at least the Cheyenne portion of the world) - Parkway! Oh yeah, it's that good!!!

June 10, 2011 - Cheyenne & Longmont Friends

2011-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

This morning was kind of laid back - took my time waking up, having coffee with my sweetie, surfing the net...looked at the clock and uh oh, best get moving.

Met a wonderful friend for breakfast at Perkins. Jody and I met through Zonta International, and finding we have many things in common, became pretty good friends! We chatted for an hour and a half, and had a lovely time catching up! Jody, thanks so much for breakfast! I had my camera with me and did not take a single picture...sorry!

Then we were off to Longmont to see Lloyd & Maureen...what a terrific couple! Maureen fixed us a wonderful lunch of chili relleno casserole and salad with fresh lettuce and onions out of her garden, pund cake with raspberries and whipped cream yum! Once again we talked for several hours to these fascinating people! They have a 'ranch' in Montana and we got to see pictures and hear stories from many years ago - they are heading up there soon and will not be at 'National' in Holyoke. They both have some health issues so it was doubly important that we get to see them. Life really is far too short you know to miss out on good friends! Maureen and I went out and robbed her garden of some fresh lettuce, onions, and rhubarb. Yum!

Then we went about 2 blocks and stopped to visit with another very special couple, Joe & Sandy! If you follow the blog, you know that I was in PA when they stopped in Hondo to visit us, so they had to make do with David :) They also spent a couple months with us in Rockport in the winter of '09. Needless to say, they are always on our list to see if we are close!

Joe asked if we had to hurry back to Cheyenne or if we could stay for dinner, of course we can ALWAYS stay for dinner :) They took us to a lovely restaurant called Pinocchios...once again, several hours of fun talking, reminiscing and planning the future! We will see these two along with many of our camping buddies beginning next Friday...and at 'National' held in Holyoke CO June 19th through 24th...if you are anywhere close, give us a holler and we'll meet up!!!

Joe & Sandy - thanks so much for a delicious dinner, and wonderful friendship!

Oh yes, in the picture we were all laughing very hard because I forgot to take pictures of our dinners...and Sandy said see if someone else would let me take a pic of their food...hilarious!

Jody, Lloyd N Maureen, Joe N Sandy, and of course David, thanks for the memories!

June 9, 2011 Cinder Groomer

2011-06-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

One of the things that we have really looked forward to here in Cheyenne was to take our beautiful chow, Cinder to the groomer that groomed her for 10 years...Best In Show. Her appointment was this morning, and you have no idea how happy we are with them. Their prices are in line with everywhere we've been, but the quality of work - superb! Here is our beautiful girl:

While she was getting beautiful, we went shopping! I had a list of stuff to get at Sam's Club, you know, aleve, low dose aspirin, liquid soap, wow, we must be getting old, we used to buy movies, electronics, and lots of food!

Next it was off to Wal-Mart where we picked up some more things - holy cow, we had TWO little bags and it was over $100...wow!

The last place was Petco, where we had to buy a new leash, some treats and some pick up bags. Whew, by the time we got home we were exhausted! We relaxed until the groomer called and we went to pick up Cinder - back home we patiently waited (read napped) until we were able to meet with our best friend Janet - who just started a new job after many years at the same old grind. She was simply glowing - it was past time for a change!

We went to Sanford's and had dinner together, and several hours of wonderful conversation, and some planning for at least 1more get together!

June 7, 8, 2011 Rawlins, Cheyenne

2011-06-08T20:15:00.001-07:00

After a rather tearful goodbye with our friend Christy, we left Lander at 8:03 am. There was some wind when we left, and by the time we started up Beaver Rim, we were in serious wind - 50 mph with 65 mph gusts. We got to Muddy Gap and that is where things really deteriorated...gusts were practically knocking us off the road. There was no place safe to pull over, so we continued to Rawlins. We stopped at Micky D's and I went in and got some lunch - David was having pains in his hands and shoulders from keeping the motorhome on the road!

Our friend Dwight from Cheyenne called and said he was about 1/2 hour out of Rawlins, and so we waited for him. He said that the wind was horrible the entire way from Laramie and he had a hard time keeping his van on the road...well, that was enough for us, we went back and got a spot at RV World Campground once again. We were set up and settled in by 1 pm, and oh my, were we ever glad. The wind just howled and howled. We did not even unhook the car! We had 65 channels of cable to watch and there was not a thing on - I was in bed with my Kindle by 8:30, and David was asleep by 9:30.

We got up this morning, dumped our tanks, topped off the water and were on the road by 8:30. We stopped at PETRO in Laramie where gas was $3.53 a gallon...WARNING - Petro is NOT RV friendly. There are no 'gas' pumps in the truck area, and the gas lanes for cars - let's just say that you did not have enough room to turn around with a car attached!!! We had a so so breakfast there and headed into Cheyenne wihout getting gas!

We arrived at the Moose Club on South Greeley Highway about 1...set up and immediately called the insurance company because we picked up a rock chip on the windshield. They were wonderful (we have GMAC) and within an hour there was a very nice man fixing our windshield!

This Moose Club is our home club, and I must tell you that we have stayed at Moose lodges all over the place, many with full hook-ups. We were NEVER charged a fee as long as we participated in at least 1 function or meal. Imagine our surprise when they said it would be $15 per night here...with electric only! We bit the bullet and paid for 6 nights, but I was pretty ticked off about it! I've written a letter to the club, with a copy to Moose International.

We did go in and participate in 'Hamburger Night' where we saw our friends Ray & Sandy, Joe Donna, Lou and Alex...what terrific people! We also briefly saw Ron and Beth Hartz...we'll visit with them at National in a couple weeks!

We're now settled in for the night, I have an early morning 'call' with the groomer for Cinder - yippee, she will be pretty and clean again :) This camping stuff is hard on her looks :)

June 3,4,5 Life in the slow lane

2011-06-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

We've been SO intent on having that great grandson born, and working with Chris and her books, cooking and just enjoying life that I haven't had the energy to post! Now that Landon has made his appearance, I'll try to recap a couple of things we did the past couple days!

We went for a couple drives around the area, just to get another look :) We took the MH out and dumped tanks, filled up with gas (down to $3.67 gal...yaayy), did a lot of sitting in the driveway with friends and chatting!

We went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch yesterday, and I made potato salad for supper and we had a bbq - brats and burgers & beans...yum!

Of course, on Friday night we went to Svilar's in Hudson WY. Really, it is the restaurant to go to in the area :) I had Prime Rib...yum yum...so did David, Denny had sirloin & Chris had Lobster and Prime Rib...wonderful dinner - thanks Denny for buying :)

June 5, 2011 - Landon has arrived!

2011-06-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

And here is Landon Michael David Carter...7 lbs, 13 oz, 21 1/2 inches long!

He was born June 5th, about 4:17 pm...Mama and baby are doing fine, and because of technology, we were able to watch the birth live on Skype...I will tell you it was beautiful and I cried...David just kept sayin' "I got a new great grandson!"

June 2, 2011 South Pass City/Atlantic City WY

2011-06-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

This morning we were back in tourist mode, although we've been to these places before, we had no pictures or a blog post about them. We headed out of Lander about 11, and drove the 20 something miles to Atlantic City - WY. It is pretty much a ghost town, population 'about' 57...:) We did not stop anywhere there - it was very cold and windy, with lots of snow along the roads.

Then we headed over to South Pass City, where we stopped at the Mercantile and David got a WY shirt that he really liked.

Really neat old mines! We drove a couple miles past South Pass City, and lo and behold there was a river runniing across the road - well, you know the saying, 'Turn around, don't drown'...and although we probably would not have drowned, chances that we would get stuck were pretty high - so we turned around involving many back ups and go forwards because the road was narrow, and dirt, and the shoulders were very soft and mucky!

All the rivers and creeks here are running very high, and there is much concern about flooding once the weather really warms up. We left the high country (elevations over 7,000 feet) and as we were coming down we stopped to take in the Red Canyon - oh gorgeous!

We drove back to base (Christy & Denny's) had naps...and a happy hour...and it was leftovers for dinner! Yay - nobody had to cook :) Oh yes, to report on the little critters - the fogger did the trick - at least we have seen no more of the little buggers!!!

Tomorrow we need to pull up the jacks and go dump the tanks - we've been here 6 days, so it needs to be done! Hopefully our mail will get here soon - then we will be heading on up the road.

June 1, 2011 Riverton/Casino's/Carnival

2011-06-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

So...today was a good off day, and we made arrangements to have lunch with a dear friend, Darla in Riverton. We got ready and took off about 10 - we were to meet her at 11:15 at the Depot. Our first stop was at the Wind River Casino...where we walked around and made a $5 donation :)
We then went to the depot and had lunch - it was delicious! Here is a pic of the train that runs around the top of the restaurant...very neat!

Here is Darla

After a yummy lunch we went to Wal-Mart, where we purchased flowers to put on Ted and Dorothy's grave (Davids folks), remember we've had snow here for a couple days and were unable to get there! We then drove over to Ethetee to the 'Little Wind' Casino, and did a quick tour of that!

We stopped at Fort Washakie and looked in the store, did not buy a thing - can you believe it? I've NEVER left that store with nothing, but I did today :)

We came back to Chris & Denny's place, had a quick nap and then the four of us went off to Riverton to the carnival! Here is David & Chris, cutting up as usual!

Then, because the carnival was SUCH a disappointment, (we were planning on eating all 'junk' food, and there was only 1 booth selling stuff, we left and went to Petree's Italian and had fantastic food (with plenty for lunch tomorrow)...then we came home and...you don't think we passed up funnel cake did ya??? Nope - and here's the proof, along with a real candied apple...yum yum!

Tomorrow we will really do something unusual. I wasn't going to mention this, but a lot of folks that follow this blog really want to know not only the fun and good, but also the nasty...since we have been sitting here we've gotten some type of nasty little ants, so we got a 'fogger' and tomorrow morning it will be open cupboards and drawers, set it off and get out of dodge for at least 3 hours! Don't know where the little critters came from, but they are outta here!!

May 30, 2011 Memorial Day in Lander WY

2011-05-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Mexican Lasagne

Plated

Denny

Will

Happy Memorial Day - we started the day looking out the window and groaning - more snow!!! Oh well, let's get this day started!

We went to the local VFW who was hosting a free pancake, sausage & egg breakfast - David is a lifetime member, so we were warmly welcomed. Besides the food, there was orange juice, milk, & coffee to drink. It was all very good, and we got our 'poppies' that we proudly wear each year.

Many thanks to all the servicemen and women out there - the ones that have served our country in the past, including my darling David, and my Dad, Chauncey, as well as all those currently serving, especially our dear daughter Dawn serving in Afghanistan and Son in law Daryl serving in Okinawa Japan. Love you all and very proud of you!

We drove around town looking at all the snow :( Really, what is up with this weather???? Talked to Dad in PA and it was 88 there...here we have snow, in Hondo they have 104...what???? Where is spring? They tell us there is NO global warming - but something is drastically wrong...just MHO!

Christy has a favorite cake that I make - it is an old fashioned oatmeal cake with pecan/coconut icing - so I got that baked today and she made dinner...on the menu was Mexican Lasagne, artisan bread...oh my, how yummy!

May 29, 2011 - Lander and SNOW

2011-05-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read it right. Last night we were warm and snuggly when it started thundering and suddenly it started pouring down rain...at about 7 am this morning it turned to snow - and we have gotten about 7 inches today - a lot melts but it keeps piling it down! Needless to say, what we had planned today got cancelled!

I made a good comfort food breakfast, sausage gravy & Biscuits, and a big pot of Chili for dinner...we had naps, we snuggled...it is now 7:32 pm and it is still snowing :(

Springtime in the Rockies!!!

May 28, 2011 Rawlins to Lander

2011-05-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

We were up and moving (slowly because it was COLD in Rawlins), I decided to fix breakfast to get a little heat going, made pancakes, sausage and eggs - by the time we got cleaned up, Cinder walked and unhooked it was 9:30.

We arrived in Lander at Chris & Denny's about noon thirty. David and Chris immediately started working on her computer, and we are set up in her driveway...nice :)

About 2 ish we were starving, so we went out to the Casino Rose and had a reasonably good buffet...really good ribs and salad - the rest was so so. We came back and Denny and I yammered while Chris and David worked computer magic - I went for some groceries and when I got back I baked a pineapple angel food cake and we had it still warm with fresh strawberries and ice cream...yum!

It is now 10 pm and I'm snuggled in the motorhome, getting ready to hit the feathers :) Plans for tomorrow include going to the cemetary in Riverton and putting flowers on David's mom & dad's graves...this is the first time ever we are here Memorial Day, so we gotta do it! The high tomorrow is to be 43 degrees (too cold), so I'm thinking a pot of chili will hit the spot for tomorrow night...we'll see :)

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow of the Lander area, and our hosts, Chris & Denny! Hope you are all having a safe and fun Memorial Day!

May 27, 2011 Grand Junction to Rawlins

2011-05-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

We left Grand Junction this morning about 8:45 am - stopped twice for potty stops, and 1 lunch stop at WalMart in Craig, CO...were we thought we might stop, but it was just lunch time, so we thought we'd make Baggs, WY - when we got there it was only 45 degrees...too cold to boondock...brrr, so we drove on to Rawlins.

We are now at RV World Campground, full hook-ups including about 100 cable channels, and with our Escapee discount it was $19.95 for the night - yay!!!

We had leftover Mexican for dinner from last night, and it was OK - not spectacular, but OK. We have chocolate cake, banana's and watermelon for our choices of snack tonight!

Did not take a single pic today, although there was some spectacular scenery - I really think we're scenery'd out at the moment! I expect we'll be taking some pics around Lander/Riverton area, where we expect to be tomorrow and probably stay 5 or 6 days - David is going to help our friend Christy with her computer, while I shop and have fun. Yep - the adventure continues :)

May 26, 2011

2011-05-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Palisade...and enjoyed several wineries...bought two bottles, I guess we're just weak!

We came home and napped...went over to Tanaya's for dinner, watched a softball game on TV and came home.

We are not waiting any longer on this baby - he could be another week or more :( We will be leaving in the morning and hope to make it to Craig before we stop...it is about 150 miles, so if she goes into labor tomorrow, we can unhook the car and head back down. After that it will be Skype only :(

Anxious to get on the road - the adventure continues!

May 24 & 25, 2011

2011-05-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we are still in Grand Junction. We moved over to a campground, RV Ranch yesterday as our tanks were full - and we needed to clean.

Dear granddaughter went to doc today - she is dilated and they did the membrane strip thing, so we should have a baby soon - of course we've been thinking that for quite a while :) Baby Landon will come out when he is ready!

Pam and Fred delivered a lovely couch today for Kaeleigh - she is so happy for it! Thanks so much Pam...it is so appreciated!

So - we wait. Tomorrow we will go back to Tanaya's driveway - and hopefully we will have a new baby soon, and we can get on the road immediately thereafter :)

Until then - the adventure continues!

May 23, 2011 Grillin' and chillin'

2011-05-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today was an unusual day in that we did not play tourist at all! I took Kaeleigh to school, came home and made breakfast, then went to wal-mart - the only thing she did not get at her shower for the baby was a high chair - so we got her that :)

I had put steaks in my special home made marinade for dinner tonight, and I put together an asian cole slaw with mandarin oranges, Tanaya made rosemary/thyme potatoes, and I made a rhubarb dump cake that we had with ice cream - talk about stuffed!!! Everything was delicious!

We bid a sad farewell to Aaliyah this evening when her Daddy picked her up for his visitation :( We're pretty sure we won't get to see her until the next time we come this way - she could be in school by then!!! She is such a beautiful little girl, and very loved.

I watched Dancing with the Stars, and as always, voted for Hines & Kym...as did Tanaya, Kaeleigh and David...Hines was wonderful - sure hope he wins!

A bad storm came through a bit ago, bringing very cold temperatures...brrr, we have the heater running - of course, nothing like the storms in MO...prayers go out to all those poor people that lost loved ones.

May 22, 2011 - Dinner with Pam & Fred

2011-05-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning and I finished the "Hunger Games" trilogy - I highly recommend for suspense! I will definitely be watching the movie when it come out!!! Thanks Tanaya for the tip :)

I made a real 'Sunday breakfast' of Bacon, eggs, homefries and toast - it was excellent! We hung around for a while, cleaning up and doing some stuff we needed to do, David got a nap and we left at 3 to go to Delta to Pam & Frred's house for a 'friends' fix! They have a lovely home overlooking several beautiful mountain ranges...I know, these pics do NOT do it justice...but here they are nevertheless!

We chatted a little while and Pam went to 'do something about dinner' - here she is checking the wonderful biscuits she had in the oven!

She also made a lovely crock pot dish with ham, potatoes, corn & a cheese sauce, mixed veggies and a coconut cream pie...we had more than enough to eat!

More talking, talking about travels, travails and fun! As we looked at some dark clouds coming on the horizon, I realized it was getting dark, and if I wanted to get home before dark, we would have to rush! We grabbed a couple pics and headed out!

Pam & Fred - thanks for the memories!

We got back just in time to lots of lightning and wind - and went to say good bye to our son in law Rick - he is leaving tomorrow morning at 5 to go to work somewhere in TX - he'll let us know when he gets there :)

We got to play with baby a bit this morning, and here is a pic of her and her mama, Kelsey!

May 20, 21, 2011 Still in GJ

2011-05-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday continued our saga of not so good luck. I started to make oatmeal for breakfast, and realized that the milk was sour...so off I went to the corner store for a small bottle of milk for breakfast - got back home and made oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast - yum! Of course it was raining yet again, but we had told Kels, our oldest granddaughter that we would watch our great granddaughter...for an overnight no less :)

So we packed up and started down the road - David was leading and I had to wait for traffic, but I caught him about a half mile up the road, when to my horror I realized that we had not fastened the cables and electric cord for the toad...and it was swinging free...I immediately called his cell phone, no answer, flashed my lights, etc...nope, he just kept on driving. Sure enough, a block later it came off the MH - I had no chance to stop and get it because traffic was moving at 40...and there was a line behind me - so I swung around the block, found a parking place, walked back to the spot it dropped off, waited for a clear space, ran in, picked it up and got back to the car without dying. Of course, it had been run over several time - and one end was pretty smashed. Sigh...

We got home and Aaliayah was waiting for us...all 13 months of her. OMG, she is just the cutest little thing! We all went out to dinner at Tequila's and everything was fantastic - we come home and I got her washed up and in her pj's...she sat on my lap and fell asleep about 8:45 - and slept all night for us.

This morning she woke up at 7, and we lay and played until 7:30 when we got up and I made her a scrambled egg and she had some muffin. Of course, while I was making coffee and her breakfast, she decided that the best possible place to be was grandpa's lap...it was so precious!

After doing some clean up, her mama came and we went to Centennial RV to see if they could fix our toad electric line - yep, so $43.00 later, we got out of there...we stopped at bed bath & beyond where I got a laundry sorter, then we stopped at K-mart for another couple of things - by the time we got home it was time to bake a couple of pumpkin pies (for Kaeleigh) but we still don't have a baby :(

We got naps and then it was time to go to Genghis a mongollian bbq - where Rick and Tanaya treated us all to a fantastic dinner!

We're not home and will shortly enjoy a slice of pumpking pie :) Tomorrow we have a trip to Delta in store, to spend some time with Pam & Fred...see a couple days ago!

And since it is 8:40 pm on May 21, and we are still here, so the adventure continues!

May 19, 2011 - Moose Club Grand Junction

2011-05-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning with a plan - pack up and head over to the Moose Club where we can dump and enjoy the fellowship of the Moose...

First of all, we discovered we had to get propane - our tank only lasted a month because we've had to use so much for heat...it has been very cold and rainy! Even though we use the catalytic heater mostly, whenever the 'big' furnace kicks on it is really sucking the propane! Anyway, none of the 'close' dealers would fill us, Amerigas, Ferrelgas and some other local - they said they would only fill if we could take our tank off - in other words, they didn't fill motor homes. We found an RV park that we could buy propane from, so off we went for that.

After that, we went to the Moose (by now it's 1:30 ish...David swung wide to get into the dump, and hit a soft spot...the motor home just started sinking into the mud. Now, we've had days and days of rain, so of course he would get the one area where there was a sinkhole. We looked it over, got out a bunch of boards, put them under the tires, and no go...then he dropped the jacks thinking we could get the boards under the tires and get out - oh no, the jacks sunk in and would not come out. Good Sam's emergency road service to the rescue. I called them and they sent out a vendor - he was excellent, but I didn't get his name, but he was from A-Pro Towing. He raised the back end so we could retract the jacks, then he winched us out of the mud. By this time we discovered that the entire grounds of the moose club were taken over by goat heads, or thorny things.

We finally got a dump and hooked up to electricity. We had an hour for 'happy hour' which we sorely needed! We then went into the Moose Club and watched a presentation of Tommy Moose - followed by dinner - they were serving burrito's...we each got a beef/bean burrito, with salad & green chili, tostitos and salsa, ice tea, orange sherbert with cinnamon sugar chips...for $7.50 each! What a deal! We also sat with a couple from Buffalo WY - who moved here in 1989...they were great dinner companions! We talked about Riverton, and Hudson (they asked if Svilar's was still in business - big YES) and other changes in the area.

We hated to eat & run but dear grand daughter Elena had a concert that we had to see - she and three other girls did a 'solo' song - Justin Bieber "prayer" I think it was. The concert was good - we stayed for the whole thing and I must say there is a lot of talent out there!

Got home and both of us were in bed by 10...just exhausted from the day!

May 18, 2011 Colorado National Monument

2011-05-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Once again, scenery overload! The weather was just as forecast, rain rain rain...but we decided we were going anyway! So, after showers, Cinder walk, groceries, we headed out - first stop at the post office to mail my daughter a package to Afghanistan - then off we went to Colorado National Monument.

19 miles - of twists, turns, breathtakingly beautiful scenery. Here is a small sample:

We stopped in a little cafe in Fruita and had a bite of lunch - it was wonderful, but pics are in David's phone and I haven't figured out how to get them out of there yet!

We came home (Tanaya & Rick's driveway) and I started cooking...I made marinated asparagus, broccoli salad, and a 5 lb meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas & rolls for dinner - and then after watching some TV and chatting, we had S'Mores...yep, Rick had built a fire and got all the ingredients, so we roasted marshmallows and put 'em on graham crackers and hershey bars...YUM!

Tomorrow we will be rolling the 'home' over to the Moose club. Here in GJ they have a wonderful, smoke free Moose Lodge with 30 amp electric hookups, water and a dump...no charge except that they ask you to participate in at least 1 meal a week - like that won't be hard :)

Kaeleigh went to doc today - baby has made no more progress right now - so we'll wait - besides, they are still having lots of snow in the mountains and we don't want to travel in that!

Life is what you make it - and we make ours the best we can!

May 17, 2011 Downtown Grand Junction

2011-05-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, once again our plans made in jello changed :) We had planned to go with Pam and Fred for a drive up on the Mesa, however, this morning was cold and rainy down here, and snowing up there - SO plan B, we went downtown, found a post office, and then cruised a couple stores - found a brewery and it just happened to be lunchtime...I'll let the pictures tell the rest of THAT story!

David had a patty melt :)

I had the special Chicken Stirfry - Yum

We stopped at Wally world where I bought fixin's for Spinach Salad with strawberries & spiced pecans with raspberry vinagrette...andTanaya made veggie lasagna and garlic bread...SO Good! Wonderful to have it all come together!

Now I'm watching Dancing With the Stars - and Hines and Kym made it to the finals - how cool is that! Go Steeler Nation!

May 16, 2011 cruisin around Grand Junction

2011-05-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a different kind of day than we have been having! We took Kaeleigh to school, went for some groceries, then tried to find an RV place open - seems they are all closed here Sunday and Monday - very weird!

We had soup, salad & bread at Johnny Carino's, then I wasn't feeling very well so we came home and I got a nice nap. After naps I went into Rick & Tanaya's and made a huge pot of Taco Soup for dinner - everyone really enjoyed it with shredded cheese, sour cream and frito's! I put a butter pecan cake in the oven after we ate and got it iced during Dancing with the Stars...and Hines and Kym got a perfect 30...woo hoo!

David and I are now snuggled into our home on wheels and about ready to hit the feathers for the night!

Here are a few pics that I haven't put on before of some of the beautiful scenery we've seen!

May 15, 2011 Visit with Pam & Fred

2011-05-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ya know, sometimes things just come together! Been corresponding with Pam Smyth for several years on the RVer's & Camper's thread on the 50 year old thread on the Weight Watcher discussion forum. We'd been close a couple times, but could never make it work to meet up face to face...so since we are in Grand Junction, and they live in Delta, we decided to give it a try, only to find out that they are camping about 15 miles from here...so off we went today to meet them!

Pam is every bit as nice in person as she is on the thread - AND through email! We hugged, chatted, talked, looked at pictures, talked, watched some other campers, chatted, then we did what campers do best - we went out and had a fine meal and talked some more!

Of course we also took a couple of pics of our 'girls'...and grandpa...just love seeing them!

May 14, 2011 - Grand Junction & Aaliyah

2011-05-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up at 4:30...laid there until about 6:15, and said to myself I'm getting up at 6:30 - phooey...and the next thing I knew it was 9 am!!! I rarely sleep that late, but sure did this morning - so we had a bowl of cereal, and soon were on the road. Of course I had to vacumn before we could leave because of the goatheads and nasty stuff that Cinder drug in - wasn't her fault, it was just dusty, dry and dirty!

By the time we got gas (we got 3 cents off a gallon) and I picked up two salads from Blimpies (coupon for buy 1 get 1 free, so lunch for $4.79) and got on the road it was 11...we got into Fruita about 1, stopped at the welcome center, ate our salads, picked up some brochures, and got to Tanaya's about 2. Of course, we didn't fit along side the house - when we measured we didn't look UP and there was an AC unit sticking out that we could not clear - so we pulled into the driveway, and our tail end is about two inches on the street, but we parked our cars on both sides, so no biggie.

Here is one of the reasons we are here:

Baby Aaliyah

Grand daughter Kaeleigh - ready to have

great grandson...soon!

After we all got settled, I started dinner - we had spaghetti & meatballs, salad with my italian dressing on it, and garlic bread...yum yum - I don't think there were any leftovers!

Kelsey came home from work and had dinner, then off she went with baby AND Kaeleigh - but they will be back tomorrow morning! Elena Grace wanted to go with them too, but she has pink eye and was not allowed :( Too bad, she had to stay home with the 'old folks'...and her mom! I'll get a pic or two of her in the next couple days - she is growing much too fast!

I may not blog every day while we are here, but then again I might!

Oh yes, I'm planning on meeting a friend tomorrow evening at a local campground - Pam who I have corresponded with for the last 3 or 4 years and never met in person. We will remedy that tomorrow unless Kaeleigh goes into labor.

May 12 & 13, 2011 Bryce Canyon, farewell dinner, Green River

2011-05-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

We got up on Thursday morning and headed for Bryce Canyon National Park. Once again, the scenery almost hurts your eyes it is so beautiful! Ruby's Inn is a cool place, with lots of 'stuff' for sale :) However, the star of the day was the scenery! Here are a couple pics...again the camera does not do justice to the beauty and granduer!

After lots of getting in and out of the car, we left the park, and went to Beaver UT to a cheese factory outlet - wow, talk about a kid in a candy store!!!

We got back to Cedar City about 3:30, and got a nap (me, David slept the whole way back!) and had a fantastic meal with John & Kaki, followed by more chatting...and a lovely ice cream pie on the patio...my oh my, it's a wonder we left at all!

This morning we left about 7:45 headed for Green River, UT. We arrived a little after 2, and got a spot at Shady Acres RV Park where we are sitting under a tree.

More adventures in store tomorrow - going to see that little baby girl great grand daughter - and hold her and listen to her giggle - can't wait! I'll get some pictures too!

May 11, 2011 Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

2011-05-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning to rain, clouds and more rain. We are parked at John & Kaki's house in their side driveway, which is a real treat - BUT the soil here is very fine, and if it is wet you can't get out . This has worked to great advantage because we have been able to really get to know them - and I can say without a shadow of doubt that we love them!

So, with that said, we decided we would take today and clean the shanty, do laundry, clean the inside of the car, and rest from sight seeing! I made a pot of chili for dinner for tomorrow night, since we will be in full tourist mode tomorrow!

This afternoon John took us to see the Petroglyphs at Parowan Gap - WOW! According to the signs (it is on the national historic register) these petroglyphs were done around 5,000 YEARS AGO...It is amazing that they lasted all this time and are still pretty clear! If you could see where some of these etchings were done, you would be sure that they either knew how to fly, or were part mountain goats!!! Here are a couple of pics of them.

By the way - the pics from yesterday were NOT from 2004 - someone (probably me, since I AM the non-techi) hit the wrong button...the pics really were from yesterday in Zion National Park!

When we got back from playing tourists Kaki had a wonderful dinner ready - kilbassa & saurkraut, mashed potatoes, asparagus, fresh bread, strawberries & blueberries, and we finished off with bumbleberry pie with ice cream...we were all groaning when we left the table!!!

We ended the day by sitting in their living room, watching the sun set on the moutains (that still have snow on them) and quietly getting to know each other better.

Back to the 'tourists' tomorrow...be sure to tune in :)

May 10, 2011 Zion National Park

2011-05-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

We got off to a late start this morning, didn't leave until after 9:30 and headed to Zion National Park, about 51 miles from John & Kaki's house and our 'temporary home'. It was overcast, and chilly after the snow and hail of yesterday, but still off we went!

We arrived at our destination after yet another 20 miles of spectacular scenery! Since we were starving our first order of business in the town of Springdale was to have some breakfast - at Oscar's Cafe. The waiter was a very personable young man and he sold us on a couple of special dishes - David had a spicy spicy omlet with several different types of peppers and I, yes, wimpy me, had a chili relleno special - here is what our breakfast looked like! The danged thing was really not 'too' spicy - just right!

Then we went into the park, and David's access pass again got us in free. We went to the visitor center, then got on a shuttle and toured the park. Once again, scenery overload! There is a reason that these places are National Parks - they must never be destroyed by greedy people but instead preserved so that everyone can ooohhh, and aaawww, just like we did today! From waterfalls seemingly coming out of solid rock, to flowers growing out of those same rocks - and walls of rocks so high your neck hurts from looking up.

Once again, pictures simply can not do it justice, but here are a couple to give you some idea of the consistent beauty.

We got back to the house about 5ish, and I started putting together a salad, Kaki made a wonderful italian dish with elk burger, lots of garlic, tomato sauce, mushrooms, oh yum, peas and lovely garlic bread! I had found a lovely little bakery in Springdale and got a bumbleberry pie for dessert! We sat and chatted for quite a while, and decided an early night was called for.

So an early night it is! More adventures await tomorrow :)

May 8 & 9, 2011 Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

In my last post I said that Kaleigh was in labor - we took off Mother's Day morning and drove 5 1/2 hours to Grand Junction in the car - by the time we got there, labor had stopped - looks like it was false labor...

Mother's Day was very nice - David took all the 'mothers' out to dinner at Golden Corral, so there were 6 of us. Of course we all ate too much, then went back to Tanaya's to relax.

We had a nice visit and spent the night, got up this morning at 5 and headed back to Cedar City where we left the motorhome. We were coming back I-70, then I-15. Well, by the time we got to Salina the rain downpour turned to snow - and I had about 40 miles of white knuckle driving in blizzard conditions! There were 4/6 inches on the summit of each mountain, the snow plows were out in force, and it was just plain dangerous!

Just when we arrived back at the MH, it began to HAIL - and now it is snowing here!!! I got a nice hot shower and we are snuggled in here for a little while. I believe that tomorrow will be something touristy - unless it continues to snow, in which case I'm not going anywhere!!!

I'll get some pictures posted later...of the snow and some of the beauty. David didn't take pics at Tanaya's, so that will come later.

May 7, 2011 Cedar City, Johnny, Kaki, Joyce, Bob

2011-05-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

Started early this morning - was on the road by 7:30...again more beautiful scenery - we came across 14 the 'scenic bypass' where we were in elevations exceeding 10,500 ft...and there was SNOW up there...lots and lots of it! This pic was just a patch - because by the time we got to where it was all snow, as far as you could see and it was over top of the motorhome (from snow blowers on the road) and we had unhooked the car because there were 8% grades for 25 miles...SO not happy with that!

We got into Cedar City about 11:30 and stopped to eat - then drove the car to David's brother Johnny's and his wife Kaki - while we were saying howdy his sister Joyce and her husband Bob came over...we went and got the motorhome and it is now parked in Johnny & Kaki's driveway -where there are hook-ups! woohoo! We chatted and chatted, then everyone retired for a rest - to meet up again at 6 pm to go to dinner! They took us to a place called Sulli's steakhouse & cafe, and they had coupons for two prime rib dinners with salads, potato, and fantastic rolls for $22.00 - yep, $11 per couple for prime rib! Johnny bought dinner with Kaki's money (grin)...then we went to Kolob Canyon and took some great pictures - but the sun had gone down on our day...Thanks Johnny & Kaki for the wonderful welcome, the terrific day and yet more good memories!

Johnny, Joyce & David

Johnny & Kaki

Joyce & Bob

We are now snug in the MH and ready for bed.

Breaking news - Miss Kaeleigh is in labor, and we may have a new great grandson, Landon Michael David Carter before morning!

May 6, 2011 Flagstaff to Kanab

2011-05-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Once again, we were ready to go at o'dark thirty...we actually pulled out of Black Bart's RV Park at 8:15, and topped off the gas tank and on the road by 8:30.

We drove up 189 - and the scenery once again just knocked our socks off!

We figured a 200 mile day would be pretty easy - NOT. If we ever do that road again, we will split it into two days. We got to Kanab at 3:30 pm, totally exhausted from twists, turns, ups and downs - the motorhome engine got pretty hot - we stopped twice to let it cool, once to have lunch, once just to shop...yep, along the way there are stands set up selling navajo jewelry and pottery - got something for my friend in Cheyenne, and got me a stunning necklace and earring set, in a verlant green - gorgeous! I'll be wearing it for years to come I'm sure!

When we finally got to Kanab, we decided we needed the AC, so we stopped at the Kanab RV Corral - very nice small park, but most expensive campground we've been in to date. Was $30.57 WITH our discounts! Ouch! However, right outside our door is a beautiful fully blooming lilac bush - and I have a bouquet on the table - oh smells heavenly!

I fixed dinner, shrimp with angel hair pasta & garlic, salad and garlic bread - it was yummy - just FYI, I don't always cook shrimp, but I had a 2 lb package that I bought back in Dec for New Year's Eve, and as you know, I ended up in a hotel in San Antonio heading for PA at that time. So I needed to get it used up before it got freezer burnt! Mission accomplished!

Tomorrow the plan is to pull out early, head to Cedar City, UT...where more adventures await!

May 5, 2011 Crater National Monument

2011-05-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today was quite a day! We got up early and hit the whole motorhome with the vacuum, windex, pledge and plenty of paper towels. The wind in Deming blew the whole house full of dust and grit. After about an hour of concentrated cleaning, it was time to shower and hit the tourist trail.

We stopped for breakfast at Cracker barrel. We rarely stop there, preferring to have breakfast at home or at least not at a chain restaurant! It was quite a treat, and we left there heading for Sunset Crater Volcano National park. Wow, it was another day of far too much scenery to take in. You can read all about it at: www.nps.gov/sucr It is truly amazing!

Here are a couple of pics – none of which do justice to the wonder of what we saw!

We continued to Wupatki National Monument – where ruins have stood for more than 900 years. It too is amazing, and you can read about it at: www.nps.goc/wupa

By the time we got back to town we were starving, and although the plan was to go to Black Bart’s Steak House and Saloon for dinner, we went to a local pizza joint and had excellent pizza for a late lunch.

We stopped at Little America and toured it – we’ve seen all the Little America’s now! This one is very small and insignificant compared to the others – the one in Cheyenne is the biggest and most elaborate!

We came home and had a very quiet evening, enjoying the internet, had watermelon for snack and hit the hay about 9…

Tomorrow, Kanab UT is on the schedule – we’ll see what adventures we can get up to there!