No, We Aren't Traveling Yet

I didn't realize how long ago I posted, so thought I should bring this blog up-to-date.

We returned home from the race on April 29th. Had a wonderful time in Alabama even though our drivers didn't do well at the racetrack.

We've been busy continuing to work on the house. Sarah and Chad were back this past weekend so Sarah could check out the alterations on her wedding dress. It looked great, except for the hooks for the bustle, soooooo, those are being changed; and I'll pick it up on Saturday. She wanted to take it with her, but we'll be taking it to Ohio.

Sarah did load up their car with some more stuff, so our inventory keeps dwindling. And we hauled more stuff to Stephanie this week. We hope to get the living room furniture off to Goodwill this week along with another trunk load of stuff. Then just have the kitchen cabinets and some other miscellaneous to deal with. I've downsized the kitchen once already, so shouldn't take long to finish it.

We plan to start living in the motorhome this weekend. :) Sure am getting tired of not knowing where things are. Of course, it will take awhile to remember where we've put things in the motorhome, since I keep rearranging the cabinets.

And Dan has sold some more equipment, so things are progressing.

Not sure when I'll post again. My laptop is in the shop, but I should have it back in a day or two. I'm posting from the Rochester Library today.

Can't wait to start this fulltiming.

Waiting for Raceday

We arrived here at Lakeside Landing RV park on Wednesday afternoon. The park was almost empty that day, but has slowly been filling up as more race fans arrive. There are still quite a few empty sites, and we've wondered if fuel prices will keep some people away.

One guy from Montana, who usually pulls a 5th wheel RV with a diesel truck, arrived in his car with his tent and air mattress. He has been coming to Talladega for nearly 20 years. NASCAR race fans are really loyal. :)

It's been nice to renew friendships with our neighbors who we only see once a year. And everyone seems to remember Kasey. They all comment about how well behaved he is. I think he's the only dog in the whole park who doesn't bark when someone walks by.

Will be going to the track today to watch practice.

More later.....

Talladega, Here We Come

One of our favorite times of the year is almost here - The Nascar race at Talladega Superspeedway at Talladega, Alabama. We love to watch Nascar races, but being at the track is pretty exciting. Our seats are up high in the 38th row and at the start/finish line. We can see around the whole track. Talladega is a 2.66 mile track and a lot can happen in that 2.66 miles.

We'll take in qualifying and practice and watch the Nationwide (formerly Busch race) on Saturday and Cup race on Sunday. And it looks like the weather may cooperate with temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's. Don't forget the sunscreen!!!

We camp about 20 miles from the track at Pell City, AL. Can't quite take ALL the activity in the campgrounds around the track; however, there is one "family" campground where consumption of alcohol is prohibited outside your RV and quiet hours are enforced. BUT, the camping fee is pretty steep. Of course, with the price of fuel now and driving back and forth to the track, most likely would break even. Oh well, we like Lakeside Landing in Pell City, and have stayed at the same site for the last 4 years and have the same neighbors every year.

We're leaving Saturday and plan to stop at Rickwood Caverns State Park on the way. That's where we rescued the puppy in January. Will probably check with the animal shelter about the family that adopted the puppy and see how he is doing. Also will explore the cave at the park.

Will post pictures from the race.

More later......

Rickwood Caverns State Park, TN

Our site at Rickwood Caverns State Park. The cave was closed and we didn't have time to go on the fossil walk. Will do those when we return to Alabama in April for the Talladega Race. Will definitely stay at this park again. No satellite service and cell phone service scanty, but the park was beautiful, even in January.

Ate lunch on Sunday and made a Walmart run. About 2 miles from the campground we saw a little brown chihuahua dog running up and down the middle of the road, and there was quite a bit of traffic on the road. Larry stopped and I got out of the truck to try to get the dog. He was very shy and didn't want to come to me, but didn't run either. After much coaxing, I was able to catch him. He looked healthy, but had no collar so we had no idea where he belonged or if he had been dumped. We checked at some houses, but either no one was home or he didn't belong to the people we talked to.

Now you may ask (since you know I'm such a dog lover), did we keep him? Well, that answer is at the end of this story. Checked with the park ranger if he knew of an animal rescue group; he was actually reading a newspaper article about Crossing Paths Rescue Kennel http://www.xpar.org/about.html ; and the article included contact names and phone numbers. Soooo, I called Jo Chamblee and she put me in touch with Pat Kelley, who lives in Hayden, AL which was only about 15 miles from our campground. He was getting another rescued female dog and pups settled with a foster family, but said he would come by the campground later in the evening. Of course, he offered us the opportunity to keep the little guy. :) I think we both thought about it for about 1 minute, and if Kasey didn't already live with us, and if we had been headed back home, and.......... He was a really sweet little guy. Pat did come for him. He had really attached himself to me and DID NOT want to leave. He tried to bury himself in my chest and then tried to hide behind the couch pillows. He really squirmed when Pat tried to put a leash on him.

Pat called the next morning to say the pup had stayed with his sister and her daughters and slept in bed with the girls. He plans to check with vets and place some posters around the area and then try to adopt him out. He thought adoption should be pretty easy. He did remind me that if we were driving through the area on our way home and he was still available, "Just call and you can have him. You won't even have to fill out an adoption request form." :) Don't think that's going to happen. So here are the pictures of the little guy.

Wonder what other adventures we'll find for ourselves???

A New Year and It's COLD

(Rochester, IL)

Thought I should get started on this blog which we plan to use to document our travels as we begin fulltime RVing this year. And since it is the first day of a new year, what a good time to start. So here goes..........

Happy New Year - 2008!!!! It's cold here in central Illinois; 18 degrees, to be exact, and snowing. So why are we still here?

Well, we won't be here much longer. We'll be leaving January 9th for warmer southern Alabama weather along with Dan's brother and his wife, Larry and Phyllis.

We plan to stop in Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry, and then make our way to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay http://www.dauphinisland.org/ We'll camp there for about a week before moving on along the Gulf Coast.

We'll be back in Rochester the middle of February. Then our focus will be on preparations to begin fulltiming. :) YEAH!!

Hope you enjoy following along with us.

GO ILLINI!!!!!!!

Movin' on,
Dan and Gail
and Kasey